Cows milking poorly

cavandown

Cows here have very poor milk yield all year - some giving less than 10 litres a day at present. Grass is good, feeding about 1 kg of meal. Calved march to may. All bvd samples last year and this year negative. Dung samples show low levels of fluke/worm infestation. Adviser says ibr but my vet says you know big time if that my problem and he says they ok. Milk samples show slight presence of bvd, ibr and lepto. Also cows not showing signs of heat. And ideas. New to this boards crack so be patient with me

jaymla627

depressed milk yield/poor fertility are the main signs of ibr, everything here is done with the live vaccine every 6 months with heifer calves being done 3 times in their first year, at 2.40 a dose its not going to break the bank to vaccinate.

yellow50HX

jaymla627 wrote: »

depressed milk yield/poor fertility are the main signs of ibr, everything here is done with the live vaccine every 6 months with heifer calves being done 3 times in their first year, at 2.40 a dose its not going to break the bank to vaccinate.

have you checked the parlour for stray voltage? long shot i know but i'd say you have checked everything else? we had this isuue years ago and cows were very nervous and yeilds were poor. re did the earthing on teh parlour frame and floor and all good again

keep going

Age profile of herd , what sort of treatment did they get this spring.whats your own history-how long are you milking.

6480

cavandown wrote: »

Cows here have very poor milk yield all year - some giving less than 10 litres a day at present. Grass is good, feeding about 1 kg of meal. Calved march to may. All bvd samples last year and this year negative. Dung samples show low levels of fluke/worm infestation. Adviser says ibr but my vet says you know big time if that my problem and he says they ok. Milk samples show slight presence of bvd, ibr and lepto. Also cows not showing signs of heat. And ideas. New to this boards crack so be patient with me

are the cows going into very yellow looking covers of grass , i find these covers dont provide enough energy to a good dairy cow , i keep all the paddocks well bagged and try to cover them every second round with a light spread of watery slurry you should be getting at least 16 litres a day at the min

vinne

cavandown wrote: »

Cows here have very poor milk yield all year - some giving less than 10 litres a day at present. Grass is good, feeding about 1 kg of meal. Calved march to may. All bvd samples last year and this year negative. Dung samples show low levels of fluke/worm infestation. Adviser says ibr but my vet says you know big time if that my problem and he says they ok. Milk samples show slight presence of bvd, ibr and lepto. Also cows not showing signs of heat. And ideas. New to this boards crack so be patient with me

When you say about I kg of meal, is that I kg a day or per milking. Couple of years ago I had problems with fertility, sampled them for everything gave them every mineral on the market no big improvement ,last year increased meals to 3kg per milking, big big improvement,doing the same this year things seem to be going well

bob charles

what way are farmers describing the year Locally, talking to a few at the ploughing and over short distances there seems to have been huge differences in the year and thrive. Talking to friend this morning 50miles from me and he said they had a super year. We have had the opposite. For animals to be back 10ltrs is a huge amount, but for cows having to find all there energy and just get 1kilo of meal per day is some ask if you were hoping they were milking 25 - 30ltrs a day.

manjou

Had a problem with sucklers d few years ago with worst weanlings ever had o grade continentals when should have been u.Bull got themn in calf as did only seen few bulling.Got vet out and told him to randomly blood test 10 cows for everything he could think of.Had lepto and bvd show up but not too bad so vaccinate now but also threw up selenium and copper deficiencies so now do them too things improved next year no end

whelan1

have they been dosed for rumen fluke and as the others said up the meal, what condition score are they?

mahoney_j

My guess and no offence meant I think it's just poor genetics.whT sort of ebi have u got and whats milk sub index

mf240

mahoney_j wrote: »

My guess and no offence meant I think it's just poor genetics.whT sort of ebi have u got and whats milk sub index

The fact that he's asking what's wrong indicates yield is back from other years.

Op minerals, minerals minerals, And more meal. IMO.

jersey101

mf240 wrote: »

The fact that he's asking what's wrong indicates yield is back from other years.

Op minerals, minerals minerals, And more meal. IMO.

+1 never forget the power of minerals

premier10

cavandown wrote: »

All bvd samples last year and this year negative. Dung samples show low levels of fluke/worm infestation. Adviser says ibr but my vet says you know big time if that my problem and he says they ok. Milk samples show slight presence of bvd, ibr and lepto. Also cows not showing signs of heat.

I would be thinking along the lines of it being Ibr as well, If the milk sample is showing up some presence, then it is so for a reason. You will not always have a phsically sick animal with ibr, she carry on for months without its presence fully declaring itself until she becomes stressed. I would vaccinate for ibr, dose fluke & worms at dry off, hopefully tissue testing is covering bvd, you've given it your best shot then.

mahoney_j

premier10 wrote: »

I would be thinking along the lines of it being Ibr as well, If the milk sample is showing up some presence, then it is so for a reason. You will not always have a phsically sick animal with ibr, she carry on for months without its presence fully declaring itself until she becomes stressed. I would vaccinate for ibr, dose fluke & worms at dry off, hopefully tissue testing is covering bvd, you've given it your best shot then.

Nagh don't just dose for fluke and worms on a limb,pools few dung samples and get it tested.if you've antibodies for Ibr then definitely go with 2 live vaccines 6 months apart and then switch to a yearly dead vaccine..an all sure trace bolus would also be worth a try.but I still feel it could be just poor genetics in the herd with a low milk
Apologies just read op.if only low levels of fluke and worms I'd hold off,the fact that you've a lot of silent heats would lead me to believe that you could have low copper and iodine and selenium blood levels in herd.bolus then a must.how have cows preformed other years as regard yield etc?

blackdog1

Test for salmonella. Could cause low milk and scours

Injuryprone

vinne wrote: »

When you say about I kg of meal, is that I kg a day or per milking. Couple of years ago I had problems with fertility, sampled them for everything gave them every mineral on the market no big improvement ,last year increased meals to 3kg per milking, big big improvement,doing the same this year things seem to be going well

Things would want to be going well. You must be feeding over 2t per cow??

mf240

Op I posted already and I stand by the minerals and more meal.

A few thoughts, IBR can be ticking away and if cows have some immunity then you may not see any real clinical signs.

All calves tested clear for bvd. but your milk showed bvd antibodies this may be from exposure at any stage but if they have been exposed to it since the calving season then it may be going through the herd.

Cows not coming into heat or at least not expressing it strongly will most likely be down to lack of energy in diet.

Are your solids lower than usual and are the cows scoury?

delaval

A few questions
1 What has your yield dropped from?
2 Has it been low all year?
3 You calved in March, did they slip from Feb or is it what you wanted?
4 Did you have any problems last year?
5 Good grass, do they have enough for each grazing, though?
6 What are your solids and lactose
7 What's your Scc
8 Were your cows dosed last winter
9 Did you run short of silage and have to buy in this spring?

Very hard to comment without more info

milkprofit

A goat should give 10 lt on gras
Do blood test minerals
Dung sampl
Test milk for diseases
Is water source good plentiful
Observe cows after grazing is stomach full
Get fellow d farmer to observe cows

bob charles

milkprofit wrote: »

Is water source good plentiful

Was with a guy 2 years ago and the cow didn't have the output for their intakes of grub and couldnt figure out what the problem was. As we were chatting we observed a couple of cows at the water troughs and they were just flicking the water with their tongues, the more we observed the more cows came and done the same. the problem - high Iron in the water, cows just not drinking enough. Change supply and within a few days all was perfect

6480

bob charles wrote: »

Was with a guy 2 years ago and the cow didn't have the output for their intakes of grub and couldnt figure out what the problem was. As we were chatting we observed a couple of cows at the water troughs and they were just flicking the water with their tongues, the more we observed the more cows came and done the same. the problem - high Iron in the water, cows just not drinking enough. Change supply and within a few days all was perfect

would the mains water supply be a safer option to use

bob charles

6480 wrote: »

would the mains water supply be a safer option to use

there are plenty on here who would say no. Who's to say there is anything wrong with your supply as it is at the moment? a cheap water test will show up anything that is way out of the ordinary and that might need addressing. Probably 99% of water in Ire is grand mineral wise

manjou

bob charles wrote: »

there are plenty on here who would say no. Who's to say there is anything wrong with your supply as it is at the moment? a cheap water test will show up anything that is way out of the ordinary and that might need addressing. Probably 99% of water in Ire is grand mineral wise

Had to drain all drinkers this year as water was going stagnent in them after a couple of weeks with the warm weather.Funny smell of them if dident.

vinne

Injuryprone wrote: »

Things would want to be going well. You must be feeding over 2t per cow??

I agree things would want to be going well,but they are milking well and in great condition,and hopefully incalf. Every cow not incalf is a big expence

cavandown

Thanks for all your posts and corridor not replying sooner but yesterday was "one of those days". Will try and answer in some sort of order.
IBR seems to be a opinion running through your posts and milk samples did show some level there.
Stray voltage not a problem as been checked.
Cows - half are first to third calvers, rest up to 8 calves and are in my and neighbours opinion in good condition (3-3.5)
Neighbours vary this year - some up and some down performance wise. My worst year in over 20 years milking. Previous years yield around 5000 litres, not high but this year would say about 3500.

Current protein 3.52 last year 3.32
fat 4.34. last year 4.04
lactose 4.43. last year 4.49
cell count 150
EBI of herd. 90
EBI of bulls used 192
prediction of 2014 calves 177
Calving span 390 days - month later than intended.
All cows etc dosed with zanil, fasinex amd eprinex in dry period.
Water ok, scheme, have assess to test results. Colour, odour and taste ok.
Cows got 2kg dry cow ration a day over winter. Silage very poor.
Only feeding kilo per day cos they not giving milk to justify more.

whelan1

what about minerals?

yellow50HX

cavandown wrote: »

Thanks for all your posts and corridor not replying sooner but yesterday was "one of those days". Will try and answer in some sort of order.
IBR seems to be a opinion running through your posts and milk samples did show some level there.
Stray voltage not a problem as been checked.
Cows - half are first to third calvers, rest up to 8 calves and are in my and neighbours opinion in good condition (3-3.5)
Neighbours vary this year - some up and some down performance wise. My worst year in over 20 years milking. Previous years yield around 5000 litres, not high but this year would say about 3500.

Current protein 3.52 last year 3.32
fat 4.34. last year 4.04
lactose 4.43. last year 4.49
cell count 150
EBI of herd. 90
EBI of bulls used 192
prediction of 2014 calves 177
Calving span 390 days - month later than intended.
All cows etc dosed with zanil, fasinex amd eprinex in dry period.
Water ok, scheme, have assess to test results. Colour, odour and taste ok.
Cows got 2kg dry cow ration a day over winter. Silage very poor.
Only feeding kilo per day cos they not giving milk to justify more.

you say the silage was poor, how poor? did you have it tested? the poor silage may have knocked them back and what they are eating is just enough to replace lost energy and have little left for milk.

have you been able to take daily readings from each cow or are you basing it on your tank reading at each collection?

other left field thing is have you checked you tank or system for leaks? i remember finding a leak in my uncle place as a young fella, it was in between the tank house and parlour and was draining into a drain and into the underground tank. he reckoned he was losing a few gallons a day but he yeilds rose again after he fixed it.

can you check your tank level? might be an issue with the counter on the tanker, never happened to us but i have heard of it with other people.

like wealan said how are you for minerals, have you soil samples for this years?

jersey101

cavandown wrote: »

Thanks for all your posts and corridor not replying sooner but yesterday was "one of those days". Will try and answer in some sort of order.
IBR seems to be a opinion running through your posts and milk samples did show some level there.
Stray voltage not a problem as been checked.
Cows - half are first to third calvers, rest up to 8 calves and are in my and neighbours opinion in good condition (3-3.5)
Neighbours vary this year - some up and some down performance wise. My worst year in over 20 years milking. Previous years yield around 5000 litres, not high but this year would say about 3500.

Current protein 3.52 last year 3.32
fat 4.34. last year 4.04
lactose 4.43. last year 4.49
cell count 150
EBI of herd. 90
EBI of bulls used 192
prediction of 2014 calves 177
Calving span 390 days - month later than intended.
All cows etc dosed with zanil, fasinex amd eprinex in dry period.
Water ok, scheme, have assess to test results. Colour, odour and taste ok.
Cows got 2kg dry cow ration a day over winter. Silage very poor.
Only feeding kilo per day cos they not giving milk to justify more.

what was the reading of tbe IBR on your test? Has it been rising through the year? We started vaccinating this year because ours was rising. Seen a big difference in cows calves and heifers showing better heats and jyst all around

cavandown

Can assess all cows individual yield from each milking through alfa parlour and corresponds to tanker tickets. Milk to tank all over head and no leaks. Cows got no dry cow minerals as it meant to be in the dry cow meal. Silage not tested but sour and cut mid July. Cows prefer to eat straw out of round bales that not even mixed with silage

6480

had you enough grass for them all year and of good quailty