29 minute read
Herd Health
by AgriHQ
Moving at pace
Allowing cows to walk to the shed at their own pace and in the order they have determined, means they can walk where they know it is safe and can watch their feet.
By Ross Nolly
Simple management techniques can be implemented on-farm to minimise lameness as the new season kicks off.
Battling cow lameness is an ongoing problem every year on many farms and now the new season has started, farmers have missed the boat to make major improvements to tracks and shed design.
So what can a farmer do?
There are a number of simple management techniques that can be implemented to minimise lameness – and won’t cost farmers a cent.
Neil Chesterton is known throughout
New Zealand as the go-to guru on cow lameness and cattle-flow. He has been investigating the causes of lameness since the early 80s. His interest is the prevention of lameness in pasture-fed dairy herds.
In recent years, his interest has focused on the importance of herd management on the farm tracks and in the milking shed.
“Most cow lameness starts showing up during the first three months of the new season. The two main lameness risk factors are what the cows walk on and how they’re herded. It’s now too late to change what they walk on because they’re due to calve. However, it’s the key time to put prevention procedures in place,” Chesterton says.
He feels that an automatic gate release that allows cows to walk at their own pace is the best method to reduce pressure on the cows walking to the cowshed. If that solution isn’t available, the best option is to keep a distance behind the herd when it walks to the shed.
“I once said that you should keep five metres behind the cows, but I was wrong. Two years ago I conducted some experiments and discovered that anything closer than 10m pushes them too hard,” he says.
“If you’re too close and push too hard, the last cows watch you and not where they place their feet. Try following two fence posts behind the cows, it’s a handy distance measure.”
Three months ago while visiting a South Island farm that milked 850 cows, he observed a staff member bringing them to the shed was only five metres behind the herd. This caused the back group of 80150 cows to bunch up.
“I asked him to drop back to 10m. He replied that he’d already tried it and it caused the herd to stop. He dropped back and that group did stop because they’d been too tight. The others kept going at the same pace and finally the whole herd was moving,” he says.
Using an automatic release gate at the paddock or observing the following distance for the three months from August to October, both the cows and people become trained.
Chesterton feels that farmers
Veterinarian Neil Chesterton has been investigating the causes of lameness in cows since the early 80s and is New Zealand’s go-to guru on the subject.
should consider reducing the distance their cows walk each day to reduce herd lameness.
“My studies show that cow lameness risks rise if they walk on a track for a total of more than three kilometres a day. They shouldn’t be travelling to your furthest paddocks twice-a-day. If you must do that, then alternate closer paddocks the following day,” he says.
He says that white-line injury is NZ’s most common lameness issue and there are many discussions about its risk factors. Taking the pressure off the herd reduces those risks.
When cows are pressured they get pushed to the track margins and stones can become jammed in between their hooves, often resulting in cases of footrot. Removing that pressure allows them to walk where they know it’s safe and are able to watch where they place their feet.
“The third main type of lameness is caused by puncture wounds to the bottom of the sole. By taking the pressure off, the cows carefully place their feet where they want to. They’re not being forced. It’s amazing how easily they puncture when they’re under pressure,” he says.
Lameness can also occur on the yard and its entrance.
If cows bring stones onto the entranceway it’s a risk to their feet. If that area becomes boggy and muddy they can get footrot when those stones become jammed between their hooves.
“The bottom of the sole can be damaged or punctured by sharp stones on the concrete, particularly if the cows are pushed in under pressure. Again, farmers must let the cows walk in voluntarily,” he says.
Farmers need to measure how many square metres are available in the yard for each cow and where the backing gate should be to allow enough space. Chesterton has calculated that a Friesian
Lame cows should be treated immediately with a block applied to its foot and then returned to the herd unless she has had antibiotics.
Continued page 64
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cow needs 1.5m2 of space per cow, crossbreds need 1.4m2 and Jerseys need 1.3m2.
“If the yard is too small, milk a few rows to create space before closing the entry gate. Even if there’s plenty of space, don’t touch the backing gate for at least 20 minutes, two rows or two rotations,” he says.
“Don’t use your backing gate to tighten the herd. Change the mindset of ‘this is how it’s always been done’ so it must be the correct way.”
He says it never fails to amaze him at how the cows flow efficiently when two people work on one side in a herringbone shed.
He recommends staff start at the front of the row and work their way back rather than one at the front and the other pushing the cows. Working front to back keeps staff away from the entrance resulting in better cow-flow.
“Begin putting cups when the first cows come in and let the others enter at their own pace. Do this instead of feeling that you must fill a row before milking them, which puts pressure on the cow’s feet,” he says.
“Many of my farmers are doing this now. When they get up to half or twothirds full, they open the gate to the ones they’ve been taking the cups off, allowing them to quietly leave the shed.
“By the time the last ones begin moving their cups are off. ”
He says by using this method for a season, the older cows will “teach” the heifers the way the system works next season.
He advocates limited or zero use of the backing gate.
One of his clients has a herd of 530 cows with no in-shed feeding. They only use the backing gate thrice during the entire milking, as they have found that if the herd is continually pressured in the yard, the heifers always end up facing the backing-gate at the back of the yard.
“They’re telling you that they’re afraid of it. If they’re pushed from the rear they’re forced headfirst into the cows where their heads get knocked about by the older cows. If they face the gate their rear goes into the herd and they feel safer,” he says.
“If you start these practices two months into the season, the cows have already learnt your bad habits. It takes a while and people often think that it isn’t working. If you start when the first cow has calved, they train the others. The end result is cow-flow without pressure.”
Spring is the time to let your cows set their walking and milking order.
Chesterton’s cow-flow studies have shown that cows walk to the shed in a particular order, and change that order when they enter the yard. They need space to make that change.
While not set in stone, his studies have demonstrated that within two weeks of the last cow calving, a cow’s front, middle or back position has been cemented.
Farmers often tell him that milking will take longer if they follow his guidelines. However, the cows only take two weeks to learn that there’s less pressure and everything begins flowing faster.
“I worked with a farmer who always went into the yard to fill each row. When he entered the yard the cows turned to escape by going to the back. I told him to stop going out and just milk what’s there,” he says.
“I rang him three weeks later and was told that it wasn’t working. Instead of getting 40 cows per row, he was getting 20-30.
“However, he was milking faster and lameness wasn’t an issue anymore, so it was working.” n
Not shutting the yard gate or using the backing gate until the herd has plenty of space will reduce pressure on the herd fighting for space and lead to better cow flow.
Neil Chesterton recommends that when bringing the herd in to milk or shifting between paddocks that a distance of 10 metres or two fence posts is maintained behind the herd to allow them to move at their own pace.
LIC develops new BVD test
Bovine Viral Diarrhoea (BVD) is a common, highly-infectious disease that reduces milk production and causes health and fertility problems. Estimates put the annual losses for dairy farmers at around $127 million a year.
The disease is spread by carriers, also known as persistently infected (PI) animals, who are born with the virus in their body.
LIC has developed a BVD test for newborn calves to provide farmers with an early indication on the health status of their valuable replacement stock.
Previously, farmers who were testing their calves for BVD through LIC were required to wait until calves were at least 35-days-old before being able to confirm the BVD status of the newborns.
LIC general manager of NZ markets
Malcolm Ellis says eliminating the 35-day delay before being able to test a calf for
BVD will significantly improve a farmer’s ability to manage the disease, as well as add a layer of convenience on-farm as a result of conducting the test at such a young age.
“PI animals can cause havoc on the health status of the wider herd. Knowing the BVD status of your calves as early as possible will significantly reduce the risk of them passing the virus on to the rest of the herd,” Ellis says.
Ellis highlights an additional benefit of the new test is the ability to couple it with other tasks happening on-farm at the same time.
“For the sake of convenience and efficiency, tissue sampling calves for the BVD test can be combined with tagging or disbudding,” he says.
The new BVD test for calves was successfully piloted last year, with the product offered to a limited number of customers.
Ellis says the co-op is committed to using its capabilities to develop new products and services that drive longterm customer value on-farm.
“Value for our farmer shareholders is at the heart of what we do. Our diagnostics product suite supports farmers to produce the most sustainable and efficient animals,” he says. n
For the sake of convenience and efficiency, tissue sampling calves for the BVD test can be combined with tagging or disbudding.
Studies show that disbudding without pain relief reduces subsequent milk intake leading to slower growth.
Disbudding without pain
Samantha Tennent
Pain is one form of animal suffering, an animal welfare issue and increasingly a consumer concern affecting the marketability of dairy and red meats.
Pain impairs normal productivity functions such as growth and production and when productivity is impaired the farming business suffers.
The medical definition determines pain as an unpleasant subjective feeling or sensation associated with actual or potential tissue damage that results from chemical, thermal or mechanical stimulation of nerve endings. It is a normal physiological process that indicates a ‘stress’ response.
It is usually difficult to detect pain in cattle as they are prey animals and have developed a survival strategy and a stoic nature that disguises any sign of pain until the stimulus is severe. This is to divert the attention of predators away from sick or injured animals, which means pain is usually not detected until the cause is relatively advanced.
Pain can be acute and chronic and the ease of relief depends on the intensity and duration.
Any inflammatory condition, with a suffix -itis, is associated with pain. Once pain becomes chronic or pain is associated with a chronic disorder, it is more difficult to control.
Farmers perform many husbandry procedures on-farm to reduce aggression, carcass damage and improve identification, handler safety and meat quality.
If a painful husbandry practice is justifiable, it is important to determine methods that could be used to mitigate the pain. But readily, pain relief is perceived as a cost, although the cost of the pain relief products is often offset, sometimes multiple times, by better productivity and an improved image of the sector.
Work exploring clinical mastitis treatments using a combination of pain relief and antibiotics shows somatic cell counts can be lower, as well as having a reduced risk of removal from the herd when compared with treating with antibiotics alone. Although pain relief might not alter the risk of treatment failure or reduce milk losses caused by mastitis after treatment, putting some numbers around it increases our understanding of the potential returns.
It costs approximately $35 per dose of the pain relief drug Metacam to treat a 500kg cow, and if a farm treated 100 cows with mastitis the cost of treatment with Metacam would be $3500. This is excluding the value of the milk withholding since they will be treated with antibiotics anyway, but they would potentially end up culling 12 fewer cattle at the end of the season. That could be worth $12,000 to the business, which is the difference between the value of a milking cow and a cull cow.
When we subtract the cost of the pain relief the farm is still $8500 better off, not to mention the ability to select other cows to cull and lift the value and productivity of the herd in general.
Also, for routine procedures, such as disbudding calves, if we use pain relief alongside the local anaesthetic that is now compulsory in New Zealand, there are great benefits for the animals and the impact on the farming business.
Studies show that disbudding without pain relief reduces subsequent milk intake and by day 15 after the procedure calves are still growing slower than the calves who do receive pain relief.
The evidence is building to support using pain relief during disbudding and its benefits for calf productivity as well as calf welfare, helping calves recover faster and reach weaning weight sooner. A win for the animal and the farm business.
There are times when pain relief is not suitable, for example, a bad fracture, no products accessible, or a grave prognosis but animal suffering should be avoided and euthanasia must be considered in those situations. Always talk through your options with your veterinarian and have standard operating procedures in place to help the farm team determine the best course of action.
Ultimately, when planning animal health this spring and throughout the season, it is worth considering utilising pain relief to treat unwell animals or perform routine procedures. To prevent some of the productivity losses caused by animals experiencing pain, support their recovery and ensure we are maximising the productivity of our farming businesses. n
MORE:
Samantha Tennent is the general manager of WelFarm Ltd.
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Diseases or deficiencies?
By Chris Balemi
An overweight cow is more exposed to an increased risk of ketosis in early lactation. This is particularly prevalent in pasture-fed cows as there can be limited options for balancing the diet.
There is much debate around exactly what the ideal body condition score should be in largely pasture-based feed systems. Under this management system there is a fine line between cows having an adequate condition score or being overweight, which runs an increased risk of ketosis and fatty liver disease.
How do farmers and herd managers maintain optimum condition, without the risks associated with over conditioning their cows?
Fat cows wouldn’t be an issue if they weren’t subject to a higher risk of metabolic diseases, particularly ketosis. Maintaining herd condition and holding it at the correct level can be a very fine line. To successfully manage the conditioning of our herds, we first need to understand the processes at play and the nutritional factors that govern and balance it.
Ketosis in dairy cattle is triggered by an energy deficiency in early lactation. When blood glucose levels reach a low point, the body then begins to mobilise body fat as an alternative energy source. The downside to mobilising large amounts of fat is that it risks clogging the liver, which can run the risk of catastrophic liver failure, or what is termed as fatty liver disease. Stored fat is also considered an inefficient means of creating energy, and in some instances mobilising it can use more energy than it creates.
Under the right circumstances converting fat to energy should be a normal, healthy, and efficient process. As mentioned earlier, this process can be extremely beneficial in times of shortterm food shortage or stress periods. In this way it can be utilised when extra energy is required to plug gaps, such as calving and early lactation.
Science is now showing us that if the body is nutritionally balanced, the process of converting fat to energy can be more efficiently managed without experiencing the negative downsides. In order to prevent fatty liver and maintain general liver health, nutrients play a paramount role.
The key nutrients in this process are defined as methyl donors, which are the amino acids; choline, methionine and betaine. These methylated compounds contain a one-carbon group, which have the ability to play a fundamental role in hundreds of metabolic reactions. A deficiency of any one of these elements can jeopardise the health and the economic performance of the early lactating cow.
Towards late gestation, the requirement for methionine increases in dairy cows due to inadequate DMI, as well as the increased protein demand to support foetal growth and the onset of the next lactation.
Milk contains a high amount of methylated compounds (choline and methionine) as components of milk fat micelles or proteins.
At the beginning of lactation, a dairy cow has a high demand for these compounds due to high metabolic needs.
The availability of ready-to-use methyl groups is low in ruminants because of the extensive rumen degradation that takes place at this time, as well as the reduced DMI at the onset of the lactation. This creates a shortage of methylated compounds, particularly in the lead up to calving and in early lactation.
Cows in early lactation are at risk of a variety of animal health issues so need to be managed carefully.
Overcoming the deficit
To overcome this deficit in methyl groups, ruminant animals rely on methyl neogenesis. These processes depend on an adequate supply of B vitamins as coenzymes. These vitamins are also fundamental in the energy supplying metabolic pathways. In this way, up to 50% of the total methionine used by the cow comes from homocysteine remethylation. Certain minerals such as zinc, copper, selenium, and iodine are also important in underpinning the process as they also play an important role for the liver. It’s important that each element is in the correct form and combination for the system to work most efficiently.
Methionine
One of the best known amino acids, methionine, constitutes 5.5% of the total EAA in bovine milk and between 2.48% and 3.32% of casein. The most visible effect of a deficiency is the decreasing milk protein synthesis because of its status as a limiting AA, but it also results in limited utilisation of other circulating AA. Upon pathogen challenge, as is the case in newly calved cows, a good availability of methionine allows a higher neutrophil and monocyte oxidative burst capacity, which increases effective protection against invading pathogens in dairy cows.
Phosphatidylcholine
Also known as PtdChol, one of the most important and high-demand methylated compounds in dairy cows during the transition period. Apart from the demand for PtdChol in milk, transition dairy cows also need high PtdChol availability for very low density lipoprotein (VLDL) synthesis in order to prevent fatty liver.
Therefore without sufficient levels of these nutrients, what would normally be a natural, efficient process of converting fat to energy, can instead cascade out of control, ultimately leading to impaired energy supply and issues such as ketosis and fatty liver disease.
In order to supply the amino acids to fuel the methylation process, the feeding of a good quality bypass source is required. Feeding a good bypass protein source is expensive and may not always supply the correct amino acids at the desired levels. Recently companies have developed ways of protecting these key amino acids and vitamins from rumen degradation within a single protected micro prill matrix. This system effectively targets all of these key elements directly into the metabolic pathways.
In dairy cattle, liver function is critical in maintaining the energy pathway during the lead up to calving and early lactation. Balancing these key methyl donor elements allows the liver to function at an optimum level by efficiently mobilising the excess fat, creating energy at key times.
With good rumen protected methyl donor support, farmers now have the potential to more effectively utilise condition levels in their animals for more production during stress times. n
Overweight cows are at risk of metabolic diseases but maintaining herd condition and holding it can be difficult.
Who am I?
Chris Balemi is the managing director of Agvance Nutrition Limited.
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Counting cows’ Zzzs
By Samantha Tennent
Researchers have been studying the sleep patterns of cows to better understand how sleep and animal health and welfare are impacted.
Just like humans, our dairy cows need their sleep but little is known about the importance of sleep and the effects of limited or poorquality sleep for dairy cows.
The lack of sleep can negatively impact animal welfare and there can be significant impacts on health due to the loss of sleep.
Assessing and staying on top of animal welfare is important to farmers and to respond to the growing expectations of global dairy consumers. But the challenge has been measuring and distinguishing between the important stages of sleep being impractical in typical farm environments.
Looking for a solution, scientists at AgResearch are getting innovative with new technologies to better understand the quality of the shut-eye animals are getting.
“We have been trying to determine if data from sensor devices placed on cows that take measurements during their sleep, such as their neck muscle activity and heart rates, could be used to differentiate between sleep stages,” AgResearch animal behaviour and welfare science team leader Dr Cheryl O’Connor says.
They have been working with the Rural College in Edinburgh, Scotland, with joint PhD student Laura Hunter. The data gathered from the devices was compared to the gold standard EEG (electroencephalogram) for brain activity.
“We took this muscle and heart rate data from six cows in both housed and pasture systems, and applied machine learning (a branch of Artificial Intelligence) models to make predictions about what the muscle and heart rate data means for the cows’ different sleep stages,” she says.
“The result was that machine learning models were able to accurately predict sleep stages from the measures that were taken and the accuracy was in a similar range to that for human computer models.”
Since the work has shown this method appears to be a valid way of measuring and predicting the sleep stages of cows at a small scale, researchers want to apply it to a much larger number of animals to validate the use of these methods.
“We think the insights we can get from this could potentially tell us more about overall animal welfare and from that we may be able to build further on the research,” she says.
By having the ability to identify sleep stages accurately and carrying out research on the effects of sleep loss for cows, the results could be useful to inform management practices such as determining rest intervals during long-haul transport or management of cattle during wet weather on standoff pads, for example
“We will be aiming to share what we learn from our research with farmers and the wider sector, so they can potentially build that knowledge into what happens on farms to provide the best life we can for our cows,” she says. n
Better Bulls, Better Calves
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To fi nd out more, contact Ella Holland on 06 323 0761, 027 602 4925 or email livestock@globalhq.co.nz
LK0107886© AgResearch scientists have turned to technology to gain insights into cows’ sleeping patterns.
One last word …
There is a word that has been on everyone’s lips recently – Groundswell.
It’s a movement and it is gathering momentum – in other words, it’s not going away anytime soon.
Essentially, it is not just farmers who are protesting the scope and speed of new rules and regulations around climate change, Three Waters, Indigenous Biodiversity, Essential Freshwater and the Resource Management Act, it is thousands of other rural workers, including truckies and tradies.
Nearly 60 protests were organised throughout the country, with thousands of tractors, utes, trucks and others coming out for the Howl of a Protest.
Groundswell NZ is not opposed to improving freshwater quality or sustainable land use, but it wants the Government to dump its freshwater policies as it believes this should be left to regional councils and catchment groups to work on improving freshwater. This policy has far-reaching effects on farmers around fencing around waterways, nitrogen use and intensive winter grazing.
They also want the Government to dump the National Policy Statement for Indigenous Biodiversity and the mapping of significant natural areas (SNAs). Many of these are on privately-owned land and farmers see it as a land grab.
Groundswell are also protesting the so-called Ute Tax. Their argument for dumping the new fuel tax on utes is because there are no electric utes or other low-emission vehicles available that will suit their purpose. This is the issue that broke the camel’s back, the final straw.
Federated Farmers president Andrew Hoggard calls it “the winter of discontent” and says he was heartened by the support of urban people, which will highlight to politicians that it is not just a vocal minority feeling under pressure and anxious about the same issues.
Farmers are just not happy. And that was certainly evident when I caught up with an old farming mate. He had plenty of choice words to say about Jacinda Ardern and the Government – too choice to print.
But basically, he says this Government is completely out of touch with reality and with the farming community.
He is right though. The Government purports to be listening to industry leaders and farmers and working with them but are they really?
As Groundswell organisers said, if the Government was working with them and listening, the protests would not have happened.
It’s fair to say when the Government does dumb things like invite consultation on the Freshwater Farm Plan regulations and slope requirements for stock exclusion, from July 26 to September 12, right when farmers are in the thick of calving, it makes you wonder why they bother. They are hoping no one else bothers because they are too busy to make a submission.
Government needs to return to the table and really listen to what our farmers and industry leaders are telling them.
The new season is in full swing, with many farmers already well into calving. And just to keep everyone on their toes, Mother Nature is throwing plenty of rain leading to flooding across parts of the South Island. Thankfully, many South Island farmers won’t have started calving just yet, albeit a few early ones.
Thanks to Waikato relief milker and casual worker Hope Devlin for sending us these stunning photos of a couple of the farms she has been working on. In the morning she rears calves and helps collect cows and calves, then in the afternoon travels to Putaruru and milk cows for another farmer. She has been in the industry her whole life and loves every single moment of it.
Good luck for the new season.
Sonita
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Dairy Diary
August 2021
August 4-5 – Agri-Women’s Development Trust
Our Resilient Farming Business, various locations. A pilot programme preparing you and your farming businesses to grow through change. Supported by the Ministry for Primary Industries, this free programme will support farming and growing New Zealanders to cultivate the financial and personal resilience needed to thrive in the face of accelerating change. Info at www.awdt.org.nz/programmes/our-resilientfarming-business/
August 12-13 – Agri-Women’s Development Trust
Northland, Bay of Plenty and Lower North Island. You’re not your farm, your job or your kids. You, are you. No matter your stage in life, it’s time to reprioritise you. It’s all about YOU is a two-day personal development programme that uncovers your true value and identity. A chance to break away from your everyday routine, reconnect with yourself and explore new possibilities for positive change in your life. Info at www.awdt.org.nz/programmes/our-resilientfarming-business/
August 23-24 – Agri-Women’s Development Trust
Top of South Island and Canterbury/North Otago. No matter your stage in life, it’s time to reprioritise you. It’s all about YOU is a two-day personal development programme that uncovers your true value and identity. Two full days dedicated entirely to YOU costs just $350 (+GST). Info at www.awdt.org.nz/programmes/our-resilientfarming-business/
August 26 – Institute of Directors NZ
On a farm board? Know your liabilities, Canterbury/ North Otago. Don’t take on a board role without understanding your liabilities and responsibilities. A fully-engaged board can make such a powerful difference to a farm enterprise. In this one-day course you will explore robust decision-making, taking a world view of market trends and succession planning for your farm business. Info at https://www.iod.org.nz/governance-courses/ rural-governance-essentials/#
August 26 – Institute of Directors NZ
Rural Governance course, Canterbury/North Otago Agribusiness and farm boards have unique governance risks, liabilities and strategic opportunities. Discover how to handle the family/business dynamic, insights into succession planning, the future of the sector and what makes for a robust decision-making process. Info at https://www.iod.org.nz/governance-courses/ rural-governance-essentials/#
August 26 – DairyNZ
Rural professionals meeting, Palmerston North. Join us at the Golf Club again for a meeting for Rural Professionals in the Lower North Island region. Specific topics/speakers will be confirmed and registrations will open soon, save the date. Info at www.dairyevents.co.nz
August-September – DairyNZ
Enjoy breakfast on us, various dates and locations. Come to a well-deserved breakfast event near you. DairyNZ and industry supporters are running a series of free cooked breakfast events around Waikato for dairy farmers. Join us anytime between 10am-12pm. Info at www.dairyevents.co.nz
