Body Condition Scoring, An Important Dairy Farm Tool
ALAN RATHWELL
Navan Yet Clinic
Navan, Ontario
Editors Note: This article
used by permission first
appeared in the October 1990
Canadian Holstein News.
This article will be devoted to
body condition scoring cows and
how this tool, although simple,
may be one of the most effective
that we have developed over the
last few years.
Why is body condition so
important? Research has shown
that dry matter intake or the total
amount of feed that a cow con
sumes does not reach its maxi
mum until 90 days after calving.
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Of course, peak milk production
comes at day 60 or 70 so we have
an approximate three-month time
interval when the high producing
cow is not consuming as much
energy as what she is using to pro
duce milk. Thus, she either has to
cut back in milk production or go
to the reserve of energy and this is
her body fat We have in the past
given body fat a bad name and
thought that we had to have really
thin cows in order to have healthy
cows. However, there is some
good research out now that sug
gests that thin cows do not repro
duce well and they don’t peak as
high. Nor do they peak at the right
time during lactation. Thin cows
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have a tendency to peak on first
test date and then start down the
back side of the lactation curve
instead of peaking around day 60
or 70. For every kg of peak not
obtained, we loose approximately
200-220 kg of milk during that
lactation. Thus, you can see that
monitoring peaks is very impor
tant if we wish to attain high
production.
When we body score cows, we
do it on a scale of 1-5 and it con
sists of both visually looking
along the top line of the cow and
over the rump of the cow. I also
like to feel these areas in order to
determine how much fat cover is
underneath the skin. The follow
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ing description of each category is
taken from the article in the
Hoards’ Dairyman and I think it
serves as a very useful tool in
order to learn how to condition
score cows. Basically, I break
them down into scores of 2.0, 2.2,
2.5, 2.7, 3.0, 3.2, etc. It is not
important that two people come
up with the same score, although
they should be relatively close, but
it is important that the person
doing the scoring is consistent so
that when they score the animals,
they can tell if they have lost or
gained weight.
Condition Score 1;
The ends of the short ribs are
prominent, with limited flesh cov
er, are sharp to the touch and pro
vide a distinctive shelf-like
appearance. Hips and pin bones
are sharp, with limited flesh cov
ering. There are severe depress
ions between hips and pins and
between hooks. The area below
the tailhead and between the pin
bones is severely depressed with a
deep “V-shaped” cavity under the
tail.
Condition Score 2;
Short ribs can be seen. There is
some flesh covering over the
topline, but an overhanging shelf
remains prominent The individu
al vertebrae of the chin, loin and
rump regions are not distinct to the
eye. Hips and pin bones are prom
inent with some depression
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between them. There is limited
depression around the tailhead (U
-shaped) and between the pin
bones.
Condition Score 3:
The short ribs appear smooth
and an overhanging shelf effect is
not noticeable. The backbone
appears as a rounded ridge with
firm pressure being necessary in
order to feel individual bones. The
hip and pin bones are rounded and
smooth. The area between the pin
bones is only slightly depressed
while the area around the tailhead
appears smooth without signs of
fat deposit.
Condition Score 4:
The short ribs appear smooth or
rounded with no overhanging
shelf effects. The ridge formed by
the backbone in the chin region is
rounded and the span between the
hips is flat. The area around the
tailhead and the pin bone is round
ed with evidence of fat deposit.
Condition Score 5:
The backbone is covered by a
thick layer of fat. Short ribs are
covered by fat. The hips and pins
are not apparent and the areas
between them are rounded. The
tailhead is surrounded by fat.
We generally like to body score
cows the day they calve and con
tinue to body score them during
our routine monthly visits to the
farm until the time when they are
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