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Less mud in heifer pens saves feed cost
By Dairy Herd news staff  |  Friday, May 29, 2009

The amount of mud that heifers must wade through to reach the feed bunk can sharply increase their energy intake. “It literally sucks the energy out of them,” says Greg Bethard, of G&R Dairy Consulting in Wytheville, Va., and assistant director of dairy technology at Dairy Records Management Systems in Raleigh, N.C.

Bethard shared an example of this in March at the Dairy Calf & Heifer Conference in Tucson, Ariz.

The operation was a dairy in western Kansas with two heifer pens that were right across from each other. In one pen, heifers wallowed through mud that was 1.5 to 2 feet deep to get to the feed bunk and back to the resting area. The pen didn’t have any concrete at the feed bunk either. The other pen was well-groomed and well-sloped. It had a concrete feed apron.

Heifers in the muddy environment required 3 extra pounds of corn (per head, per day) to keep weight on, Bethard said. “And that was back when corn was two bucks,” he added.

This “wake-up call” stressed to Bethard the importance of looking at heifer facilities and how they affect feed intake and growth.

Keep the area between the feed bunk and the resting area “relatively free of mud,” he stresses. Six inches to a foot of mud is not acceptable. Excess mud means heifers need to consume more energy to meet maintenance requirements, and that can rack up the feed bill fast.

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