July Milk drop

zetorman

My cows always take a fairly sudden drop in milk yield around mid july.... about 5 litres a day this year and last year. Any ideas ???????:mad:

whelan1

whats the grass quality like ? how long are they claved , are you feeding them meal?

snowman707

ours slipped back a little, however I have noticed that some cows have lost a fair bit of body condition , that's one good thing about the montys, they put a little aside for a rainy day, or in the case of this year lack of rainy days.

Sam Kade

zetorman wrote: »

My cows always take a fairly sudden drop in milk yield around mid july.... about 5 litres a day this year and last year. Any ideas ???????:mad:

I think the norm is around 1.5% drop in milk yield every week after peak yield. Do you clean out water troughs regularly? Algae in water troughs can hit milk yield. After that it could be BVD Lepto etc.

irishh_bob

zetorman wrote: »

My cows always take a fairly sudden drop in milk yield around mid july.... about 5 litres a day this year and last year. Any ideas ???????:mad:

peak has been reached and its down hill from here , digestability of grass begins to suffer quite noticabley from the end of june onwards , its inevitable , all you can do is try and limit the slip , maintaning covers at optimum height etc , not too strong , not too short

John_F

when you say sudden, what was the peak milk? and work out that 1.5% that Sam has said. as said grass quality is dropping, are ya feeding meal?? id doubt it would be bvd or lepto unless the cell count is up and down throughout lactation. Keep covers leafy and not too strong, skip it if it is strong and leave it bulk up or cut and wilt straight away.

West Cork milk is meant to be well down last week, wet weather and bad nights will hit production and once a cow drops its very hard if not impossible to get her back up.

zetorman

Thanks lads. No health or grass problems. Looked up supply last year and the drop came around the same time...........will have to grin and bear it ,:(