Cows dung loose

Madisonmenece

Cows this year seem to very loose , further insult to injury is we are straw bed system and not ideal when cows are so loose.

21 days in we did dose with endospec and a week later with rumenil, with little/no improvement we tested and were on the medium/high for both fluke and went back in with max dose of zanil which should kill all adult stages of both.

Cows are heavy in calf so further dosing is out, however we are thinking could it be silage causing the issue given the dosing programme completed as we did use liquid fertilizer on silage ground for the first time this year.

Has anyone else had similar issue, dung is very loose and contains a lot of air bubbles, sufficient time would have been given for nitrogen to be used.

Does not seem to be affected heifers in first pregnancy.

Cheers

_Brian

Try and get some straw into their feed to introduce some fibre. That might help.

Say my name

Had the same problem with the cows on a straw bedded system too when they went in.

Silage they were on was baled with a bit of rain. Had the quantity and looked ok but they were eating it very fast and I was flying through bedding.
So I bought hay. Cows were eating that fairly well and I was back to bedding every two days as opposed to everyday.
I haven't been giving minerals these past few years as the forage gets supplemented foliar. And it seemingly was working ok. However with the bought in hay I was unsure what calving might bring so I thought a bit what'd go with hay. And salt was always fed with hay. So I bought Pakistani rock salt and they've access to the blocks at the barriers.

They've finished their hay now and are on silage again but it's a different batch of silage. Dryer with the bales lasting for two days as well as their bedding lasting the two days still.

The Pakistani (himalayan) rock salt is lasting very well. It looks like it may last two years. Bought half a ton.

davidk1394

Like Say my name. I baled silage in the rain this year. Heifers go mad for it but it runs through them. I give them 2 bales of dry silage every second day and their fine. Give them some hay or straw and you'll see an improvement.

Madisonmenece

To fair they are on very good silage from young grass and well saved. Hay or haylage or better maize might be needed to cure them.

To be fair condition is good but just doesn't look great when they are passing dung like that.

Also they have access to straw. Cleaned out and 2-3 fresh round bales of barley straw each day, don't seem to be eating this year like other years and it not bad straw but not spring either.

148multi

Madisonmenece wrote: »

To fair they are on very good silage from young grass and well saved. Hay or haylage or better maize might be needed to cure them.

To be fair condition is good but just doesn't look great when they are passing dung like that.

Also they have access to straw. Cleaned out and 2-3 fresh round bales of barley straw each day, don't seem to be eating this year like other years and it not bad straw but not spring either.

When you calving

Madisonmenece

148multi wrote: »

When you calving

First few due 3rd - 5th of Jan

alps

Madisonmenece wrote: »

First few due 3rd - 5th of Jan

Better off with a drier feed closer to calving and maintain gut fill...lessen chance of displacements etc..

Madisonmenece

So we hit a batch of silage that was not grown using liquid fertilizer and within 2 days there was a massive improvement in cows. We have more silage further in the stack Which will be tested to see what is causing the issue, grass would have ample days for nitrogen to be used up.

Vet mentioned perhaps breadsoada would need to be used in the feed to obtain ideal pH when feeding silage causing same

Say my name

I wouldn't be a fan of liquid nitrogen.
If you want to go foliar just use seaweed and molasses and maybe try some biology in the mix if it's made correctly.
Nitrogen is not supposed to be used without a carbon source anyways.

If you get the biology in the soil going it'll produce it's own nitrogen and carbon. This liquid N is a half way house to try and wean people off granular and it's still harming soil biology I'd bet.

Was it drip sprayed or fan nozzle applied?

Madisonmenece

Say my name wrote: »

I wouldn't be a fan of liquid nitrogen.
If you want to go foliar just use seaweed and molasses and maybe try some biology in the mix if it's made correctly.
Nitrogen is not supposed to be used without a carbon source anyways.

If you get the biology in the soil going it'll produce it's own nitrogen and carbon. This liquid N is a half way house to try and wean people off granular and it's still harming soil biology I'd bet.

Was it drip sprayed or fan nozzle applied?

It was applied by fan nozzle, likely not picked but by those diet feeding where the diet is balanced but we usually just feed bale silage and minerals when dry.

Say my name

Madisonmenece wrote: »

It was applied by fan nozzle, likely not picked but by those diet feeding where the diet is balanced but we usually just feed bale silage and minerals when dry.

I'd say what happened was there was just too much nitrogen still in that grass.
I bet you worked off 2units/day for granular application. But foliar is more efficient and needs less N as it 100% goes to the plant whereas I think it's 20% ? efficient the other way.

Madisonmenece

Say my name wrote: »

I'd say what happened was there was just too much nitrogen still in that grass.
I bet you worked off 2units/day for granular application. But foliar is more efficient and needs less N as it 100% goes to the plant whereas I think it's 20% ? efficient the other way.

We would usually allow a week Min with the 2 unit per day, but you are correct likely too high in nitrogen and used so far would have been later cuts so less days of sunshine