Eugene Lyons is farming at Clonmoyle, Aghabullogue, Co Cork. Eugene has represented Dairygold in the NDC/Kerrygold Quality Milk competition and was recently recognised in the list of the top 500 farmers on somatic cell count by Animal Health Ireland. I touched base with Eugene this week to see what he does to get and maintain good-quality milk from the start of the year.
Typical of all good operators, Eugene believes he is doing nothing special but when you talk to him about what is done to manage milk quality on the farm, you get a sense of how Eugene is managing the basics well. Calving hasn’t started yet and Eugene is hoping that they will hold for another week until after a farm walk next Tuesday (12 January).
I asked Eugene about the routine for managing dry cows coming close to calving. Eugene has a strong British Friesian base in the herd, so over-conditioning cows close to calving has to be managed. According to the condition score of cows and size of the calves, Eugene will introduce straw into the diet to dilute the quality of feed. The dry cows are on 74 DMD first-cut silage at the moment and, apart from a little waste on the outside of the pit, Eugene believes it is good-quality feed as the silage results show. Clean cubicles are high on the agenda for Eugene and he will put time and effort into keeping muck away from the cows near calving to reduce infection. “We always have the scrapers running every three hours and we also have the scraper where the cows are feeding running even more often. This reduces the volume of muck in the channels and keeps cows’ feet cleaner and, therefore, the cubicles are cleaner. Twice a day, we scrape down and lime the cubicles. We are using a dust of Agrical lime this year.”
One of the other points that Eugene is strong on is the basic management of dry cows. He said: ‘‘You must be able to manage cows in different groups or batches. At the moment, we have three groups in the shed – the in-calf heifers, and two groups of dry cows. I think it’s very important to be able to split up the herd, so that you can focus on cows that need more attention.”
For late January and early February when calving is in full flow and cows are still indoors, Eugene will split cows into four batches – the bulk-tank bunch, the freshly calved bunch, the near-calving bunch and the group of cows that is far away from calving.
Eugene explained that cows stay in the freshly calved bunch for four days and this allows him to focus on these cows and ensure that they are in top order before they go into the bulk-tank group. The cows near calving again are in this group in the shed for at least a week before calving. Again, Eugene said it allows him to keep this select group of cows clean as they become more vulnerable the closer they are to calving when the udder bags up.
What happens or what’s the routine when a freshly calved cow enters the parlour for the first time? Eugene explained: “I don’t do anything fancy to be honest. I will draw all quarters carefully and keep a close eye for clots. I don’t use the California mastitis test (CMT) paddle for all cows, because you’d be in the parlour all day if you did, but I will use it for a cow that I’m unsure about. In fairness, in this herd I have a fair idea of the history of most of the cows, so I’d be watching some closer than others. We will clip the tail as soon as they calve to minimise dirt on the udder and we will clip the tail at least twice more while the cow is in milk.”
Eugene believes that stress is a major factor in increasing the SCC problem. ‘‘Since we started milk recording two years ago I’m probably disappointed with the heifers and SCC. However, I don’t think it’s mastitis or infection that’s causing the increased SCC problem. I think it’s more related to stress – calving and milking for the first time, etc. They tend to settle down after a while,” he said.
Infection
Eugene discussed with me how some farmers are blanket teat-sealing all in-calf heifers about four weeks prior to calving, but he has held off on doing this for the moment. The main reason he has held off on doing it is that he believes it can cause infection but, also, he’s not sure that he has a problem in that area.
As mentioned, Eugene has only recently started milk recording, so I asked him what benefit, if any, he sees from doing it. Remember, he had very good cell counts prior to using milk recording, so SCC wasn’t the reason he started milk recording. He said: “Probably the main benefit I see with milk recording is at the back end of the year when SCC starts to rise. I can identify the high cell count cows and manage them. It allows for more targeted treatment for those that have higher infection levels – basically you are using the numbers to make a decision and it allows us to keep average herd SCC levels very good.”
In terms of managing biestings, Eugene said he is probably not doing enough to keep biestings separate. ‘‘I sometimes have biestings from three or four cows in the one barrel and, if one was infected with Johne’s, then I would be spreading infection. I do take the suck calves away from the cows as quickly as possible so they have less chance of sucking/getting muck, etc.’’
Fresh calvers
Keep in a separate group for at least three days after calving. Trim hair on tail to reduce spreading of dirt and to keep udder clean. Draw all teats while in ‘freshly calved’ group.Dry cows
Keep scrapers running every three hours. Keep cows batched depending on management – bulk tank cows, freshly calved, near calving and far away from calving. Keep cubicles clean and limed morning and evening. 1 The main Lyons cow shed is split in three at the moment, with dividing gates that hang on the cubicles splitting up the cows. When cows start calving, the shed can be split into smaller groups. Eugene maintains this is a key management tool.
2 The scraper slat in the shed is positioned unusually lengthways and at an angle which Eugene maintains ensures little or no muck is built up near the end of the scrape.
3 Eugene sets the timer so that scrapers come on every three hours to reduce the amount of muck around and keep cubicles clean.
4 Cubicles are limed with Agrical twice a day. This is done to keep beds clean and dry.
5 Eugene uses an ordinary hand-scraper to go around and scrape off any muck that is sitting on cubicle mats.
6 Cows’ tails are clipped as soon as they calve to keep the udder clean. They are also clipped two other times during the year.
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Focus: milk quality
Eugene Lyons is farming at Clonmoyle, Aghabullogue, Co Cork. Eugene has represented Dairygold in the NDC/Kerrygold Quality Milk competition and was recently recognised in the list of the top 500 farmers on somatic cell count by Animal Health Ireland. I touched base with Eugene this week to see what he does to get and maintain good-quality milk from the start of the year.
Typical of all good operators, Eugene believes he is doing nothing special but when you talk to him about what is done to manage milk quality on the farm, you get a sense of how Eugene is managing the basics well. Calving hasn’t started yet and Eugene is hoping that they will hold for another week until after a farm walk next Tuesday (12 January).
I asked Eugene about the routine for managing dry cows coming close to calving. Eugene has a strong British Friesian base in the herd, so over-conditioning cows close to calving has to be managed. According to the condition score of cows and size of the calves, Eugene will introduce straw into the diet to dilute the quality of feed. The dry cows are on 74 DMD first-cut silage at the moment and, apart from a little waste on the outside of the pit, Eugene believes it is good-quality feed as the silage results show. Clean cubicles are high on the agenda for Eugene and he will put time and effort into keeping muck away from the cows near calving to reduce infection. “We always have the scrapers running every three hours and we also have the scraper where the cows are feeding running even more often. This reduces the volume of muck in the channels and keeps cows’ feet cleaner and, therefore, the cubicles are cleaner. Twice a day, we scrape down and lime the cubicles. We are using a dust of Agrical lime this year.”
One of the other points that Eugene is strong on is the basic management of dry cows. He said: ‘‘You must be able to manage cows in different groups or batches. At the moment, we have three groups in the shed – the in-calf heifers, and two groups of dry cows. I think it’s very important to be able to split up the herd, so that you can focus on cows that need more attention.”
For late January and early February when calving is in full flow and cows are still indoors, Eugene will split cows into four batches – the bulk-tank bunch, the freshly calved bunch, the near-calving bunch and the group of cows that is far away from calving.
Eugene explained that cows stay in the freshly calved bunch for four days and this allows him to focus on these cows and ensure that they are in top order before they go into the bulk-tank group. The cows near calving again are in this group in the shed for at least a week before calving. Again, Eugene said it allows him to keep this select group of cows clean as they become more vulnerable the closer they are to calving when the udder bags up.
What happens or what’s the routine when a freshly calved cow enters the parlour for the first time? Eugene explained: “I don’t do anything fancy to be honest. I will draw all quarters carefully and keep a close eye for clots. I don’t use the California mastitis test (CMT) paddle for all cows, because you’d be in the parlour all day if you did, but I will use it for a cow that I’m unsure about. In fairness, in this herd I have a fair idea of the history of most of the cows, so I’d be watching some closer than others. We will clip the tail as soon as they calve to minimise dirt on the udder and we will clip the tail at least twice more while the cow is in milk.”
Eugene believes that stress is a major factor in increasing the SCC problem. ‘‘Since we started milk recording two years ago I’m probably disappointed with the heifers and SCC. However, I don’t think it’s mastitis or infection that’s causing the increased SCC problem. I think it’s more related to stress – calving and milking for the first time, etc. They tend to settle down after a while,” he said.
Infection
Eugene discussed with me how some farmers are blanket teat-sealing all in-calf heifers about four weeks prior to calving, but he has held off on doing this for the moment. The main reason he has held off on doing it is that he believes it can cause infection but, also, he’s not sure that he has a problem in that area.
As mentioned, Eugene has only recently started milk recording, so I asked him what benefit, if any, he sees from doing it. Remember, he had very good cell counts prior to using milk recording, so SCC wasn’t the reason he started milk recording. He said: “Probably the main benefit I see with milk recording is at the back end of the year when SCC starts to rise. I can identify the high cell count cows and manage them. It allows for more targeted treatment for those that have higher infection levels – basically you are using the numbers to make a decision and it allows us to keep average herd SCC levels very good.”
In terms of managing biestings, Eugene said he is probably not doing enough to keep biestings separate. ‘‘I sometimes have biestings from three or four cows in the one barrel and, if one was infected with Johne’s, then I would be spreading infection. I do take the suck calves away from the cows as quickly as possible so they have less chance of sucking/getting muck, etc.’’
Fresh calvers
Keep in a separate group for at least three days after calving. Trim hair on tail to reduce spreading of dirt and to keep udder clean. Draw all teats while in ‘freshly calved’ group.Dry cows
Keep scrapers running every three hours. Keep cows batched depending on management – bulk tank cows, freshly calved, near calving and far away from calving. Keep cubicles clean and limed morning and evening. 1 The main Lyons cow shed is split in three at the moment, with dividing gates that hang on the cubicles splitting up the cows. When cows start calving, the shed can be split into smaller groups. Eugene maintains this is a key management tool.
2 The scraper slat in the shed is positioned unusually lengthways and at an angle which Eugene maintains ensures little or no muck is built up near the end of the scrape.
3 Eugene sets the timer so that scrapers come on every three hours to reduce the amount of muck around and keep cubicles clean.
4 Cubicles are limed with Agrical twice a day. This is done to keep beds clean and dry.
5 Eugene uses an ordinary hand-scraper to go around and scrape off any muck that is sitting on cubicle mats.
6 Cows’ tails are clipped as soon as they calve to keep the udder clean. They are also clipped two other times during the year.
Read more
Focus: milk quality
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