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Milking cows: Now that nearly all cows are housed fulltime and eating silage, milk yield has dropped significantly on most farms.
Some farmers are considering going once-a-day milking. Generally speaking, the volume of milk drops by 30% when you go to once-a-day milking, but the volume of milk solids drops by 20% as fat and protein percentage increases. So if you’re doing 1kg MS/cow/day on twice a day, you’ll probably do 0.8kg MS/cow on once a day.
The thing to watch is SCC. Because of low milk volumes at this time of year, the number of cells in a litre is higher. Therefore, a rise in SCC over time doesn’t necessarily indicate increased infection. However, it is a high-risk time for infection as cows are lying in less hygienic conditions compared to being outdoors.
Use plenty of post-milking teat spray and keep cubicle beds as clean and dry as possible. Lime is a disinfectant as it increases the pH to a level that kills bacteria. Some level of hydrated lime should be considered.
However, no more than a fistful per cubicle is recommended. A blend of hydrated and ordinary ground limestone is available.
Vaccines: Now is the time to plan the vaccine schedule for the next six months. IBR vaccine is usually administered before calving. Some farmers vaccinate cows for salmonella before calving to protect the calf from getting salmonella-related scour.
Cows can also be vaccinated for rotavirus to prevent rotavirus scour in calves. To get the full vaccine coverage, calves should be fed transition milk for around four weeks after calving so keep this in mind if considering using milk replacer.
Other health-related tasks include dosing housed animals for lice, worms and fluke.
Cattle should in the shed for at least two weeks before being dosed. If dosing for lice, all animals in the shed should be done at the one time. Wait until cows are dry before dosing for worms and fluke, if necessary. Hear more from Journal vet Tommy Heffernan at Dairy Day next Tuesday in Punchestown, Co Kildare.
Cull cows: A good few cull cows are beginning to move now. The general price for a cow with a cover of flesh (fat cover two or better) is 70c/kg liveweight to 90c/kg liveweight, with heavier carcase and better-conformed Friesian cows up to €1.05/kg to €1.10/kg. See more prices on page 58. A lot of the cows being sold now will be fed on to be finished off grass next summer, so hopefully prices in the factory will be better then.
Whether or not to sell now depends on feed space and cubicle space and also on the amount of silage in the yard.
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