The drying-off of cows has started on some farms, with cows with a low body condition score (BCS) the first on the to-do list.
Offering these cows extra time drying will help them to build condition and hopefully calve down in the correct BCS.
However, cows can also be dried off early for a number of other reasons, including for cell count or mastitis issues or lameness issues, among others.
Drying-off
Eight weeks is the usual dry period offered to cows, so early drying will likely take place in the next number of days.
If giving a number of cows an 11-week dry period to build condition, or solve a cell count issue, there are a number of things to consider.
Namely, for a cow in a BCS that is too low, a score needs to be determined and silage quality assessed.
As the table below shows, if the cow has a score of 2.5, then ad-lib silage should be good enough to get her into the correct condition.
If silage quality is low then concentrates may be needed to improve the condition of the cow.
However, if you dry off a cow in the correct BCS for another reason, depending on the quality of the silage, it may need to be restricted.
BCS at drying off – 11 weeks dry Silage dry matter digestibility (DMD) (UFL) <2.5 2.5 2.75 3.0+ >72 (0.81) silage +1kg meal silage restricted silage restricted silage 68-72 (0.78) silage + 2kg meal silage + 1kg meal silage restricted silage <68 (0.76) silage + 3kg meal silage + 2kg meal silage + 1kg meal silage
So, it is important that when you are drying-off cows early to consider the quality of the feed available and whether concentrates will be needed to increase the condition score of these cows.
Silage alone in many cases will not be sufficient to improve the BCS of cows to the level required.