DHIA Service Center,
QUESTION: We feed a TMR
to our herd and the cows in late lac
tation show sudden drops in MUN.
Does this mean that we should feed
more soybean meal to these cows?
ANSWER: Feeding more soy
bean to your cows will have a
pretty good chance of raising
MUN, but we need to answer more
questions about your feeding man
agement to see if this is your best
solution.
It was found that this herd
groups by open and pregnant
cows. This alone is a pretty good
way of grouping for reproductive
management, because heat detec
tion can be concentrated in part of
the herd instead of all.
There are problems that arise
when we try to feed these cows.
Looking at the DHIA records, we
find that some cows settle in early
lactation and others not so early.
Why is this a problem?
In showmanship, Jessica Schmidt, right, is the grand
champion and April Leaman is the reserve at the Solanco
Sheep Show.
Best Friends Clinch Solanco Market Lamb Championships
LOU ANN GOOD
Lancaster Fanning Staff
QUARRYVILLE (Lancaster
Co.) Best friends swept the
grand and reserve championships
at the Solanco Sheep Show on
Wednesday.
This wasn’t the first year Alli
son Hughes and Tiffany Dean
caused the judge some cotntempla
tion in the show ring.
These arc the two best lambs
I’ve seen today,” said Ron Miller,
who judged the event. He praised
Ihe lambs for muscling, hind quar
ters, and length of loin.
In the end, it was Allison’s spot
ted crossbred lamb that won the
Orchard Road, University Park, PA 16802
The early settling cows enter the
pregnant group as early as 85 days
in milk, with the voluntary waiting
period being S 3 days, and vet rect
al palpation at 30 days post
breeding.
We see cows in this group just
getting to peak dry matter intake,
and cows at reduced intake, as they
near their dry period. Vast differ
ences occur between these cows
when we look at their nutrient
requirements.
The open group of cows has an
average MUN of 12.7 and a range
of 10.3 to 16.6.
There is also considerable
spread in days-in-milk of 10 to
274.
They are fed a TMR twice daily.
The pregnant group of cows are
also fed a TMR twice daily, but not
the same formulation as the open
group.
Comparing average production
of both groups, we see that the first
grand championship and Tiffany’s
lamb from Tim Flecner that took
the reserve trophy. Both
12S-pcund lambs had been the
champion and reserve in the
heavyweight class respectively.
The 12-year-old friends said
that they agree on almost every
thing except one—feeding. Tif
fany feeds her lambs Purina Show
Chow and Allison feeds hers a
grain mixture devised by a family
friend.
If it’s in the feed, the mixtures
must be comparable because both
have about the same number of
championships and reserves accu
mulated in recent years. In fact.
group averages 92 pounds and the
second 67 pounds.
The drop in production from one
group to the other is probably too
large and is initiated by the fact
that the feeding management is
telling those cows to produce less
milk by feeding a TMR that drasti
cally reduces grain fed, particular
ly die protein faction.
When the cows become pre
gnant, and are fed this diet, their
average MUN falls to 8.6 and rag
nes from 6 to 13.3
MUN when used as a diagnostic
tool, can help us fine tune our diets
by allowing the cows to tell us
what some of their needs are.
In this particular case, if care
was exercised in reducing grain
and protein levels as cows were
moved from one group to the
other, production could be better
maintained at a level closer to the
first group average.
Dairyman to Dairyman is a reg
ular column by George Cudoc,
consulting dairyman for PA DHIA.
Contact him by calling the PA
DHIA Service Center at (800)
344-8378, or him directly at (724)
625-8971; fax (724) 625-8972; e
mail: GCudoc@fyi.net
Judge Ron Miller selects Allison Hughes’ spotted lamb, right, as the grand champ
ion market lamb and Tiffany Dean’s heavyweight as the reserve grand champion at
Solanco Fair.
Tiffany, later in the show, went on
to win champion pair of market
lamb.
Allison is the daughter of Chet
and Marie Hughes of Lancaster
and Tiffany is the daughter of Gary
and Joan Dean of Strasburg.
The final showdown also
included the lightweight champion
shown by April Lcaman and the
reserve lightweight by Jill Krcidcr.
Middleweight champion was
shown by Brent Landis and reserve
by Allison Hughes. Brother and
sister Brad and April Lcaman
swept the light heavyweight com
petition with almost identical
lambs. Brad also too the reserve
Lancaster Farming, Saturday, September 19, 1998-A35
Grouping cows is a manage
ment decision all dairymen have to
make.
We can use this case as an exam
ple of utilizing a tool like MUN to
help us cope with the decision.
Some would criticize and point
the finger at the grouping decision
as being a wrong one. I disagree
and would defend such a decision
as one that is custom-fitted to the
management style on the farm.
Next, I would encourage
changes to that grouping manage
ment in small steps to monitor
negative effects brought about by
treating the groups differently.
More specifically, if you think
you must change the diet of the
second group, do it by less abrupt
changes than will cause production
to fall and MUN to go down.
I must say, in conclusion, that I
have become a supporter of single
ration TMRs over the past years
due to problems like the one
discussed.
Cows don’t always know whaj
they need, but they usually do eat
more if they are hungry and health
y, and eat less when they don’t
need it
This style of feeding also contri
butes to higher persistency of pro
duction which spells higher
profits.
MUN can tell us if an how much
to alter diets. Use this tool to read
the needs of the cow and then to
manage to her needs.
Grouping is a management
strategy fit to this farm and MUN
is an evaluation of how to use this
grand champion title for market
lamb pairs.
Champion in showmanship was
Jessica Schmidt of Drumorc. The
16-year-old is the daughter of Pete
and Laurie Schmidt Reserve in
showmanship was April Lcaman,
IS, and daughter of David and
Jackie Leaman of Willow Street
A partial listing of show results
follows:
SOLANCO SHEEP
SHOWMANSHIP
SENIORS 1 Jessica Schmidt,2 Jimmy Mullen, 3
Jeremy Railing,
INTERMEDIATE 1 Apnl Leaman, 2 Elizabeth
Young, Ryan Nelson
JUNIOR 1 Debra Young, 2 Allison Hiiges, 3
Tiffany Dean
NOVICE. 1 Dustin Collins, 2 Katnna Frey, 3
strategy.
Keeping all cows within the 10
to 14 range of MUN tells us that at
least they are utilizing protein pro
vided in the most efficient way.
That is certainly a better start than
what we had in the past.
Average Farm Feed
Costs For Handy
Reference
To help fanners across the state
to have handy reference of com
modity input costs in their feeding
operations for DHIA record sheets
or to develop livestock feed cost
data, here’s last week’s average
costs of various ingredients as
compiled from regional reports
across the state of Pennsylvania.
Remember, these are averages,
so you will need to adjust your fig
ures up or down according to your
location and the quality of your
crop.
Com, No.2y 2.29 bu., 4.10
cwt
Wheat, No. 2 2.25 bu., 3.76
cwt
Barley, No. 3 1.33 bu., 2.85
cwt
Oats, No. 2 1.26 bu., 3.81
cwt
Soybeans, No. 1
8.22 cwL
Ear Com 81.24 ton, 4.06 cwt.
Alfalfa Hay - 101.50 ton, 5.08
cwt
Mixed Hay 113.50 ton, 5.68
cwt
Timothy Hay
5.44 cwt.
Amber Funk
CHAMPION SHOWMANSHIP Jessica Schmidt
RESERVE SHOWMANSHIP Apnl teaman
LIGHTWEIGHT MARKET LAMBS
CLASS 1 1 Brian Mull 2 Maureen Madden, 3
Jimmy Mullen
CLASS 2 I April teaman, 2 Jill Kreider 3
Jimmy Mullen
CLASS 3 1 Jessica Schmidt, 2 Lisa Hershey 3
Lisa Hershey,
CHAMPION LIGHT WEIGHT Apnl teaman
RESERVE CH LIGHTWEIGHT, Jill Kreider
MIDDLEWEIGHT MARKET LAMBS
CLASS 4 1 Allison Huges, 2 Brian Mull, 3 Debra
Young
CLASS 5 1 John Schmidt, 2 Loren Hershey, 3
Amanda Overly
CLASS 6 1 Brent Landis. 2 John Schmidt, 3
Ruth Frey
CHAMPION MIDDLEWEIGHT Brendt Landis
RESERVE CH MIDDLEWEIGHT Allison
Hughes
(Turn to Page AST)
4.92 bu..
108.75 ton.