Over the last few days most farmers across the country have been grappling with getting water running in milking parlours and cow sheds.

Many have decided to dry off cows a bit earlier than planned to avoid the heartache. Even where cows have been dried off, winter feed management is still very important.

There are a couple of things to watch out for. First and foremost is feed space. Insufficient feed space is very hard on cows and leads to poor body condition score gain over the winter or even body condition score loss.

Not having enough feed space is effectively restricting silage because if there is no silage in front of the cows in the morning, it means it’s being restricted and not offered ad lib, as most farmers and nutritionists would recommend.

Exception

The exception to this is where cows are over fat or at risk of being over fat and need to reduce their feed intake.

The recommendation for feed space is 30cm per cow when silage is offered ad lib. Where silage is restricted this doubles to 60cm per cow which means that all cows can eat at the one time.

Another thing to keep an eye out for is lame cows. Because cows are not going through the milking parlour once or twice a day, it’s very easy for a lame cow to be missed.

The amount of cubicles available will impact on lameness and also SCC with the target being to have 1.1 cubicles per cow in a shed.

Insufficient feed space will also lead to lameness problems. Where a lame cow has been identified, remove her from the shed as soon as possible and get her treated and consider returning the cow to a field or straw bed where she will be more comfortable.