CowManagement March 2013

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V O LU M E 11 N O 3 MAR CH 2013

IN THIS ISSUE

UDD E R H E ALT H

G RA SS U PD A TE

G EN OMI CS

Why keeping cows clean at grass is vital

Grazing should be a firm forage ally this summer

Myth busting reveals technology benefits

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CO NTENT

F E A T U R E S

5 Cow Talk 10 Overalls off: Extreme dairying 25 A voncroft Breeding Information/ Thompsons Nutritional News 31 Business basics: Partnerships 35 NMR Dairy Management News 38 Events and contacts R eports 12 Cream of the Jersey crop at Ian Wadmans’ Somerset-based unit C o l umn

16 Roger Evans M A N A G E M E N T

26 Mobile phone technology tightens up daily cow management 32 Trouble shooting: small changes can make a huge difference

Ian Wadman “I aim for heifers that will last in the herd – for at least six lactations” 12

Editor Rachael Porter Spring clean

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pring is almost here and thoughts – with some relief as forage stocks continue to tighten – turn to grazing and silage. If you’re in need of a grass confidence boost, after a dismal 2012 season, read our article on page 36. The ‘green gold’ really is the very best value feed on the farm and the cows will even go outside and harvest it for you!

Summer could get easier still and herd performance could take another step forward if you take advantage of NMR’s Pocket Companion.

Start accessing cow data instantly while you’re out and about – no rushing back to the office to check the latest milk quality figures – if you’re an NMR customer. It’s all there on your ‘smart’ mobile phone. Find out more about it could revolutionise day-to-day management on your unit on page 26.

With cows outside, it’s a good time to assess cow housing. The articles in our special should provide some food for thought. Starting on page 19, we look at the leap forward, in cow comfort terms, that has been made on UK units and ask: what’s next?

Now is also the time to be thinking about tackling poached gateways and repairing or laying cow tracks before turn out. Our article on page 14 highlights why it’s key to preventing the mastitis problems seen on many units in summer 2012.

Business basics is our new column and takes a close look at the structure that’s at the heart of any strong dairy business.

In this issue consultant Charles Holt talks about partnership agreements. Have a read and see if your partnership agreement needs a spring clean.

Main article Genomics

Health Mastitis

Special Housing

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Genomic and daughter breeding values – what’s the difference?

A spring spruce up will help to reduce the risk of mastitis during the summer

Cow housing review: we take a look at cow comfort developments

COW MAN AG E ME N T

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European show win is a UK first A British-owned cow has become the first to win a class at the All-European Championship, held in Fribourg in Switzerland, on March 2.

Riverdane Woelkchen 8, jointly owned

by Mark Nutsford, Isaac Lancaster and Ponderosa Holsteins, took first place, as well as best udder, in her senior cow class.

The five year old, currently yielding 50kg of milk a day at 4.3% butterfat and 3.4% protein, is out of a five generation VG and EX cow and is by a stockbull sired by Comestar Lee. The partners bought her from a German herd, as a two year old, and she formed

part of a group of seven cows that went to the Swiss show. It’s the first time UK exhibitors have taken part.

“We were extremely thrilled to win,” says Mark. “I have to say that it’s one of our greatest achievements as it’s a UK first.

“And it’s proof, if proof was needed, that UK cows and genetics are capable of competing on the European stage.

“I hope that our success will result in a larger delegation entering the next AllEuropean Championship, which will be held in France in 2016.”

European winner: Riverdane Woelkchen 8

Fast-establishing silage ley mixture A short-term, high yielding silage ley mixture called Power Grass has been launched by Limagrain.

Thanks to its ability to establish rapidly, spring-sown leys of the grass will be ready for a first cut by early summer.

Power Grass is a combination of Westerwolds and Italian Ryegrass varieties – both tetraploid and diploid.

This formulation ensures it establishes rapidly and can produce huge yields of forage containing a good balance of sugars, protein and fibre.

The grass mix also benefits from two seed treatments – Headstart and Integral

High-energy feeds essential to get yields on track Spring turnout offers the chance to get yields back on track after a tough winter, but with grazed grass typically capable of supporting just 15 litres per cow per day, high energy buffer feeds will be vital.

So says KW nutritionist Dave Collett, adding that cows are still generally in lower condition than they need to be, and forage stocks for buffer feeding are both low in quality and running out fast.

“Good quality grazing could be the springboard to better yields, but only if properly supported and balanced,” he says.

“Start by making cows in the first 100 days of lactation the top priority.

“Use molasses-based or distillery syrup-based liquid feeds to improve energy supply and palatability if feeding lower quality forages or straw.

“And include rumen-protected fats to keep the overall diet above 12MJ ME/kg DM,” he adds.

– which further boost its establishment rate.

“The shortfall of winter silage stocks following 2012’s wet summer has increased the pressure on many units to get silage clamps filled as quickly as possible,” says the company’s Ian Misselbrook. “Producers who sow the mixture this spring can expect to take a first cut of silage in early summer, with multiple cuts thereafter, followed by some useful back-end grazing.”

Insure against late turnout The majority of producers are crossing their fingers and hoping for an early turnout to help eke out their rapidly disappearing forage supplies, according to NWF’s Neil Warburton. “But there are actions that they can take to help the situation.”

Culling low yielding or barren cows is one. “Work out the cost of your winter ration and if the cows are giving less in milk income then remove these cows from the herd.

“This is no time for ‘passengers’ and you will often see milk production stay the same.”

Feeding more concentrate is another option, if the diet is balanced. “Feeding an extra 1kg of concentrate, be it straights or a

blend or a compound, will displace approximately 3kg of fresh silage.

“For a 150-cow herd this is a saving of nearly 14 tonnes of silage each month. This could make all the difference depending on the time of turnout,” he adds.

Neil Warburton: “Work out the cost of your winter ration”

COW MAN AG E ME N T

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Genomics – it would be a sh

We have the te Dutch AI company CRV uses a lot of genomic selection, or selection on the basis of markers.

Because the subject still provokes many questions, we explain the truth and dispel the myths in relation to genomic selection. text Esther van Elk

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ntil relatively recently, geneticists could only determine the expected value of young bulls without daughter information. The specific genes the offspring had received from its parents, in other words what a bull had actually inherited, was unknown.

But now thanks to genomic selection, which is also referred to as marker selection, they can determine this information at a very early age and with a reasonably significant degree of reliability.

Two full brothers or sisters may have a totally different inheritance. A calf gets half of its genes from its father and the other half from its mother.

That is how the expected genetic value is calculated, and this has a reliability coefficient of around 30%.

This is because not every offspring of a specific pair of parents receives the same genes from its parents, even though their expected value is the same.

An example of two full brothers with a totally different inheritance can be seen in Slogan and Addison. While Slogan, with –262kg of milk, +0.22% fat, and +0.11% protein, is a real high contents bull, Addison is a tremendous milk yield bull with +1,937kg of milk, –0.82% fat, and –0.27% protein. Slogan scores 99 for udder health and 104 for fertility, while Addison scores 108 and 93, respectively, for these two traits.

Additional tool Genomic selection can be used at an early stage to identify which specific genes a young animal has received from its two parents. The Dutch AI company CRV is, therefore, much better able to determine which of the full brothers or half brothers have the best genes.

“Genomic selection is, in addition to expected value, an extra tool for selection,” says CRV’s head of breeding technology Pieter van Goor. In a previous role he was responsible for the Delta Nucleus programme and the selection of bull mothers. He witnessed Kian, Paramount, and Fidelity, among

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d be a shame not to use it

he technology others, right from the beginning. “Thanks to genomic selection we can say, with a reliability coefficient of 60%, what specific genes an offspring has received from its parents,” explains Mr van Goor. “It would therefore be a shame if CRV did not make use of selection on the basis of markers.”

At the beginning of the 1990s, the genes were discovered that are responsible for hair colour, red factor, and genetic defects such as BLAD and CVM. Hair colour and genetic defects are determined by a specific gene, but there are also characteristics that are determined by several genes, such as milk inheritance.

Finding these specific genes is a difficult process, which is why markers have been developed. These are small, identifiable pieces of DNA that reside close by the gene. A marker provides information about that gene and the genetic tendencies of the animal. A marker test is a pretty good way of predicting what the animal has inherited.

This is nothing more than a total of positive and negative markers of the DNA that the animal has received from its parents. This technology has developed enormously over time.

It started with the recognition of one marker, and now we have as many as 55,000 markers at our disposal. The mystery of DNA is being increasingly unravelled in this way. “Through collaboration between various European participants in EuroGenomics, we now have a reference population of more than 25,000 reliable breeding bulls,” says Mr van Goor. “Each of these bulls has a large number of daughters active on dairy units. The number ranges from a few hundred to more than 100,000 daughters, such as in the case of Kian.

“The breeding values of the bulls from this reference population are therefore extremely reliable.

Consequently, we have an enormous repository of information concerning a total of between 20 and 25 million dairy cows.”

DNA research All bulls in the reference populations, such as those that inherit high milk yield or high contents potential or are udder improvers, provide information. “We use this information to estimate the genomic breeding values of the bull and heifer calves that do not yet have their own daughters milking in a herd,” says Mr van Goor.

The reliability of the genomic breeding value for NVI is now 60% and this percentage will increase further in the future. The reliability on the basis of the expected value alone is between 30% and 35%.

“During the past 20 years, a lot of gains have been

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Genomic and daughter breeding values – what’s the difference? breeding value deviates by less than 40 NVI points. And only 18% of bulls drop by more than 40 points, and 18% rise by more than 40 points.

basis of the 60% reliability. This figure indicates that, in 64% of cases, the difference between the genomic breeding value and the daughter 18% negative variance

64% minor variance

18% positive variance

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Figure 1: Changes in NVI in the first 505 genomic bulls whose daughters are now being milked

made in this area – we have learned so much more about DNA.” Mr van Goor indicates that DNA research also seems to be fully accepted in society.

“Just think about human medicine in relation to various forms of cancer.”

CRV switched from test bulls, for which just the expected value was known, to marker-selected bulls. With these ‘InSire’ bulls it is not just the expected value but also the effects of the markers are taken into account.

Since August 2010, the foundation GES

change reliability NVI Inet index life span total score udder health fertility

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>–1 00

number of bulls

In practice, the genomic breeding values and the breeding values on the basis of the daughters are closely related.

Geneticists know this because, so far, 505 bulls that have a genomic breeding value have now received a daughterbased proof.

Table 1 shows what the differences are for these 505 bulls between the most recent genomic breeding values and their daughter breeding values.

The mean variance from the genomic breeding value is small. The spread of the breeding value life span is 270 days.

Figure 1 indicates that changes in NVI may occur between genomic breeding value and the breeding value on the basis of daughters. This is not unusual or unexpected.

These changes are to be expected on the

(%) +23,1 –2,2 +1,0 –18,0 –0,6 –0,2 –0,1

Table 1: Difference by feature between the most recent genomic breeding value and the breeding value on the basis of daughters

(Genetische Evaluatie Stieren – genetic evaluation of bulls) has been calculating official genomic breeding values for InSire bulls. The genomic breeding value comprises 50% information on the basis of pedigree and 50% marker information.

This can vary by breeding value, however.

By using marker technology, we can now ascertain, with a reasonable degree of reliability, what an animal will inherit.

“We would be really crazy were we not to use this extremely valuable information,” concludes Mr van Goor. l

With his latest genomic breeding value in December 2011, Het Broek Silky (pictured is daughter Liesje 94) scored +837kg milk, +22kg fat, +29kg protein and 182 NVI. Now, with 113 milking daughters, he’s scoring +932kg milk, +15kg fat, +30kg protein and 227 NVI

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C OWMANAGEMENT

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+44(0) 1237 42 5000 or visit:

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O V E R A L L s

Name: Location: Herd size: Hobbies:

O F F

Richard Gibson Exmoor 120 cows Fundraiser and anthropologist

Richard Gibson: “It was certainly nothing like dairying in the UK”

Perseverance text Rachael Porter

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he toughest place to be a dairy producer. That’s where Devon-based producer Richard Gibson decided he’d like to spend some of his free time in 2012, with a BBC camera crew on hand to record every step, struggle and triumph.

It all started when he saw a letter asking for people to call a number if they were interested in taking part in the TV programme. Just a few weeks later, in September 2012, Richard found himself on the way to the airport, not knowing his exact final destination. “I knew it was going to be somewhere hot because I’d been told to get vaccinations and was also on a course of malaria tablets,” he says.

North east Kenya is very different to ‘tourist’ Kenya, with its safaris and hotels. “The clue is in the name of the TV series – Toughest place to be a … This area of the country is bordered by Somalia to the right and Ethiopia to the north,” says Richard.

His 15-day experience involved living with the Samburu tribe in one of the villages in the region with a host family. Their farming involves herding cattle and goats in a very arid area – there had been no rain for a year – and finding water and grazing to ultimately keep their animals and themselves alive.

“It was certainly nothing like dairying – or living – in the UK.” The tribe had 30 cattle, including four milkers, and 70 goats.

“I couldn’t see what there was for them to eat at all to start with, but they pretty much survive on dried, dead grass.”

Water was ‘found’ in the river bed: “It was a kilometre wide, but completely dry. We had to dig down to around 1.5 metres and that would be enough to find a pool of water about 15cm deep.

The cows produced about 0.5 litres of milk each day and he says they were lucky to get a couple of egg cups full from the goats.

But it was enough for these people to survive on.”

Richard ate just one meal a day – maize meal with water, washed down with smoked milk. “The gourds used to collect the milk are tipped up and dried over a fire, which gave the milk a smoky flavour.”

He says it was a truly amazing experience. “The people I stayed and worked with were very generous and welcoming, even though they were living on a knife edge. They didn’t moan – they just got on with it.”

The experience has changed him: “It really puts everything in perspective. I can see the bigger picture now. That said, I soon got fed up with the rain again when I got home!”

Richard is raising money to improve the quality of life for the Samburu tribe, starting with a borehole.

If you’d like to make a donation, or to find out more about his experience, visit www.aidforsamburu.org.uk You can also make a donation by text. Text ASAM13 to 70070 to donate £1, £5 or £10.

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COW MAN AG E ME N T 2012

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High yields are a positive ‘side effect’ of good feeding and breeding

Cream of the Jersey crop No one was more surprised to hear that his Somerset-based herd had topped NMR’s latest Annual Production Report than Ian Wadman. Here the stunned and humble producer shares the secret of his family’s dairying success, as well as the factors behind their two herds’ efficient and list-leading milk production. text Rachael Porter

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wo Jersey herds, both owned and run by the Wadman family from Holton near Wincanton in Somerset, are new to the top 1% of Jersey herds in the latest NMR Annual Production Report (APR).

The report ranks all recorded herds based on fat and protein production for the year ending September 2012.

Both herds are managed as one group at Elliscombe Farm. Ian’s pedigree ‘Elliscombe’ herd, comprising 16 cows, takes top place and averaged 7,283kg of milk with 772kg of fat and protein. His family’s 200-cow pedigree ‘Wisteria’ herd

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takes second place with 6,772kg of milk and 731kg of fat and protein and a calving interval of 390 days.

Despite heading the milk production table for the breed Ian says that he and brothers Laurence and Andrew, who manage the cows with help from mother Jean and father Claude, are not chasing yield. “Taking the top slot was a huge and pleasant surprise, but it’s not something that we’ve directly set out to do. It’s just a side effect, for want of a better description, of what we strive to do – manage and feed the herd as efficiently

as possible and use the best genetics available to us,” says Ian. The herd is managed on a TMR-based system, with cows housed in a cubicle shed during the winter and grazed and buffer fed during the summer. Turn out is usually after first-cut silage has been made – around the end of May. They’re re-housed in October ‘when conditions start to get too wet’.

All cows are fed a TMR, comprising grass and maize silage, home-grown crimpled wheat and rolled oats, molasses, and a protein blend. This provides maintenance plus 25 litres. Individual cows are topped up in the parlour with an 18% protein concentrate.

Forage quality suffered in summer 2012.

Grass silage quality was compromised by the wet weather, with cuts taken later than in a typical year. “But quality wasn’t as bad as that on some units, so we can’t complain too much,” says Ian. Maize silage yields were also down by around 40%, which was a shocker. “But we’ve managed well, as our production figures show. I think our yields were

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Balanced ration: feeding has increased milk constituents yield for the two herds

this should rise to 39ppl in February. So we can’t complain about that.”

Sire selection

down slightly this winter, but milk constituents were up to around 6.50% butterfat and 3.95% protein. Our milk price is around 38ppl at the moment and

Ian’s domain is breeding: “I choose all the bulls for the entire herd and we use the AltaMate programme, through NMR, to best match these bulls to individual cows,” he says, adding that all heifers are run with the unit’s two home-bred Jersey bulls. “As are any cows that fail to hold to first service. That said, we only use Jersey semen on the top 50% of the herd, the other half is served with Aberdeen Angus semen and that results in some excellent beef crosses.”

The resulting calves are reared and finished at 24 months and provide a vital income stream for the business. “It’s a good cross, producing excellent beef cattle – we sold one recently for more than £1,000 – and the sires offer easy calving too,” explains Ian. On the Jersey side, Ian prefers North American sires and avoids sires that are negative on fat and protein. “We need plenty of that – we supply Wyke Farms with milk for cheese making.”

A minus score for yield is also a no no, but he’s not really looking for yield. He definitely avoids any bulls that score below two for type: “Because I want to produce heifers that will last in the herd – for at least six lactations. The herd average is five or six, but we have some milkers in their tenth.”

Type is important from a longevity perspective – he’s looking for strongly attached udders and good teat placement.

And good feet and legs too, of course. Ian likes to show his Jerseys, but says he rarely has the time nowadays. His father Claude was heavily into showing and he travelled the world, judging in countries including Denmark and South Africa. But he’s retired from judging now.

Farm shop As if there wasn’t enough to keep the family busy, the unit also has a small farm shop that sells unpasteurised milk and Jersey cream, as well as butter from Wyke Farms, eggs and potatoes.

“We bottle the milk straight from the tank and have a loyal and strong customer base, which includes local shops and pubs,” says Ian, adding that the shop works on a ‘trust’ basis with customers Bottle business: milk is sold ‘straight from the tank’ to a loyal customer base

Ian Wadman This family business comprises two dairy herds – both topping the Jersey production rankings. And it’s all down to attention to detail.

Number of cows: Herd averages: Somatic cell count: Milk price:

216 cows 7,283kg and 6,772kg 100,000 cells/ml 38ppl

paying into an honestly box. “So the only labour is bottling – we’re not standing in a shop all day or continually running across the farm to serve customers.”

Labour saving Another labour saving move, and one of the most recent investments at the unit, was to install an automatic cluster washing system in the unit’s Fullwood 16:16 herringbone parlour. “We wanted to save on labour – we didn’t have a mastitis or cell count problem. But, as well as shaving an hour off daily milking time, the system has also resulted in a drop in somatic cell count,” says Ian. “We were running at between 150,000 cells/ml and 160,000 cells/ml, but we’re now down to around 100,000 cells/ml and we’ve even seen it as low as 70,000 cells/ ml.” He says that they plumped for T H White’s award-winning AirWash Plus system because it could be installed without having to replace the parlour’s existing clusters. Mastitis cases have also fallen, from around 30 cases per 100 cows per year to 20 cases.

“The system does two jobs – it cleans the clusters and dips the cows’ teats – and it fits our set up. It was ideal for our unit and I think we’ll have recouped the cost of the £17,000 installation in just two years.”

And what about the herd – where will it be in two years? “Still close to the top of the rankings, we hope. If we maintain the current level of attention to detail, and keep a close eye on breeding, feeding and day-to-day management, I think we can stay there.” l

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A spring spruce up will help to reduce the risk of mastitis during the summer

Keep ‘em clean Repairing cow tracks, gateways and any other poached areas will help to avoid an ‘environmental’ disaster this coming grazing season. Read on to find out why so many herds’ udder health status took a dive during one of the wettest summers on record.

Hugh Black: “I’m a huge fan of pre-dipping teats, with a licensed product”

text Rachael Porter

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xtremely wet weather in summer 2012 didn’t just play havoc with grazing, silage stocks, milk yields and fertility. To add insult to injury, an increase in the number of cases of environmental mastitis was another unwelcome side effect.

NMR data shows that somatic cell counts rose in the six months between May and October 2012 – a period that usually sees figures dip slightly. And many producers certainly reported increased SCCs as well as significantly more cases of clinical mastitis.

Rates doubled In fact some grazing herds saw the rate of new cases of mastitis double in July alone, according to Cornwall-based dairy vet Phil Elkins, director of Westpoint Veterinary Group’s Winnard’s Perch practice.

With 40 dairy clients, managing a total of 12,000 cows and an average herd size of 300 cows, he saw a significant increase in environmental mastitis caused by E coli and Strep Uberis, between May and September, caused by the wet weather.

“We saw between 30% and 40% more cases of mastitis in summer 2012 among our grazing herds than we would in a typical year. The herd hardest hit saw twice the number of cases in July 2012, compared with the same month in 2011.”

At an average of £250 a case, these producers suffered significant financial losses, as well as the knock-on effect of raised somatic cell counts and the increased risk of repeat cases in the same lactation.

Mr Elkins says that he also saw far too many freshly calved cows picking up

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E coli mastitis when out at grass.

“Conditions were perfect for the bacteria – they don’t do so well when the ground is dry.

“Herds were out grazing one day and then back inside the next. Fields were poached and muddy and the cows were dirty. Dirty feet and legs means dirty udders and that results in an increase in environmental mastitis,” he says.

“So now is the time to take a close look at cow tracks, gateways and any other areas prone to poaching. Preventing environmental mastitis is all about keeping cows clean. Clean cows means clean udders.”

He adds that a clean teat end will harbour around 150,000 bacteria.

“A thorough teat preparation routine – a warm pre-dip followed by a dry wipe – should reduce this by around 90% and that’s the best you can expect.

“A dirty teat end will be host to around a million bacteria and the same cleaning routine will also reduce this by 90%, but that leave 100,000 still on the teat,” he explains. So keeping cows and teats clean is vital when trying to control mastitis in the summer.”

Clean cows DairyCo extension officer Hugh Black agrees that keeping cows clean is key to reducing the risk of mastitis during the summer. “Around 94% of mastitis cases are caused by environmental pathogens.

Just 6% are caused by contagious bugs.

So there’s huge potential to make a difference here by keeping cows clean and by putting a thorough teat-cleaning system in place in the milking parlour,” he says.

“The latter is extremely important,

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particularly when cows are outside, because research has shown that Strep Uberis can survive in the soil for up to four weeks. If cows are kicking up mud in wet, poached fields then they’re spreading it about.

“So avoid set stocking for more than two weeks and always let pasture ‘rest’ for a month. Churned up soil is a risk factor, as are puddles and boggy areas of fields and cow tracks. Any area where cows congregate, such as under trees in hot weather, can pose a risk.”

Phil Elkins: “One of our herds saw twice the usual number of mastitis cases in July 2012”

Mr Black would also like to see grazing fields with multiple entrances and exits, to avoid poaching. He likes to see cow tracks laid on a camber to allow water to drain off, rather than create pools. “Any areas that creates a splash – be it water, mud or slurry – is a risk and producers should look to eliminate these wherever possible.”

That’s no easy task, but the cleaner the cows are when they enter the parlour, the more effective a pre-dip and teat cleaning programme will be.

“I’m a huge fan of pre-dipping, with a licensed product that offers a 30 to 40 second contact kill time. In fact, I think that pre-dipping is more important than post dipping in herds with a severe environmental mastitis problem.”

Mastitis data Something else he’d like to see more producers doing is recording more accurate clinical mastitis data and then analysing it with their vet and/or their DairyCo mastitis control plan deliverer.

“The same problems often occur at the same time every year and recording data allows a pattern to emerge. It’s the only way to pin point what’s causing mastitis problems and then tackle them head on.”

Mr Elkins adds that, if 2013 also proves to be a wet year, producers also need to remember one other word – consistency.

“Cows don’t cope well with inconsistency – it stresses them and stress can lower immunity. So, if you re-house your herd because conditions are too wet, keep them inside for a month or up to six weeks. This will give the ground plenty of time to dry out and avoid poaching.”

It also avoids the stress of frequent changes in the ration. “Large dietary changes – for example 10kgDM grass one day followed by grass silage the next – can be a huge shock to the rumen.

Nutritional stress can also suppress cow immunity, making her more prone to infections such as mastitis.”

Herd somatic cell counts and mastitis rates have only just started to settle down again. The knock-on effects of the increased prevalence in the summer were still being felt in December and January, according to Mr Elkins.

“So that’s something else to keep in mind if conditions are wet again in 2013. Make a decision early, stick to it and avoid the misery of environmental mastitis.” l For more information, visit www.dairyco. org.uk/mastitis

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Award-winning columnist and Shropshire-based dairy producer Roger Evans shares his cross-breeding ‘epiphany’ and sees positive changes ahead with more milk from forage and an easier life.

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ome of us cross breed our black-and-white cows. Some of us don’t.

The black-and-white purists tend to look down on us a bit. Well, that’s what it feels like sometimes. It feels as if we have crossed a social divide. I’m struggling for an analogy here. I can’t say it’s a sort of ‘coming out’ because that’s not politically correct.

The best one I can think of is being a farmer around here and putting a Labour poster up on the tree at the end of your drive during the general election. That’s the sort of comparison I’m looking for. The rest of local society would be polite, but you’d never be one of them again. You’d never be asked to read a lesson at the Harvest Festival.

But to be honest, we don’t care. Because the place we have chosen for ourselves is a better place than where we were.

It reminds me of New Zealand sheep farming, where one person can only look after so many sheep. They could only visit each flock once a week, even at lambing time. So, due to the way they were looked after, a natural selection process took place within the sheep – a sort of survival of the fittest scenario. So they ended up with sheep that only needed looking after once a week and the system ended up being called ‘easy care’.

That’s what a cross-bred herd brings with it – easy care. Easy care equals fewer costs. They are easier to get in calf and, having got them in calf, they calve easier. They get in to their lactation stride easier and, because you are not chasing 10,000-litre yields but something nearer 7,000, there are fewer digestive problems, fewer twisted stomachs, fewer everything.

You get more milk from forage and you find that you have not only an easier life, but that you are also making more money. They’ve usually got better feet so the foot trimmer comes less often and isn’t with you for as long. They run down the track on their ‘better feet’ and graze harder and longer. I don’t know if you’ve noticed but grazed grass is cheaper than anything else you can feed.

I was at a mastitis meeting yesterday. We were on a farm where they have used cross breeding to good effect. It just crossed my mind that we possibly needed to move on with our approach to mastitis. By all means do everything you possibly can to prevent mastitis, both in the way we look after our cows and the conditions they live in.

But doesn’t our treatment need to change? Don’t we need to stop worrying about cows with persistent mastitis problems – the chronic cows? Shouldn’t we say to ourselves ‘three cases and you’re out’?

Shouldn’t we say that’s twice I’ve treated that quarter, you are now a three-quartered cow? By striving to cure cows with chronic mastitis, are we not just perpetuating the legacy we had with conventional black-and-white herds? Shouldn’t we just rear more replacements and cull harder?

The farm assurance bods might say your replacement rate is too high.

But the medical profession would say that your reduced use of antibiotics is highly commendable. And isn’t this just how you could end up with an ‘easy care’ herd of cows?

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Cow housing review: we look back – and forward – at cow-comfort developments. Page 20 What’s new? A round up of some of latest housing products and research. Page 23

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Cow comfort has improved considerably in recent years on UK dairy units

Life’s a beach During the past decade using sand to bed cubicles has become the gold standard. Producers are also increasingly recognising the important role that housing design and bedding has to play not only with regard to udder health, but also overall cow health, production and efficiency. text Rachael Porter

Richard Davies: “Ventilation requires more attention”

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ive-star accommodation? Not quite, but UK producers are certainly getting close as far as cow comfort is concerned. Not only has the past 10 years seen a significant increase in producers installing mattresses and mats in cubicles, the bedding materials have also evolved with more and more producers opting for sand, rather than straw or sawdust.

Sand has certainly taken off,

according to The Dairy Group’s dairy housing consultant Brian Pocknee.

“Trials have shown that cows do tend to lie down for longer periods on sand beds and that mastitis incidence can also be reduced. But, like anything else, sand has to be installed and managed properly.

Sand management “Sand is inert – no bacteria can grow in it provided it’s clean and dry. But if it’s

wet and dirty and poorly managed then it can become a threat to udder health – just like any other bedding material.

He stresses that sand is not for every body. “It won’t suit every system. If you have slats it’s a non starter and the same if you have a weeping wall slurry system.”

Some contractors may also refuse to carry out slurry handling and spreading work on units using sand as bedding.

“Sand and machinery don’t mix well.

Soft sand: properly managed, this bedding is hard to beat in terms of comfort

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Sand-bedding solutions Such is the increase in popularity of sand-bedded cubicles that machinery has now been developed to help producers manage them.

A UK company, Kitt Agri, is offering a range of these time and labour saving machines to aid efficient management of sand bed systems. The range of kit is well established in the US, where sand beds originated, but brand new to the UK market.

Cubicle bases are usually constructed with a 2% slope from front to back. With a rubber mattress this allows milk and urine to flow down the slope to the manure alley. “But, in the case of a sand bed, producers tend to put more sand at the front to achieve this slope and this is difficult to maintain as the cow will try to move the sand back towards the heel stone,” explains the company’s Tim Hamilton. “When the sand becomes lower at the front than at the back, the cow could find it more difficult to get up.”

Constant ‘grooming’ of the sand is a critical part of management. Recent research from the University of British Columbia found that sand level is linked to lying time. “As sand level drops below the curb, cows spend less time lying in the stall. Lying times decrease by 10 minutes for every 1cm decrease in sand level below the curb.

“If sand is added only once every three days, and not groomed in between, we can soon lose between 20 and 30 minutes of lying time, as well as the associated milk production loss and possible effect on lameness,” says Mr Hamilton.

Cubicles should, therefore, be filled frequently to maintain a sand level up to the top of the heel stone at the back of the stall. This would require a sand level of up to 12.5cm higher at the front of the stall immediately after filling and no lower than the level of the heel stone when refilling is required.

Mr Hamilton adds that deep sand beds should be cleaned out completely every six to 12 months as the bedding becomes contaminated with milk urine and manure.

The company’s products include a range of side shooter buckets, designed to spread sand or sawdust into free stall barns and to back fill plus many other applications.

The bucket contains a positive-drive conveyor that dispenses material from either side.

A range of adjustable alley scrapers,

which can be hydraulically adjusted to multiple alley widths, are also available, as are attachments such as the Sandman, which is designed to aerate, slope and groom sand cubicles in one step without the drudgery of hand raking.

“This will increase cow comfort, promoting higher yields and create a cleaner, drier and properly sloped cow bed to minimise bacteria growth,” says Mr Hamilton.

The Extractor removes soiled and bacteria-laden sand from the stall. The auger removes and directs the bedding into the aisle for clean up by bucket.

And the Mat Mate is designed to brush off organic matter from rubber mattresses more effectively than hand brushing.

The sprayer then applies a thin coat of detergent to prevent bacterial growth and promote udder hygiene.

Sand causes a lot of wear and tear on equipment.”

But those that do have it swear by it. And they’re also acutely aware of the added ‘cow comfort’ bonus. “Who wouldn’t want to lie on a soft, sandy beach for long periods of time? That’s exactly what cows do on well-managed sand bedded cubicles. All producers want to see cows lying for up to 12 hours a day, chewing the cud and producing milk, and, if you get cow comfort right, then you’re likely to get that.”

Dr Pocknee says that the penny has finally dropped with regard to cow comfort and production. “Producers are much more aware of the link between the two and many have seen evidence

of it on their own units. Something small, like removing or repositioning a ‘restrictive’ head rail in a row of cubicles, can encourage cows to lie down – and for longer – and will have a myriad of positive effects on the herd; From reduced lameness and mastitis rates, through to better fertility and improved milk yields.

“If a cow is stressed, because she can’t easily lie down or lie down comfortably for long periods of time, this will impact on health, fertility, production and efficiency.”

DairyCo’s cow housing specialist Richard Davies agrees: “Producers are aware of the benefits that improved cow comfort can bring. Many producers say that the

benefits of installing new cubicles or putting up a new cow house can be seen in the milking parlour. They also see a reduction in swollen hocks, bumps and bruises.”

Side shooter: designed to spread sand – or sawdust – into cubicles

Larger cows Mr Davies says that many cow houses were built in the 70s and 80s, when grant funding was available. “These facilities are now well past their best and the cows that they’re housing are completely different to those that they accommodated 30 or 40 years ago.”

Back then, the average weight of a cow was about 200kg lighter than today – and cows were obviously smaller by default.

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“But some producers are still trying to fit today’s cows in the same cubicles and shed, when they need larger cubicles, wider passageways and bigger sheds.”

The recommended cubicle width has stayed the same, but length has increased. “Now it should be at least 2.7m long – that’s about 0.3m longer than you see on units that need updating,” says Dr Pocknee.

“Passageways need to be wider too. Cubicle house walk ways are typically around 2.5m wide, but closer to 3.5m is the ideal.

This improves social interaction and also aids heat detection as cows can display signs of oestrus more easily.”

He adds that feed passageways should be wider still, with most at around 3.6m and the ideal being around 4.5m.

“These figures have changed during the past decade due to our increased knowledge about cow behaviour and how they interact with each other.”

More air Despite progress in cubicle design and bedding during the past 20 years, little improvement has been made in ventilation. “I’d estimate that 50% of new buildings still fail to offer adequate ventilation,” says Dr Pocknee. “There’s just not enough air movement in many cow houses.”

He says that ventilation must be improved during the next decade. “We have to get it right, particularly as there’s a move to herds being housed all year round.

“Producers would do well to remember that a 650kg Holstein cow will produce about 10 litres of moisture per day in respiration, so a 100-cow herd will produce around 1,000 litres of water a day.

“If that can’t escape through ventilation then it falls back onto the bedding and the cows. And a wet bed is a breeding ground for bacteria.

“As far as I know, no animal has ever died from having too much fresh air,” he adds.

DairyCo’s Richard Davies agrees that ventilation still requires attention on many units. “It’s something that tends to be forgotten about. I see speak to quite a few producers who have put up new buildings and then come to us for advice because the ventilation isn’t adequate.

“It’s important to consult before you put up a new building as it’s much trickier to put something like that right later on.

“The good news is that sorting out ventilation is rarely expensive – it’s a matter of getting the inlet and outlet sizes right. And fresh air is free,” he adds.

Handling facilities Something else that Mr Davies would like to see more of during the next 10 years is handling facilities. “It’s an area that requires attention on many units and, again, it’s something that can be solved without a huge investment.”

He says that a shedding system is essential on every dairy unit.

“It saves time, labour and reduces the amount of stress on the cows – and staff.

“There’s nothing worse than trying to separate five or six cows out from a 200-cow herd. It takes two people, who often end up frustrated, and the cows get stressed too.

“If your vet charges by the hour, it could be a particularly good investment. If he arrives and the cows he needs to see are waiting for him in the holding pen then everyone’s happy.” l For your free copy of DairyCo’s housing guide, visit www.dairyco.org. uk/resources-library/technical-information/buildings/dairy-housing-abest-practice-guide/

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Products and research to improve cow accommodation and productivity

Cow-comfort options A cubicle that offers a softer landing, new research from Bristol University on continually housed cows’ outdoor choices, and an easy-to-use interlocking footbath. All innovative equipment and interesting research that could help you to improve your cow housing. text Rachael Porter

The great outdoors More than 55% of continuously housed cows engaged in outside activities when given a free choice.

That was the finding of a study, carried out at Reading University, to investigate the behaviour of continuously housed cows given free choice to access an outside environment while fed a TMR indoors, and some of the factors influencing their choice of indoor versus outdoor environments.

“The cubicle housing provided cooler internal temperatures and more indoor activity was observed with this housing system,” says Dave

Cow-comfort cubicle

A hybrid cubicle, known as the Cowcoon, has been launched by Coleraine-based Wilson Agri. The cubicle is designed to make housing dairy cows safer, cleaner and more comfortable by using high-density polyethylene to replace traditional steel components, which the

Humphries, who led the trail. “As the temperature outside increased, cows moved indoors housing preference shifted to indoors with only 51% of cows choosing to remain outside at temperatures above 27°C. “This suggests that if housing conditions could be optimised to suit the cows’ requirements then continuous housed systems would have less impact on normal cow behaviour.”

The study also indicated that, when attempting to quantify cow behaviour in terms of housing preference, the type of housing, season and

temperature during the period of observation will have an influence on cow behaviour.

The trial was conducted with an average of 27 high yielding lactating Holstein dairy cows.

Cows were housed in one of two systems in separate buildings: cubicles or a straw yard.

The study also showed that temperature tended to have an influence on behaviour. A total of 77% of cows engaged in outside activity when the temperature was less than 17°C. This fell to 51% of cows at more than 27°C.

company says can injure animals and are also liable to corrosion.

“We’ve introduced a more flexible, yet ductile, component in a place on the cubicle that cows often settle against and that can often lead to injury if an animal falls heavily in the stall,” says

the company’s Andrew Wilson. “The component is also easier and cheaper for the producer to replace.

“It acts as a sort of shock absorber reducing the load on fixings and virtually eliminates corrosion,” he adds.

cleaner and working more efficiently with greater efficacy. The interlocking footbath is 690mm wide and is designed to fit in standard cattle races, which are predominately 738mm, between panels.

The footbath’s low entry height of 150mm ensures that animals are less nervous when entering the footbath. And its flat bottom and five anti-slip bars are designed to slow the cows’ progress through

the bath, ensuring that the feet are adequately bathed in the solution without aggravating any inter-digital lesions.

Interlocking footbath A narrow interlocking footbath, which enables producers to join two, three or even four footbaths together in sequence without the worry of slippage and a gap appearing between baths, has been added to JFC’s range.

The new FB7 will also allow producers to put clean water in the first bath, either as a cleanser or as a receptacle for urine and faeces.

This leaves the remaining baths, which contain medicated solutions,

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BREEDING INFORMATION

Choose Silky for outstanding udder health and conformation Extremely healthy udders with high breeding values for udder conformation – that’s Het Broek Silky. With his longevity of +630 days and high milk, fat and protein, this bull ensures high lifetime production in his daughters.

Silky will breed phenomenal udders in his daughters with particularly high rear udders (112) and shallow udder depth (109). In addition, he inherits extremely healthy udders, with a breeding value for udder health of no less than 111 and a breeding value of 110 for somatic cell count (–24 SCC).

In addition he has an exceptional longevity score of +630 days. Together with his good functional overall type score of 109 and his excellent health properties this ensures that his daughters can handle high lifetime production (+444 kg of milk, +14.2kg –0.04% fat, 17.1 kg +0.03% protein) effortlessly and without much trouble.

His persistency score is 108.

Het Broek Silky daughter Liesje 94

Het Broek Silky daughter Corrie 251

Silky’s good qualities are strongly rooted in his genes. His father, Mascol, also gives beautiful and healthy udders to his daughters, as well as a long and productive life. On the maternal side you also see excellent udders backed by high production. The dam of Silky, Oeli 1390 VG87, with VG86 udder, is a Jocko Besn daughter who produced in four lactations no less than 67,801kg of milk.

She was a large, long cow with great strength and width. Silky’s breeder believes in keeping the length and width in his cows.

“Mascol just missed that length and height, but these characteristics are present throughout this cow family.”

High percentages

New daughter proven bulls Delta Atlantic Ramos x O Man x Jocko Health and longevity specialist.

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Behind Silky is an extremely impressive cow family. This consists of six generations of cows with an average lifetime production of no less than 81,412kg of milk with high percentages.

“They are all classy animals with quality udders. In addition, their low somatic cell counts are very noticeable.”

Silky was genomically selected as a young bull and has proven himself with a daughter proof based on 113 daughters in 96 herds for production and 54 daughters in 47 herds for type. Silky, who is easy calving (105) with a PLI of £131, is priced at £18 a straw. He is also a ‘O Man free’ bull who will command widespread use. For further details of Het Broek Silky call Avoncroft for free on 0800 7831880.

Hjr Windstar Spencer x O Man x Ronald Highly productive and healthy cows. From the same cow family as Fiction RF.

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New Top InSire bulls MS Eusebio Atlantic x Goldwyn x Paramount Production and health specialist whose cow family goes back to Delta Esmeralda.

MS Eugenie, granddam

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Herd data ‘on the run’ offers scope to tighten up daily cow management

Mobile management – the way forward It’s not just the city slickers that use ‘apps’ and mobile phones to stay at the top of their game. Dairy producers are doing the same. The arrival of mNMR six months ago – the ‘m’ being ‘mobile’ – is bringing essential data right to the ‘coal face’, be that the parlour, the collecting yard or the calving pen. text Karen Wright

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ow useful is it being able to check details on a bulling cow in the yard?

Or get milk quality details while you’re milking? This is exactly what some producers are now doing, thanks to smart phones and the new – and first of its kind – mNMR. “We’ve developed the mobile website mNMR and the software Pocket Companion that accesses vital herd details that are needed on a day-to-day basis,” says NMR’s Justin Frankfort.

“It’s easy to use, free to all producers and has just the information that we know herd staff need while they’re on the move. The essentials are a smart phone – iPhone, Blackberry or in fact any android or Windows7 phone – and internet

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access. Most rely on 3G internet which is widely available across the UK.” Before developing Pocket Companion, NMR looked at the traffic on its webbased Herd Companion site and analysed which reports – including the iReports – were visited most frequently.

“Pocket Companion must have key management data that is quickly accessible and immediately beneficial to producers – and their vets and advisers – as they are working with the cows. These were earmarked for including in Pocket Companion.”

Main gateway One producer who has welcomed the new development is Rob Sercombe who runs

his family’s dairy unit near Lutterworth in Leicestershire. He admits that he is getting increasingly dependent on his iPhone as the main gateway to his cow records.

“You see a cow bulling and you immediately need to know when she calved, if she’s due for serving and how many times she’s been served. I now get all this from my phone within 30 seconds.

It’s far quicker and much more reliable than remembering her number and waiting until you get to the office – all sorts can have happened by then.”

And Rob says the past six months has seen great improvements in Pocket Companion that has made it even more invaluable. “At first we got 30 cows on one screen and scrolled through to find the one we wanted. That was a bit longwinded and slower than the updated system “Now I type in her line number and straight away I get just her details in sections – health, production, fertility.

It’s so quick through the 3G network. All I do is access mNMR that’s listed in my favourites and I’m there – no log in or password every time I go onto the site.”

Rob and his father Brian run a 200-cow high performance Holstein herd. Gold

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Three steps to mNMR 1. Type m.nmr.co.uk into the phone browser.

2. Input Herd Companion User name and password – free from NMR. 3. Access herd and cow data including: • NML payment test results – past 12 tests • Johne’s test results • Cell counts – short list of highest cell count animals • Last NMR recording for each cow

Keith Scott: “Within 10 minutes of getting my latest NMR results I can be treating a high cell count cow ”

Rob Sercombe: “Checking bulling cows when you see them is far more reliable than waiting until I’m back in the office”

Cup qualifiers for the past two years, the herd averages 9,500kg on twice-a-day milking. Cows are run as one group, fed a TMR through winter, and then grazed during summer.

“We get good yields from our system,” adds Rob, “But it does mean that we have to keep the cows fit and healthy. This is a requirement of our Arla Tesco contract so we’ve plenty of incentives to get it right.”

For these reasons Rob is on the ball when it comes to milk quality. “Within 24 hours of recording I get a text to say my NMR results are on Pocket Companion so I’m straight in there and looking at individual cell counts. We are running at about 200,000 cells/ml at the moment, no thanks to last year’s wet summer, and we have to keep under 250,000. So I want to pick up any problem cows as quickly as I can.”

Access to Johne’s Herdwise test results is a real advantage too. “If a cow starts calving I can quickly check through mNMR if she’s a Johne’s infected cow and move her. Being able to look at her and access her records on the spot is great.”

NMR test results for individual cows as soon as possible,” says Keith.

And access to this information has superseded all expectations thanks to Keith’s iPhone and Pocket Companion.

“For the past six months I’ve been getting a text to say my latest NMR results are ready to view 24 hours after the recording each month. I’m normally milking when this happens so within minutes I’m looking at each cow’s results. I scan all the cell counts and if there’s a high reading and I haven’t milked that particular cow yet I will carry out a California Milk Test as she’s milked and treat an affected quarter.

“So within 10 minutes of me getting the results a high cell count cow could have been identified and treated.”

Results on the spot Another Pocket Companion enthusiast is Keith Scott who manages the 200-cow herd at Maunditts Park Farm, near Chippenham in Wiltshire. This mainly Holstein cow herd, with some Brown Swiss, are calving all year round and milk is sold on a liquid contract with penalties imposed for cell counts above 200,000/ml.

“I like to know the herd’s milk quality daily, but I’m particularly keen to get

High speed Keith reflects back on just a year ago when he would have to refer to the office PC for the latest results then check cows at the next milking – further back it could be days before treatment rather than hours.

“The quicker we can identify any problems the better. Our cell count averages 160,000/ml and we don’t want to get near 200,000 and risk penalties.”

Equally convenient is the simple access to lifetime daily yields in this herd that averages 8,000kg of milk on a TMR ration. “We’ve got two breeds here and we’re looking at improving longevity, fertility and yields so it’s very useful to look at the cow and her records simultaneously – it builds a clearer picture,” adds Keith. l

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B U S I N E S S C H A R L E S

B A S I C S H O LT

Charles Holt, an independent consultant with the Farm Consultancy Group, talks about important, but often overlooked, business issues facing dairy producers today. Here he explains why partnerships need to be formalised, how to do it and why agreements should be subject to regular review.

‘Agreements should be reviewed every time there’s a significant change’

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dds are that your dairy business is run as a partnership. They’re the most common business set up, and have been, for many generations. There has been a move towards limited companies, mainly for tax reasons, but partnerships are still extremely popular and suit the family-based approach on many units.

That said, not all partnerships are based on a written agreement – or one that’s been subject to regular and timely reviews. And this is where they can run into problems.

The reason many partnerships operate without a formal agreement is because they’re family based. But it’s important to take an impersonal business view on this and draw one up. You wouldn’t go into business partnership with a non-family member without one. So why risk the additional upset of causing family rifts, not to mention any serious financial issues, by not having such a formal agreement with family. It offers greater financial and emotional security for everyone involved.

Legal agreement Without a written legal partnership agreement, all partnerships are based on an Act that was drawn up in 1890. If there’s a dispute or an issue – perhaps someone wants to leave the partnership or someone dies – solicitors will go back to the 1890s Act to determine how assets should be split.

Even if you have a written partnership agreement, it may be that it was drawn up by your grandfather or father, as far back as the 1940s, and it will need reviewing and updating.

All agreements should be reviewed and updated when ever there’s a significant change within the business, for example one of the partners marries or some additional land is purchased.

Any solicitor worth their salt will ask difficult questions – what happens if

someone dies or if there’s a divorce?

What if one person simply wants to leave the business? It’s vital that all avenues are explored and any tricky issues are ‘covered’.

It’s also possible to stipulate which assets are included within the agreement. For example, a husband and wife may wish to retain control of the land and set up a partnership, with sons and daughters, that just includes the business – the cows, machinery and equipment.

‘Dovetail’ documents It’s also important to ensure that partnership agreements and wills ‘dovetail’. If they don’t – and a partner dies – this can lead to disputes. Any business partnership agreement will take precedence over a will, so it’s important that the two documents should mirror each other as far as individual assets go. It avoids a lot of expense, arguing and heartache.

Involving your accountant when drawing up partnership agreements and wills is also vital. They’ll be well placed to flag up any taxation issues and to offer advice.

One area to watch is that some accountants don’t realise that it’s best to have two capital accounts – one for income profit and losses and one for capital profit and losses. So check that your business has both. Again, it will avoid a lot of hassle and upset later on.

So, if you do nothing else this year in terms of planning for the next generation, do sit down with a solicitor who understands the complexity of agriculture and business partnerships between family members – as most in dairying are. Get your accountant on board too and write or review an existing partnership agreement. And review it when there are any major changes to partners’ circumstances or the business.

COW MAN AG E ME N T

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M A N A G E M E N T

Trouble shooting highlighted ‘quick wins’ with short and long-term gains

Quick on the draw Small changes can make a huge difference to dairy herd performance – and the bottom line. And the benefits can continue for the longer term. We spoke to two Cumbria-based producers and their consultant to find out more. text Phil Eades

J

ust over a year ago Adam and Bernard Pickthall decided they needed, by their own admission, to ‘freshen up’ the performance of their 140-cow herd. And, by focussing on ‘quick wins’, the result has been a significant increase in herd financial performance.

The Pickthalls manage 158 hectares at Bradley Farm, based at Hincaster near Milnthorpe in south Cumbria. The unit is predominantly grass, but eight hectares of maize and another eight hectares of spring barley for wholecrop are also grown. The farm was carrying 140 allyear-round calving Friesian Holsteins and followers, 250 breeding ewes and some beef. All calves were reared as replacements or for beef.

Adam and Bernard joined the Promar

Dairy Consultancy Programme, which they knew would give them plenty of food for thought and ideas to improve their business. “We had used consultants before, but we felt it was time to get someone in to challenge what we were doing and see where any opportunities might lie, particularly in relation to forage use,” says Adam.

Forage review When Promar’s senior consultant James Webster first visited the unit he set about reviewing forage production and utilisation. He was concerned that the farm should be able to produce sufficient forage for the cows, yet around 30 tonnes of pressed pulp were being bought in every month.

James Webster and Bernard and Adam Pickthall

“It soon became clear that silage was being fed to the beef cattle that could – and should – have been fed to the cows,” James explains. “Costing out the beef enterprise, including the impact it was having on dairy costs, made it clear that it was not contributing to profit so the decision was taken to wind up the finishing unit. All beef cattle are now sold as stores. “This would save £1,500 per month in dairy feed costs by releasing silage to replace the pressed pulp.”

The next challenge was to improve forage production and yields from forage to increase dairy profitability. A programme of soil testing was carried out and

Access issues: a new track will improve transit to the herd’s grazing block of six paddocks

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revealed that while phosphorus and potassium levels were fine, pH was an issue. As a result, 24 hectares were limed.

A programme of sward regeneration has also been put in place and in the first year four hectares were overseeded with more scheduled for this year.

The cows had been set-stock grazing a 24-hectare block and, while this worked well in early season, the block tended to run out of steam as the summer progressed. The decision was taken to split this into six paddocks, using electric fencing, to increase grazing intensity and to reduce wastage. The block was topdressed with salt to improve palatability and grazing availability was checked throughout the season using a plate meter.

“Cows were turned out in late April on a 17-day rotation,” explains Bernard.

“Using the plate meter readings meant that we were able to graze tighter, which increased grazing output and improved grazing quality.

“We were surprised at how tightly the cows could be persuaded to graze and this meant we were staying on paddocks longer than we had expected with less damage despite the dreadful season.

Buffer feeding “We had usually buffer fed the cows but in 2012, due to better grazing, we were able to stop buffer feeding for a month.

This saved feed costs, time, fuel and meant we kept 60 extra tonnes of silage in the clamp.

“That proved invaluable this winter.

Cutting out the buffer also encouraged the cows to get out and start grazing and we have consistently produced more milk from grazing throughout the season.”

Better grazing performance has also had a big knock-on effect on silage production.

The plan is to go early and to make a quality first cut. This year, as usual, 49 hectares were taken for first cut but, due to the improved grazing output, fewer acres of aftermath had to be added to the grazing block. This meant that an

Cow comfort: rubber mats have been installed in the milking parlour

additional eight hectares were taken for second cut and an additional 12 hectares were taken for third cut. “In total we were able to cut 20 additional hectares for silage, which was a huge benefit given the difficult grazing season.”

The extra silage meant the cost of the winter diet could be lowered. Average forage intake has increased by 1kgDM/ day, pressed pulp use has reduced and the amount of blend fed to high yielders has also been cut. The diet comprises silage, blend and Vitagold and the increased forage means that cows can be fed one diet whereas in the previous year there were separate high and low yielder rations. This change means that fuel costs and time have been saved as well as feed costs. Concentrate is still fed to yield in the parlour.

There has also been an increased focus on herd health, particularly lameness and fertility, although the new diet has helped improve rumen health. A new footbath has been installed, rubber mats have been laid in the parlour and feet are routinely trimmed. Cows are certainly better on their feet.

NMR Silent Herdsman has also been installed to aid heat detection. Although

Table 1: Improvements in performance at Bradley Farm

cows in herd yield per cow (l) yield from forage per cow (l) concentrate use per cow (kg) total feed costs per cow (£) MOPF per litre (p) MOPF per cow (£)

December 2011

December 2012

difference

114 8,884 668 2,612 758 17.14 1,523

120 8,036 2,051 2,220 600 19.57 1,573

+6 –848 +1,383 –392 –158 +2.43 +50

fertility has not been a problem, the Pickthalls are keen to keep on top of it.

“The impact of all these changes on margins has been significant,” says James Webster.

“Although yields have fallen back a little, we have increased margin per cow and significantly pushed up margin per litre.”

Table 1 shows that yield from forage has increased and purchased feed use has been cut by more than the equivalent of a tonne of concentrate per cow, partly due to reducing pressed pulp use.

“Focussing on quick wins has really paid off with an immediate boost in performance. But the changes made will continue to deliver benefits, particularly if we see something approaching a normal grazing season in 2013.”

Heifer management The Pickthall’s drive to improve performance will continue. This year a cow track will be laid across the grazing block to improve access and further reduce grazing wastage. The plan is also to review heifer rearing.

Although heifers are entering the herd at close to two years old, the aim is to improve growth rates by splitting calves and moving animals into the building previously used for the finishing beef.

“We can improve heifer management without much investment,” says Adam.

“The great thing about the changes we have made is that they have all been achieved with a manageable level of capital investment.

“We haven’t had to spend large sums but have managed to move the herd forward with a series of quick wins.” l

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14-03-13 14:59

DAIRY MANAGEMENT NEWS

Top in milk and LDY

John Shropshire and Melanie Phillips

Shropshire herd in top place John Shropshire’s herd from Bridge Farm in Market Drayton, Shropshire, has moved into top place in the Holstein herd production rankings published in the latest NMR Annual Production Report (APR). The report ranks all recorded herds based on fat and protein production for the year ending September 2012.

John runs the herd with his sister Melanie Phillips. The 49-cow herd recorded a yield of 13,433kg of milk with 908kg of fat and protein on a robotic milking system. Calving interval for the herd was 426 days.

In second place and moving up from 14th position is Andrew Deacon’s 236cow herd from Boyes Farm near Preston in Lancashire. This family farm is run

by Andrew and his mother Jean. The pedigree herd produced 12,621kg of milk and 885kg of fat and protein

on three-times-a-day milking. Calving interval for the herd was 446 days.

Dorset producer Nick Cobb keeps his place in the top three. His 731cow Chalclyffe herd from Dorchester averaged 12,917kg of milk and 874kg of fat and protein on three-times-a-day milking. This herd has the lowest calving interval in the top 10 herds at 383 days.

The Ayrshire breed sees a line up of three new herds at the top with Tony Hack’s herd from Ceredigion in top place followed by the Harvey’s herd from Cornwall in second place. In contrast to these two small herds of eight and seven cows respectively, Mark Callander’s 683-cow herd from Castle Douglas, Dumfries, is in third place with 9,382kg of milk and 676kg of fat and protein on three-times-a-day milking. Two new Jersey herds, both

The top three 100-tonne cows in January ranked on lifetime Daily Yield (LDY) are: 1.

Chalclyffe Outside KIP VG86 with 100,191kg of milk in seven lactations and an LDY of 29.54kg/day. She is owned by Nick Cobb from West Chaldon near Dorchester.

2. Hemington Inquirer Joyce is in second place with 104,441kg of milk in eight lactations and an LDY of 28.63kg/day. She is in Maurice Cock and Partners’ herd from Ashburton near Newton Abbott in Devon.

3.

Third is another cow from Nick Cobb’s herd, Chalclyffe Inquirer Daisy VG85. She has given 102,411kg of milk in seven lactations and has an LDY of 28.38kg/day.

owned and run by the Wadmans from Holton near Wincanton in Somerset are new to the top 1%. (See this issue’s herd report).

A newcomer at the top of the Friesian rankings is Brian Archer’s 123-cow herd from Hilton, Derby.

The full lists of production and genetic rankings for all breeds are published on the NMR website.

iPad goes to Devon David Hunt is the proud winner of NMR’s on-line Johne’s awareness competition and has just received the top prize of a new iPad. David, from South Hams in Devon, runs a 240-cow organic dairy currently supplying Dairy Crest. The dairy herd is a mix of native and imported breeds – some purebreds and some crossbred – and ideally suited to the good grassland on the farm.

The iPad will be the focus of keen competition as many members of the

family put together a case for why they should use it. “David is looking to use it to access his latest milk recordings and get fast access to cow data through the i-reports,” says NMR business manager Richard Miller.

“Also, he’s just installing the latest generation of Silent Herdsman heat detection equipment so his iPad will be linked to this and keep him right upto-date with cow fertility. No matter where he is – all he needs is his iPad and internet access!”

Lucky winner David Hunt being presented the new iPad by NMR’s Richard Miller (left)

For more information on NMR products and services contact customer services, 0844 7255567, NMR web address: www.nmr.co.uk, NMR email address: customerservices@nmr.co.uk COW MAN AG E ME N T

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F E E D I N G

Grass can become a firm ally again by taking a practical approach

Forage – friend or foe?

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Spring has never been so eagerly awaited by producers.

Excessive rain in 2012 meant that many were unable to graze grass after first-cut silage was taken. A herd manager and a nutritionist share how they plan to make the most of the elusive ‘green gold’ this season. text Allison Matthews

in before they start pacing the paddock.

Cows don’t poach when their heads are down.”

At Dunleath Estate, Mr Beacom has split the cows into two batches to make grazing more flexible during the early season. “We run two day paddocks with various gateways so that cows can go in one gate and out the other during unfavourable weather.

“Grass will never meet the needs of our high yielding cows but it seems to help

A

s we approach spring our memories of previous years are of housed cows, grass that is too strong to graze and forage harvesters or round balers out in the field to get things under control. Summer 2012 was no different, except that grass never seemed to get out of control. Growth figures for 2012 show that some units grew 20% less grass due to the weather and this drop in performance also applied to nitrogen levels.

Spring weather brings with it an air of confidence as the potential to improve profitability is there for the taking, according to Thompsons’ nutritionist James Black. “Grazed spring grass has the potential to improve milk yield and quality in many stale autumn calving cows. It can also sustain between four and six more litres from forage even if cows are not grazed for the full day.

“All these benefits mean that, for stale cows, if grass is available and ground conditions are suitable, producers should make use of grazing as soon as possible.”

Many producers are watching the clamp wall rapidly approaching and feed bills increasing as forage stocks dwindle and concentrate levels rise in an attempt to preserve what silage is left. “Grazed grass will offer some respite for cash flows as even between four and six kilogrammes of dry matter grazed in three or four hours could replace bought-in feed,” explains Mr Black.

Forage pressure Dunleath Estates’ herd manager Leslie Beacom agrees. “We will have to put stale cows out as soon as ground conditions allow as silage is running low.

Table 1: Typical spring grass analysis

item dry matter (%) crude protein (%) metabolisable energy (MJ/kg)

score 20 24 12+

Leslie Beacom: “We will aim to keep cows out this year”

James Black: “Grazed grass offers financial respite for producers”

Silage quality for the winter was excellent at 12.3ME, and cows were producing a lot of milk but, as a result, the silo stocks have suffered.

them. Even last summer with all the wet weather, high yielders still went out every day at some point.

“We find it helps their feet, gives us time to get yards cleaned and bedded, and obviously reduces feed costs, which are excessive this season.

“The low yielders would normally go out day and night with just a buffer provided at milking times. In 2012 they also ended up in at night due to poor weather, but this year we will try to keep them out to let supplies of silage be replenished for the winter period,” adds Mr Beacom.

Graze hard “We also had to house the herd full-time three weeks earlier than usual in 2012 and the high yielders stayed in at night for much of the summer. As a consequence we had to eat into our reserve of forage, which we would usually carry over each year.”

Mr Black questions whether producers are making the most of their early spring grass, or if they are grazing it ‘hard’ enough, in order to leave a low residual or stubble ideal for re-growth.

“This season offers the opportunity to keep grass under close control and to maximise grass production by turning cows out earlier.

“Cows need to go out to adequate cover – around 2,300kgDM/ha – with a slight edge to their appetite.

“Turning cows out onto swards with more cover than this will result in grass wastage. Lower covers will result in excessive poaching,” adds Mr Black.

He also points out that an element of flexibility is crucial in the early season.

“On days when weather is not favourable, get cows out to eat but bring them back

Take action It is crucial that reliance is not placed on grass silage as too often the easy option is to put a mix down the trough and leave the doors closed. This year any silage that is left must be used for high yielders only and those at the low end of performance should be put out to graze.

“Spring grass really is green gold for dairy cows. Do not wait until the grass is blowing in the field – at this stage quality is already starting to deteriorate.

“Get the stale cows out for a few hours as soon as ground conditions allow, reduce winter chores, reduce silage usage and, most importantly, reduce the feed bill,” adds Mr Black. l

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C O N TA C T S

SHOWS AND EVENTS April 15-16:

Hungry herd: it’s feeding time for these red-and-white ladies Picture: Kristina Waterschoot

May 14: May 15-17: May 29-June 1: May 31: June 25-26: July 3-4: July 9-11: July 22-25: October 2: October 15: November 20:

National Herdsmens Conference, Harper Adams University College, Newport, Shropshire ScotGrass, Crichton Royal Farm, Dumfries Balmoral Show, Balmoral Park, Belfast Royal Bath & West Show, Shepton Mallet, Somerset NMR/RABDF Gold Cup open day at Shanael Holsteins, near Evesham, Worcestershire Nottingham Feed Conference, Sutton Bonington Campus, Leicestershire Livestock Event, NEC, Birmingham Great Yorkshire Show, Harrogate, North Yorkshire Royal Welsh Show, Builth Wells, Powys The Dairy Show, Shepton Mallet, Somerset Welsh Dairy Show, Nantyci Showground, Carmarthen Agriscot, Edinburgh, Scotland

ADVERTISERS’ INDEX C O N TA C T S CowManagement is published eight times per year by CRV Holding BV

Editorial team Chief Editor Jaap van der Knaap Editor Rachael Porter Phone 01394 270587 E-mail rachael.porter@virgin.net Editing, design and production Veeteelt Contributing writers Inge van Drie, Phil Eades, Esther van Elk, Roger Evans, Allison Matthews, David Matthews and Karen Wright Publisher Rochus Kingmans

Chief editor’s address P.O. Box 454, 6800 AL Arnhem, The Netherlands Phone 0031 26 38 98 821. Fax 0031 26 38 98 839 E-mail cm.office@crv4all.com internet www.cowmanagement.net

Subscriptions CowManagement is available free of charge to customers of NMR, Avoncroft and Thompsons.

If you think you are eligible, please contact: National Milk Records, Customer Services, Skipton Road, Harrogate, North Yorkshire HG1 4LG. Phone 0870 1622547 E-mail customerservices@NMR.co.uk www.isubscribe.co.uk

Advertisements Julia Hughes, NMR. Phone 01249 467224 Willem Gemmink, Froukje Visser P.O. Box 454, 6800 AL Arnhem, The Netherlands, Fax 0031 26 38 98 824 E-mail willem.gemmink@crv4all.com

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COMING UP

M i l k i n g eq u ip m en t sp ecial April/May (April 30) – Our next issue takes a close look at milking equipment. We’ll also have an article on reducing antibiotic use and we’ll revisit a former NMR/RABDF Gold Cup winner.

Illustrations/pictures Photographs by Veeteelt Photography.

Nigel Goldsmith (12) and Andy Baker (31)

Disclaimer CowManagement does not necessarily share the views expressed by contributors. No responsibility is accepted for the claims made by advertisers. No responsibility can be accepted by CRV Holding BV for the opinions expressed by contributors. Whilst every effort is made to obtain reliable and accurate information, liability cannot be accepted for errors. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical including photocopying, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system without the express prior written consent of the publisher.

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