By Nancy Charlton, DVM, Senior Advisor, DeLaval North America
To say that each farm has its own goals and ways to achieve them would be an understatement. However, a common goal amongst the dairy community is to have healthy calves, replacement stock and dairy cows. While it is impossible for each animal to be healthy, there are steps you can take to minimize the number of sick animals in your operation with the help of technology.
When adding technology to your farm, it is important to put the transition cow program at the forefront of your priority list. A body condition scoring system can help feed advisors monitor your transition cow program with 3-D camera technology that consistently scores cows. If cows dry off too heavy or too thin, this sets them up for a poor dry cow period. If a cow calves too heavy, too thin or lost too much weight during the dry cow period, they will be more susceptible to metabolic disease, infectious disease and a lower conception rate.
Fill out the below form to learn more about implementing farm management solutions like these on your farm.
Historically, the answer to reproduction has been the development of fertility protocols. Technology, like Herd Navigator™, detects heat and pregnancy automatically, using progesterone levels in the milk. This technology also displays how the cows are cycling before the voluntary waiting period ends.
When used together, Herd Navigator and a body condition scoring camera can provide data to help you improve the transition cow program and have more cows to breed naturally with a higher conception rate. While you cannot change the cows that are currently too heavy or too thin, you can work to reduce the number of new cows that will be impacted.
Through management changes and new technology, it is possible to influence what is key to keeping cows healthy and fertile. Fill out the form to learn more about implementing farm management solutions on your farm.
