Poor dairy cow condition

babybrian

Cows are calving I am not happy with some of there condition scores, They were fine when they were housed but seemed to have slipped alot and are calving down well below what I would like. Right now they are on 7kgs 16% protein and high energy feed and the ones not too bad are on 4kgs/day to try get them back, there also out by day and getting silage at night. Any advice or similar experiences of getting them back up a bit??

Oh and they are predominantly british fr with a slight strain of holstein.

jeff greene

I assume you have them all dosed and done for lice etc. Maybe get some bloods done to figure out minerals, etc. Have you any idea whats in the meal, lot of poor stuff being sold this year with it being so dear, look to reduce protein%, include some maize meal or wheat at least.



How is silage quality, any mould, mycotoxins are deadly, I have them in maize last year, I’m feeding 50 g of mycosorb now to not have that problem again.

funny man

babybrian wrote: »

Cows are calving I am not happy with some of there condition scores, They were fine when they were housed but seemed to have slipped alot and are calving down well below what I would like. Right now they are on 7kgs 16% protein and high energy feed and the ones not too bad are on 4kgs/day to try get them back, there also out by day and getting silage at night. Any advice or similar experiences of getting them back up a bit??

Oh and they are predominantly british fr with a slight strain of holstein.

B/FR are well known for putting on condition so if they went in in good condition and fed even mediocre quality silage they should have at least held condition, couple of questions how long was the dry cow period and what was the dosing program for fluke and worms, have you noticed any cows with loose dung or scouring?

jeff greene

babybrian wrote: »

Cows are calving I am not happy with some of there condition scores, They were fine when they were housed but seemed to have slipped alot and are calving down well below what I would like. Right now they are on 7kgs 16% protein and high energy feed and the ones not too bad are on 4kgs/day to try get them back, there also out by day and getting silage at night. Any advice or similar experiences of getting them back up a bit??

Oh and they are predominantly british fr with a slight strain of holstein.

What are they milking, it may be just a case of not meeting their demands. What is milk protein like, is it dropping below normal.

babybrian

dungs are small bit loose but nothing terribly bad considering they are on grass during the day its to be expected. Done for fluke, worms and lice(twice) so thats not an issue. Dry period was >9weeks for all bar 1 which was 8.

I know silage wasnt great at start of housing but it has improved lately(baled silage). I think I am going to put it down to poor feed but now the thing is to get them back up??hindsight is great but I want them in good order for breeding. Over quota too so can afford to feed higher enery lower protein feed, as you say Jeff maybe more wheat??would you recon I could mix straight wheat maybe 1 or 2kgs with premixed ration?

funny man

babybrian wrote: »

dungs are small bit loose but nothing terribly bad considering they are on grass during the day its to be expected. Done for fluke, worms and lice(twice) so thats not an issue. Dry period was >9weeks for all bar 1 which was 8.

I know silage wasnt great at start of housing but it has improved lately(baled silage). I think I am going to put it down to poor feed but now the thing is to get them back up??hindsight is great but I want them in good order for breeding. Over quota too so can afford to feed higher enery lower protein feed, as you say Jeff maybe more wheat??would you recon I could mix straight wheat maybe 1 or 2kgs with premixed ration?

dungs will be loose on grass, i'm talking about dry cows, when you say they were covered for fluke were they done for rumen fluke also.

if over quota would you consider pulling out the thinnest ones and putting them on once a day, i have seen it done in the past by others just for a month to six weeks and the cows turned inside out. Just on the grass if you have very low covers you are making your cows work harder and burning off energy trying to get their fill.

jeff greene

Wouldn’t be in favour of OAD milking but it works for some cows. I would concentrate on the diet first, reducing the CP% of the diet will help, 1-3 kgs of wheat should do. Simple things like having feed always pushed up, clean water troughs, enough space all make a difference


It may be worth doing a bulk tank test to see how they’re for IBR, BVD etc.

milkprofit

put tnem on oad right away while you are sourcing problem check for rumen fluke it is a bitch
we had a problem last year oad was a great help it realy is a help to get them in calf

babybrian

think I might try OAD for a few weeks, there all low SCC cows anyway, herd average 123 last year.. and maybe increase more enery into the ration mix.

Bloods and dung done in October for BVD, IBR, Rumen fluke and stomach fluke and all clear so rules that out.

I'll keep ye posted on progress, thanks

blue5000

If you still have some to calve that are thin you could feed them oats up to calving without increasing calf size.

jeff greene

blue5000 wrote: »

If you still have some to calve that are thin you could feed them oats up to calving without increasing calf size.

Always wondered what was to magic thing with oats was pre calving. It contains starch and fibre like other cereals. A nutritionist told me it myth, what happens is the cow is in better condition and has more energy, is fitter to calve as a result of the extra feed. I never use oats but wheat in pre calvers and have no problems with overgrown calves