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XtraBlatt issue 01-2017

  • Text
  • Krone
  • Forage
  • Silage
  • Machinery
  • Agricultural
  • Maize
  • Cows
  • Farmer
  • Farmers
  • Menschen

MENSCHEN TITLE RUBRIK

MENSCHEN TITLE RUBRIK THEME Feeding PREVENTION VERSUS CURE André Hüting is a veterinary surgeon convinced that feeding and management errors lie behind most cow health problems. His solution: intensive veterinary involvement in herd management. An exceptional concept. W What’s the farmer’s best tool during forage maize harvest? No, it’s not the clamp-consolidating tractor. Neither is it the plastic sheeting of the clamp. Not even the daily basketful of filled rolls for the contractor’s “elevenses” during harvest. In fact, the indispensable aid is a simple two-litre capacity measuring jug. “At least once per hour during the silage harvest every farmer should take a forage sample. If more than two undam- Veterinarian André Hüting: “Every farmer should use this kind of measuring jug for forage sampling during silage making. If more than two undamaged maize grains are found in the sample, there is a need for action.” aged maize grains are found per sample, then action has to be taken and the harvester adjusted,” advises vet André Hüting. He’s one of four partners running the “Güterstraße Veterinarian Practice” in the North Rhine-Westphalian town of Hamminkeln. “The knowledge that only optimally-processed maize silage produces the required amount of milk per cow is, admittedly, nothing new. But alarming from my point of view is the number of farmers that don’t pay attention to this.” INTENSIVE SUPPORT However, these maize grains are not only the proverbial “dotting the i” in performance optimisation. They also serve as symbol for the necessity of optimal feeding. “90% of all health problems with cattle can be traced back directly or indirectly to errors in feed production, in the feeding, and/or housing management. For this reason, we see our role as vets not only in the emergency practice and in medicinal treatment. Over and above this, we want to be able to offer comprehensive advice to our clients. Prevention is better than cure.” The pronoun “we” in this case refers to a team of 19 vets. Ten of these specialise in cattle of which five focus on herd support. In total, the practice has around 300 cattle farmer clients over a radius of 80 km. One third of these farmers have already contractual agreements with the practice covering intensive herd care, a proportion that’s steadily increasing. “Naturally, such care is not free. Billing is based on time input. However, experience shows that these costs are paid back several times through the resultant positive effects,” declares André Hüting. MISTAKES COST MONEY As example, he cites the reduction in treatment costs for livestock health problems. On no farm can these be pared down to zero. But: “A farmer with livestock treatment costing between 0.7 ct and 1 ct/l produced milk (0.6 and 0.9 pence/l) certainly lies within a good range. On many farms, however, treatment costs are substantially more than these, even double in some cases. With one million litres of produced milk, alone reducing the treatment costs to the given normal level offers a saving of 20,000 Euro (17,560 GBP) annually. The bill for herd care that would have to be paid to us for the mentioned example with around 110 cows, involving two to three hours spent on the farm INFO twice per month, costs only a fraction of this,” he explains. And many more advantages are then available to the farmer including, for example, longer productive cow lifetime, more milk per lactation and more lactations per cow. The spectrum of “fine-tuning screws” for improvement in the dairy farming business is enormously wide, continues this vet. His experience has shown it stretches from more efficient forage harvesting, over improved feed mixing, effective grouping within the herd through to ensuring water quality and including cubicle design. The basic feed performance from grass silage on good farms is thus double that on poorer ones. On top of this, the potential where feed mix wagons and TMR are concerned can be seen as almost dramatic on many farms. “The list of focal points in this respect can continue for pages. Fact is: the consequences (where no adjustments are made) cost farmers unbelievably large sums of money. Thus, as neutral partner we can help through applying our knowledge on the relationships between feed, housing and animal health,” emphasises André Hüting. Series: “Prevention versus cure” The interview with André Hüting ably demonstrated to XtraBlatt staff how great the optimisation potential is regarding feeding and animal husbandry. For this reason, we shall prepare central themes from our interview for publication as a series in forthcoming issues. Our aim: to support farmers and contractors in optimisation of their work around cow and co. 12 13