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XtraBlatt Issue 01-2018

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  • Machinery
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  • Dairy

MENSCHEN KNOWLEDGE 1 For

MENSCHEN KNOWLEDGE 1 For this vet, a central theme is the correct grouping of milkers, particularly in herds of 200 cows upwards. Hereby, it is not enough to form just one low and another high yield group. “Best is to create at least three groups, oriented on the age of cows and therefore on their dry matter intake capacity. In the first group are heifers, in the second, second and third calvers and in the third group, cows that have had their fourth or subsequent calves”, points out the vet with the added aside: “In some farms the heifers continue to be served simply too late. Often after the 8th – 10th month of age they are still getting feed that’s too high in energy content. Result: they start to get too fat. Cattle that are early in-calf as a rule last longer and tend less to fatness.” However, he reckons, good grouping influences not only feeding the composition of rations according to age and yield, but also has a large influence on feeding behaviour and, with that, individual intake. “As soon as an animal has calved it should be assigned to the appropriate group and remain there until drying off. Failure to establish this social stability costs, in our experience, up to 500 litres milk per cow and lactation.” He also finds that composition of rations influences optimal stability. The first step being a selection of components that remain the same. Secondly, a large diversity of components should be offered. Alongside the standards maize (maximum 60 – 65% of ration) and grass, come beet pulp, draff, straw. Carrots or potatoes are also tasty ration constituents for animals. Naturally, too, concentrate and mineral feed, salt and yeasts. “These supplementary components should, however, be already mixed before they are added into the basic forage”, he advises. “Complete TMR remains the trend. But watch out: dry matter (DM) content of 45% is too high for a dairy cow’s complete ration. There’s then a danger that cows nose the ration around, picking out the tastiest constituents. A DM content from 33 to 36% with grass and 36 to 38% with maize are the values to aim for”, says André Hüting. Important is that the concentrate feed, best in meal form, is bound to the forage. In this way, selection by the animals is prevented. 2 From the nutrition aspect, he notes with unease the growing proportion of robot milking systems, because here the above points have to be watched even more carefully. Robot milking means the return of feeding part of the concentrates at the milking point. This puts even more demand on feeding gate management. More preferable is to be sparing with the concentrates at milking and to mix these energy bon-bons as much as possible in the total ration. On the other hand, he is enthusiastic about the so-called pushing-up robot in the feed passage. “Optimally, feed should be on offer 23 hours daily so that every animal, at any time, finds enough feed. Heifers often feed at night because they are pushed aside by the older cows during the day and therefore have to make their way to the feed table more often because, per visit, they cannot eat as much as an older animal. Where the amount of feed available is not optimal, the wrong nutrition or even malnutrition occurs and, as a result, 32

2 1 André Hüting and his colleagues from the veterinary practice “an der Güterstraße” in Hamminkeln advise a few hundred dairy farms on questions of feed quality, feeding and animal husbandry. 2 Cows must always have enough feed in front of them. With tractor or per hand, feed should be pushed up at least four times daily. Still more effective is a robot. 3 Cows always feed at the same place. If individual components are missing at the start or the end of the feed table through faulty mixing, then it is always the same cows that are wrongly fed and 3 eventually ill, observes André Hüting. performance loss is pre-programmed. The automatic pusher-up increases milk production by as much as 2 l/cow daily, in our experience.” If, instead, feed is still pushed up with the front loader or per hand, then this should be done at least four times daily. This vet also finds that on many farms a problem is caused by feed mix wagons having too small a capacity with the result that they are filled to overflowing. “With a DM content of 45%, the resultant volume means that the necessary weight of feed isn’t achieved. And when the wagon is too full, it only appears to be mixing the ingredients.” Some time ago, he noted with interest the actions of one farmer who always first drove his mixer wagon in a barn with a low ceiling – so that the feed could not spill over the top. Accordingly, his recommendation: Fill feed mix wagons only three-quarters full. First, short-chopped straw, then grass, then concentrates and the previously mixed ingredients. Finally, maize and other moist components should be loaded. Not to be forgotten is the rapid addition of the required amount of water. As soon as everything is loaded, three minutes at high revolutions should be enough time for the mixer to do its work. It is additionally recommended to load the constituents always in the same order and, with large herds, to establish a mixing protocol, especially when different operators are mixing and feeding. Also important are regular DM checks of basic feed components and complete rations. This is because even different methods applied by various operators at the mixing wagon along with fluctuating DM together represent a measurable error source. However, if everything runs smoothly a really homogenous mix is the result and, from beginning to end of the feeding trough, the same quality can be found. “Feeding correctly doesn’t involve any secrets. It needs, above all, care and commitment”, he concludes. 33