A26-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, November 25, 2000
DHIA Service Center, Orchard Road, University Park, PA 16802
Dairyman to Dairyman
Question: This past spring we
made a change to our dry cow
program by increasing the con
centrate level in the ration. We
have better forages now and
wonder if this practice should be
continued. How can we tell if
this change made any differ
ence?
The impact of management
decisions and changes are often
hard to evaluate. I usually urge
the dairymen that I work with to
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develop strategies to measure
desired results. Without doing
so we sit back and are faced with
this type of question.
First I believe we should revi
sit the circumstances at the time
of this change. Lower quality
forages were available for the
dry cows and body condition
was lost during the dry cow
period as a result. Normal con
centrate levels are 1 to 1.5-
pounds. This body weight loss
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created problems after the cows
freshened, as smaller body
reserves were available to tap
during early lactation. Thin
cows became the rule and lower
milk yields were evident. Clini
cal cases of ketosis were rare,
but the veterinarian suspected
sub-clinical ketosis.
Health records are not readily
available, but the herd is on
DHIA test. We should look at
the early lactation cows for this
time frame and then compare to
cows in early lactation now.
This frequency graph looks at
the 20 freshest cows as of Sep
tember 1999 and shows the level
of production that made up an
overall average of 66.5# milk for
these cows. I used September
figures so that we can compare
cows fresh at the same time of
year to minimize environmental
influence. The following is the
result of the September 2000
test. Both graphs look at cows
the same age, lactation number,
and days in lactation in an effort
to compare apples to apples.
We use these pictures to show
us the probable impact of a man
agement change. What is signifi
cant here is that these similar
cows have all benefited by the
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change of concentrate in the dry
cow ration. The range of pro
duction stayed the same but has
moved up by 10-pounds. Sep
tember 1999 range for milk pro
duction of fresh cows was 30 to
100 and now that range is 40 to
110. We also note that the aver
age production increased from
66.5 to 80.5, which tells us that
the majority of cows have im
proved more than 10-pounds.
My theory on dry cows is that
we need to maintain a certain
ability to digest grains as well as
maintain body condition. Most
situations will need around five
pounds of grain to accomplish
this. The cows here have re
sponded well to changes while
they were dry. Improved per
formance during early lactation
is evident and I would hesitate
to go back to minimal concen
trate levels.
Average Farm Feed
Costs for Handy
Reference
To help farmers across the state to
have handy reference of commodity
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 ingred-
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Changes arc inevitable on
dairies. When we make manage
ment decisions we should ac
company them with a way to
measure the impact. DHIA
records are the heart and soul of
that measuring process. Some
times we can even enhance
normal DHIA records with the
use of a computer and software,
such as Bam Owl 2000, which I
used in the above graphics.
rents as compiled from regional reports
across the state of Pennsylvania.
Corn, No.2y —1.95 bu., 3.49 cwt.
Wheat, N 0.2 2.18 bu., 3.64 cwt.
Barley, N 0.3 —1.37 bu., 2.93 cwt.
Oats, N 0.2—1.30 bu., 4.06 cwt.
Soybeans, No.l 4.19 bu., 6.99 cwt.
Ear C0rn—57.33 ton, 2.87 cwt.
Alfalfa Hay —131.25 ton, 6.56 cwt.
Mixed Hay —130.00 ton, 6.5 cwt.
Timothy Hay —111.25 ton, 5.56 cwt.
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