Cowmamagement UK January 2014

V O LU M E 12 N O 1 JA NU A RY /FE BR UARY 2014

IN THIS ISSUE

M A I Z E S P E C IAL

C O W H EA LTH

H EA LTH AND SAFETY

Growing under plastic and a ‘what’s new’ round up

Manage BCS to reduce retained cleansings risk

Where could most dairy units improve?

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CO NTENT

FEATURES

4 10 20 23 35 42 41

Cow Talk Overalls off: Stand-up comedian Roger Evans Veterinary practice: Rumen fluke NMR Dairy Management News Business update: Milk Avoncroft Breeding Information/ Thompsons Nutritional News REPORTS

12 Improving facilities and management ‘turned on’ genetic potential at the Lougher family 48 North Florida Holsteins thrives on personnel development and practical breeding H E A LT H

36 Preventing post-calving difficulties starts at grass roots level BREEDING

38 December bull proofs 44 New breeding tools: health and efficiency

Rhys Lougher “Investment has allowed us to tap into our herd’s full potential“ 12

Editor Rachael Porter New Year cheer

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elcome to our first issue of 2014 – and we hope it’ll be just what you need to banish those January blues.

Our Overalls Off column is sure to raise a smile, as we feature a stand-up comedian (and his alter ego Freda). Read all about ‘Three men in a bow tie’ and Martin Jones’ antics on page 10.

If it’s reasons to be cheerful, and not just a quick chuckle, that you’re after then our milk price update has some positive news that should continue well into 2014.

Global and domestic demand for milk is strong, so prices should stay buoyant – certainly for the next few months.

Thoughts of spring and summer, and warmer weather, also help to raise spirits on even the coldest and darkest winter days. Our ‘special’ focuses on maize, so why not set aside some time to think about your 2014 forage crops and whether maize deserves a place in the rotation.

We’ve an article, which starts on page 25, that looks at the benefits of growing maize under plastic. We spoke to three producers who are all dairying in marginal areas and are all using film for different reasons.

We also have our regular vet column, which takes a closer look at rumen fluke, on page 23 and Roger Evans takes issue with being called ‘grumpy’ on page 20.

We also take a timely look at the latest bull proof run. Willy Ley takes us through the list and shares his thoughts on the chart-topping sires on page 38.

Main article Safety first

Management Energy challenge

Special Maize

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Time and planning are key to reducing health and safety risks

Routine monitoring of a cow’s energy status is a huge step forward

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Make maize a ‘film’ star: growing maize under plastic could be worth a second look

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C O W

TA L K

Cold weather can ‘cool’ calf performance As temperatures begin to drop, so can calf growth rates. That’s the warning from HST Feeds’ Rachael Kennerley.

“Periods of cold weather increase a calf’s susceptibility to a multitude of bacterial and viral infections and also mean energy is used to keep warm rather than to grow,” she said. “To counteract this, extra milk solids must be fed to young calves. As a guideline, for every 1°C below 15°C, an extra 11g of milk replacer is required per day.

“Using a high quality milk replacer with adequate inclusion of fats and oils is also important, as these are the diet fractions that provide the majority of energy to the calf.”

As a rule of thumb the thermo-neutral zone of a calf is between 10°C and 25°C, which is similar to humans. “So if you are feeling the cold, the chances are that

the calf will be too. It’s also important to keep the calves’ environment as dry as possible, so bed up with lots of straw. “‘Nesting’ in a straw bed will increase the temperature of a calf’s laying area by around 4°C so it really does help. Also think about using calf coats, particularly on the most vulnerable calves.”

Other practical ways to help reduce the impact of cold weather include preventing as much rain as possible from getting into the calf building, reducing draughts through the use of gale breakers or shelters, regularly removing saturated bedding, and drying off all new-born calves after birth to reduce heat loss from evaporation.

“During periods of extremely low temperatures, it may be necessary to increase the number of litres being fed per day, and even increase the

Rachael Kennerley: “Reduce the impact of cold weather”

frequency of feeds per day to eliminate any digestive upset,” explained Ms Kennerley. “However, always seek advice from your nutritionist or milk replacer manufacturer before making changes to milk replacer mixing rates.”

Supplement cattle on wet pasture

Time to rebalance maize silages With high levels of starch and good rumen degradability, this year’s maize silages have provided a valuable boost to rations. But improvements in starch degradability through the winter, as maize grains soften in the clamp, could tip the balance of many rations towards acidosis.

“Starch degradability may have increased by around 5% since initial maize silage was clamped,” said KW’s Richard Wynn.

“So it’s important to reassess rations for the remainder of the winter, and get fresh samples analysed to confirm nutrient supply.”

Replacing some of the cereal in the ration with feeds high in digestible fibre, such as sugar beet feed, soya hulls and pressed pulp, will both rebalance starch levels and increase rumen buffering. Switching to slower release starch feeds like soda wheat (caustic soda-treated wheat) and maize meal is also worth considering.

“And if acidosis risk still seems high, add Vistacell live yeast to safeguard rumen function,” added Dr Wynn.

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Grass is still growing on many units with a continuation of more of the mild, stormy weather that characterised the end of 2013. So much so that grazing may look abundant at the moment, but low dry matter winter pasture is not enough to sustain optimum cattle, warned Rumenco’s David Thornton.

“In many areas of the country rainfall has been so substantial that out-wintering dry cows are grazing nothing more than ‘green water’. Grass may look plentiful at the moment, but it is typically extremely wet and of low quality.”

He points out that most of the pasture on offer currently contains more than 85% moisture and in-calf cattle may not be able to consume enough dry matter to meet intake and nutrient demands.

“It may seem counter intuitive to put hay out when grass seems abundant, but this

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will help boost dry matter intake on wet pastures. Hay will also decrease the rate at which forage passes through the ruminant digestive system, which will help stock make the most of what forage is available to them.”

He also advocates the benefits of blocks or buckets as the optimum supplementary nutrient delivery system in wet grazing situations, in preference to trough feeding. “Continued wet weather certainly adversely affects nutrient uptake from grazing so to have a concentrated energy, protein, vitamins and minerals source on offer makes sense. But bear in mind that mud around troughs can also affect feeding behaviour.

“Poached areas create a suction effect on the hooves of cattle making it hard for them to move around feeders,” adds Mr Thornton.

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UK Dairy Day launched UK Dairy Day was officially launched in January at an open day that attracted more than 60 interested dairy trade suppliers, ahead of the event that will be held in Telford in Shropshire on Wednesday September 17.

The one-day event, which will be staged at a time of year when key purchasing decisions are made for the winter, has set a target of 5,000 visitors who will network with more 200 trade stands and view dairy breeds as part of the cattle show.

Ticket prices will be £18 on the day, discounted by £6 for advance purchase on an early bird discount, including free car parking with easy access to the exhibition halls at The International Centre.

“We have listened to feedback from the trade during the past couple of years and identified a gap for a Midlands-located event specifically focussed on the dairy sector in the autumn,” said show director Carl Smith. “This event will fill that gap with a focus on helping to increase profits, which will include seminars to share expertise and help producers lead and develop their dairy businesses.”

UK Dairy Day has secured the support of two leading businesses, Cogent and NWF Agriculture, as mainline sponsors and Holstein International as media partners.

UK Dairy Day: Simon Gee, Carl Smith, and Richard Evans

Keep plastic under wraps

Producer numbers continue to fall

A store designed to keep used bale wrap clean and dry, and all in one place, has been launched by Shropshire-based JFC Manufacturing.

The TidyWrap recycling bin is made from UV-stabilised polyethylene and is a durable bottomless bin with a removable lid, designed to store up to 200 bale wraps and keep them clean and dry for collection. The product uses the first wrap as the liner so producers are not exposed to additional liner costs.

Dairy producer numbers in England and Wales dropped by 241 during 2013, according to latest figures from DairyCo. At the beginning of 2014, producer numbers stood at 10,430 compared with 10,671 in January 2013.

The figures are derived from the number of farms registered with the Food Standards Agency to sell milk for human consumption.

There are now 8,558 producers in England and 1,862 producers in Wales.

A video can be viewed on youtube.com, which clearly demonstrates how to create the liner.

Once full, the liner’s four handles can be tied and the bin lifted off. The bin is light enough to be lifted and repositioned by a single person.

“The bin helps producers to save on collection costs and meet farm inspection requirements,” said the company’s John Concannon.

‘Maize under plastic’ trial results Seed breeder Limagrain has an on-going trials programme to evaluate the performance of different varieties of maize when grown under plastic. In the 2013 trial, all the company’s varieties emerged successfully though the plastic cover and went on to produce mature plants. Of particular note was the performance of varieties including Ambition, Asgaard, Beethoven and LG30.211.

The company has been conducting maize under plastic trials for the past four years. The 2013 trial of 44 varieties was sown near Newark, in Lincolnshire, on April 22 and harvested on September 16. The highest yielding variety in the trial was LG30.211, which delivered 18.8t/ha of DM, and had reached 29% DM at harvest. “Although not on the

NIAB list, LG30.211 is the best-selling variety in the Netherlands and its high digestibility makes it very popular with Dutch growers,” said the company’s Tim Richmond.

The earliest maturing variety was Ambition, which had a DM content of 35% at harvest and yielded 17.7t per ha.

Ambition yielded 0.1t per ha more than late maturing old favourite Justina and 1.1t per ha more than Benicia.

The best compromise between earliness and DM yield was provided by Beethoven and Asgaard (a new variety due to be NIAB-Listed in 2015). They were both harvested at a DM content of 31%, with Asgaard yielding 18.4t/ha DM, and Beethoven, 18t/ha.

For the latest on growing maize under plastic see feature that begins on page 25.

C O W M A N A G E M EV NE TE T JEAE NL T U AJ RA YN /UF AE R B IR U1 A / 2R Y2 02 00 91 4

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FACT Most dairy farms over-dose cleaning chemicals by 15%. This reduces the life of milking equipment and roughens internal pipe surfaces creating sites for bacteria to multiply. The result: high bactoscans and milk contract penalties running into thousands.

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M A I N

A RT I C L E

Identifying hazards and implementing control mea

Safety first – you rarely g We spoke to two safety professionals for some tips on how to get to grips with health and safety on UK dairy units and we also find out why slurry handling practices and storage facilities should be firmly at the top of every producers ‘must check’ list. text Rachael Porter

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e’ve all cut corners – when we’re tired, short staffed or simply distracted – but that can be a risky business on a dairy unit. There are hazards in any work place and probably considerably more than average on a typical dairy unit.

Key to avoiding accidents and injuries and, in the very worst case, fatalities is identifying these hazards, sometimes by means of a formal risk assessment, and putting control measures in place to make them as safe as is reasonable possible.

“It’s the day-to-day jobs that can sometime catch people out, particularly if they’re rushing or not concentrating,” says Alastair Mitchell, one of the Health and Safety Executive’s leading agricultural inspectors.

“In my experience, dairy producers are busy people, working long hours and frequently working alone. In these situations they may not spot the dangers, particularly where livestock is concerned. Handling stock becomes ‘familiar and routine’ and producers may become a bit relaxed or over confident or try to cut corners. And that’s when things can go wrong.

“The HSE is aware of many cattlerelated injuries and fatalities where producers have worked with livestock without adequate and suitable handling facilities,” adds Mr Mitchell.

and dedicated producer out of action.

“So it’s important that produces carry out a COSHH assessment. This stands for the control of substances hazardous to health,” explains Dairy Management System’s adviser Oliver Dale. His company carries out these and other health and safety audits and assessments on dairy units across the UK. “And this is a typical area where many dairy units are lacking in terms of health and safety. Yet it can be quite a straight forward area to tackle – costing a little

time rather than money – and it is a great way to make a start if you just don’t know where to begin as far as getting your unit up to scratch is concerned.

“Often it’s just a case of making sure that everyone on farm knows how to store and handle the substances correctly and safely, wearing personal protective equipment if necessary.

“Conducting staff meetings is particularly effective. It helps to bring staff into the process and is also a means of providing basic health-andsafety training and increasing awareness.

They also help to remove any fear of the subject and serve to motivate staff.

“It’s really not rocket science and I know that many health and safety consultants would agree that an awful lot of it is common sense. I’d say that some issues, particularly with regard to the COSHH assessment, can be resolved with good housekeeping and organisation.

COSHH assessments Other routine tasks, such as handling animal medicines and dairy chemicals, also carry a degree of risk. These may not be life threatening, but they can be life changing. A serious back or eye injury can put even the most determined

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ntrol measures are key to reducing accident risk

ly get a second chance “Some farms can be a bit scruffy and tidying up can, actually, make them safer and also make work routines easier. Don’t leave chemical drums, for example, where they could get hit by a vehicle, and set up a system that makes it simple and easy to decant chemicals. If it’s easier then it should also be safer,” says Mr Mitchell.

Daunting prospect Other typical problem areas on dairy units include slurry storage and handling, livestock handling, lone working and working at heights.

“It can be quite daunting – there is often a lot to do. So the key is to prioritise.

Look at what needs to be done urgently and what can be done relatively easily.

Once they’ve made a start, our clients feel more confident about beginning to tackle everything else,” adds Mr Dale.

Something that should be seen as urgent – and something of a concern on many

units according to Mr Mitchell – is the safe storage and handling of slurry and, more specifically, adequate slurry lagoon fencing. “All too often I see lagoons with fencing that’s too low, too easy to climb, poorly maintained, or there’s just no fencing at all. Yet slurry is one of the most dangerous substances on a dairy unit,” he says. “It offers no support or buoyancy – if you fall into a lagoon or pit you will sink straight to the bottom. Some are as deep as three or four metres in the winter, when cows are being housed.”

People unfamiliar with the dangers of slurry, such as children, may think that the surface of the lagoon looks fairly solid. “This is particularly the case when the crust on the top has been there long enough for vegetation to become established,” adds Mr Mitchell.

Fencing should be at least 1.3 metres high and child-proof, which means that there are no hand or foot holds to

Risky job: producers should ensure that the area is well ventilated when emptying slurry pits and tanks

facilitate climbing and it’s also secured at the bottom. “There should also be two strands of barbed wire along the top, as an added deterrent. Gates also need to meet these specifications and they need to be locked.”

Toxic gases Slurry tanks and stores are also dangerous and covers should be secure and locked. Slurry gases, which build up in these stores, are also a serious hazard and one that has, on occasion, been underestimated, with tragic consequences.

In September 2012, Nevin Spence, his brother Graham and father Noel all died at their farm near Hillsborough in Northern Ireland after entering a slurry store to rescue the family dog. The men died after being overcome by slurry fumes, including hydrogen sulphide.

This has the same lethal effects as hydrogen cyanide.

The tragedy was triggered when a collie dog fell into the tank, which was situated below a cattle shed and contained less than four feet of slurry. Graham Spence went to the pet’s aid but, as he exited the tank, he was overcome and slumped back into the pit.

Nevin went to his brother’s aid but was also overcome by fumes. And their father, Noel, followed them into the pit and managed to find Graham. But as he carried his son back up the ladder, the 58-year-old also succumbed to the gases.

His daughter Emma – Nevin and Graham’s sister – twice tried to rescue the men. She was also overcome but survived.

“This tragic case highlights the need for a thorough risk assessment when dealing with slurry” says Mr Mitchell.

“Anyone planning on emptying a pit or tank, or entering a confined space such as a slurry store, should follow HSE guidelines to help minimise the risks.

“With something like slurry, you rarely get a second chance.” l There’s more information and guidance about slurry storage on the HSE website at http://www.hse.gov.uk/agriculture

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O V E R A L L S

Name: Location: Heifers reared: Pastime:

O F F

Martin Jones Shrewsbury, Shropshire 70 per year Stand-up comedian

Martin Jones: “Having a dark sense of humour helps”

Make ‘em laugh! text Rachael Porter

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t’s not easy to turn the day-to-day trials and tribulations of being a dairy producer into comedy gold. But Shropshirebased Martin Jones has been doing just that for more than 20 years. He and his comedy partners – Chris Eldonlee and Sally Tonge – are ‘Three men in a bow tie’ and their unique and refreshing comedy act has tickled funny bones in places as far away as the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

So, what’s the key to Martin’s success? His dark humour helps.

Not many people could write and perform a song about a dying cow and have people literally rolling in the aisles. “I wasn’t sure how I felt after that. It felt quite surreal. I remember being quite upset when that particular song was penned, so it was odd that people found it as hilarious as they did,” says Martin.

What started as taking part in his agricultural college’s revue snowballed into his own stand-up shows and after-dinner readings. It was as one such reading that he was spotted by comedy partner Chris, who then asked him to help form the group. “And we’ve just performed two sell-out shows to a 500-capacity crowd to celebrate our 20th birthday,” says Martin, whose comedy heroes include Peter Cook and Dudley Moore and, of course, Monty Python. Anyone who has seen him perform as alter ego ‘Freda Brace-Cock’, agriculture’s answer to Dame Edna Everage, will easily spot that.

He performs around 25 gigs a year now and says he gets a huge kick out of being on stage: “Laughter’s a great medicine. It’s got me through some tough times in farming – both financially and emotionally. I’ve not earned a fortune, but the extra income has certainly helped.

“When I go out on stage I can sense straight away if the audience is up for it. If the mood is right then the performance is effortless and the crowd is helpless with laughter. As Chris often says, there’s not a dry seat in the house.

“At one gig there was one chap who laughed so hard he fell off his chair and had to be taken to hospital.”

Despite the occasional injury caused by the trio’s side-splitting satire, Martin says that, on the whole, he feels that the group’s comedy helps to improve farmer fans’ sense of well being.

“Humour kept me going through the foot-and-mouth disease epidemic and the BSE crisis. It gave me a platform to talk about what I was going through and the farmers who come to our gigs could relate to that. It also reminded them that they’re not alone and to try to see the funny, and sunnier, side of life.”

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H E R D

The Lougher family The need to increase output and profitability, partly by adding value to milk, led to considerable investment, and some impressive results, on one Welsh dairy unit.

Number of cows: Average yield: Unit size: Bottled milk:

R E P O RT

Bridgend

100 11,653kg 61 hectares One million litres

Rhys Lougher: “We’re realising potential”

Cow comfort has improved with new housing

Improving cow facilities and herd management ‘turned on’ genetic potential

A herd with plenty of bottle Investment in housing, milking equipment and nutrition management has seen one dairy unit improve efficiency and productivity and take a well-earned place among the UK’s top yielding herds. text Rachael Porter

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here have been quite a few changes at the Lougher family’s Bridgendbased dairy unit during the past decade.

Not least is a move into bottling milk from the 100-cow Holstein herd, which has gradually expanded from 70 head and seen major investment in, among other areas, housing, milking equipment and feeding management.

This has culminated in a business that’s

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Silage quality has played a key role

not only bigger – and able to support three families – but also more efficient, profitable and rewarding to manage.

So says Rhys who, with help from his wife Emma, farms in partnership with his mother and father, John and Liz, and grandparents Richard and Mary.

More milk Increased milk yield has also seen the herd take a position, for the first time, in the top 20 of this year’s NMR Annual Production Report ranking.

The herd average yield stands at 11,653kg at 3.79% butterfat and 3.09% protein, with heifers averaging 10,455kg at 3.89% butterfat and 3.07% protein.

Future milker: all replacements are home reared

The Loughers have been looking to increase milk production per cow, rather than increasing herd size beyond 100 head. “We can’t expand in that direction any further as we’re limited by space,” says Rhys.

The 61-hectare unit has the M4 running along one edge and housing and a limestone quarry borders the other sides. “We’re a bit hemmed in. So we’re focusing on increasing the efficiency of the herd and with that come increased yields.”

Growing and feeding maize has played a role here. A total of 20 hectares is grown under contract at a neighbouring farm.

“Adding that to the milking ration has

Huge strides: the herd has expanded, and yields have increased, thanks to improved facilities and management

Bottling plant: diversification added value

certainly helped to push up yields. And a move to a four-cut silage making system means that we’re cutting grass when it’s a bit younger and better quality, so grass silage analysis has also improved,” explains Rhys, who adds that they have also invested in additional silage clamp capacity and a forage wagon so they can make all their own silage. “We can take a longer chop, which is great for rumen health and means that we don’t have to add straw to the ration. There’s already enough fibrous material.”

With help from Countrywide nutritionist Ken March, the herd is now fed what Rhys calls a ‘semi TMR’. This comprises grass and maize silage, brewers’ grains, a cereal blend, molasses, Megalac, minerals and urea, which provides maintenance plus 35 litres. Individual cows are then topped up to yield in the parlour with an 18% crude protein concentrate.

Improving facilities Since 2010, the family business has also invested in a new high-spec wooden kennel cubicle house. “Which replaced a mish-mash of lean tos and barns containing old cubicles that were just too small,” says Rhys.

A new 20:20 herringbone parlour has also replaced a 25-year-old six-unit autotandem parlour. “The old parlour wasn’t too bad, particularly when we were still milking 65 cows. But as the herd grew it, once again, became too small for the job.”

After a year of ‘settling in’, three-timesa-day milking was introduced in 2011.

“We started in September. It just wouldn’t have been possible with the old set up.” The first milking is at 8am, the second at 4pm and the third starts at midnight. John does the bulk of the milking, with help from two relief milkers.

The pedigree Ty Tanglwyst herd has been closed for the past 30 years and Rhys says that during the past three

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H E R D

R E P O RT

Balanced ration: the herd is fed a ‘semi TMR’ and individuals are topped up in the parlour, according to yield

years they’ve really begun to unlock the production potential of the herd. “The genetics for high milk production have been there for a while, but we’ve only just put the system in place that can tap into them.

“This is an exciting time for us now. And not only because the cows have really ramped up their yields and we’re seeing what they can do when management factors are not holding them back.”

Bottled milk Rhys is referring to the business’ milk bottling enterprise, which he set up in 2006. “But not until after two years of research and planning,” he adds. “I came back from University in 2003 and in 2004 we all realised that is wasn’t possible to support three couples with a herd of between 60 and 70 cows. Because we knew that expansion wasn’t an option, I decided to look at adding value to our milk. I looked at cheese, ice cream and finally settled on bottling milk.

“I travelled the UK, looking at other plants, and drew up a business plan and then, in May 2006, we took the plunge.

“Even with all that preparation, we still had teething problems. It was a massive leap and ‘mega stress’ for the first 12 months, but we did and 18 months down the line we were bottling

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and selling all the milk from the herd.”

That said, the Loughers are still First Milk members. “In fact, the co-op has been very supportive of our business. It does our ‘balancing’, so to speak. If we have a surplus of milk the dairy buys it.

If we need more, say in the summer when our ice-cream making customers at local seaside town Porthcawl take more milk, we can buy some back.”

The bottling and doorstep round business is run as a separate enterprise and raw milk is ‘bought’ from the dairy herd at a price 2ppl more than that paid

by First Milk.

Three-day week Around 60% of the bottled milk, which is sold in one-pint, one-litre and twolitre poly bottles, is doorstep delivery.

The business runs five rounds and employs five milkmen. Two other independent rounds also deliver the Loughers’ Tanglwyst Dairy milk.

The remainder is taken by local shops, cafes, nurseries, care homes, ice-cream makers, pubs and restaurants.

“We also make double cream, which has won several ‘taste’ awards, and butter,” adds Rhys.

The plant can bottle one million litres a year on a three-day week. Milk is processed ever Monday, Wednesday and

JANUARY/FEB R U ARY

Friday by four full-time staff. “We use a traditional pasteurising method – we don’t heat the milk for too long or at too high a temperature.

“We set out to differentiate our product by its taste – that’s what we offer that’s different to supermarket or other milks.

And I don’t believe we can be rivalled on freshness either.”

Great taste Rhys is right to be confident if customer feedback is anything to go by. “We’re regularly told that our milk tastes great and different to other milk. Elderly people say that it’s like the milk they remember from their childhoods – it’s how milk used to taste in the 1940s.

“And we have mums who tell us that their children won’t drink any other milk once they’ve tasted ours. If they run out and try to pass off supermarket milk as being ours, their children know – even if it’s on breakfast cereal.”

With such success, it’s little wonder that other producers regularly visit the unit to see how Rhys and the Lougher family are making things work.

“Some are interested in investing in their own plant and setting up their own milk rounds. It can work, if you do your research and are prepared for some hard graft.” l

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Mother nurtured Protecting your future from calf scour

4 Vaccinate dams with Rotavec Corona1 12 to 3 weeks before calving and manage colostrum effectively 4 If cryptosporidiosis is present on-farm, Halocur2 is the only licensed product for treatment and prevention Environmental and management factors influence the occurrence of calf scour – a major cause of calf mortality and lost profit.

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Copyright © 2014 Intervet International B.V. All rights reserved.

Further information is available from MSD Animal Health, Walton Manor, Walton, Milton Keynes MK7 7AJ T: 01908 685685 • E: vet-support.uk@merck.com • W: www.msd-animal-health.co.uk

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M A N A G E M E N T

Industry supports a cow energy monitoring tool

Energy challenge warms up

Producers strive to keep ahead of the game in cow management and pre-empt problems. It usually costs less than treatment, reduces management hassle and it’s better for cow health.

Routine monitoring of a cow’s energy status would be a huge step forward towards this goal and the development of an easy tool to do this is where an industry-led project is heading. text Karen Wright

K

nowing a cow’s energy status, sooner rather than later could lead producers and their advisers to a new level of cow management and enable them to preempt metabolic problems before they start. Linked to the cow’s fatty acid profile and a number of genetic and management factors, the TSB-funded project is investigating links between energy, fatty acids and genetics.

At the moment producers might rely on changes in body condition score as an indication of a cow’s energy status. Too little energy and the cow loses condition – a scenario typically seen post calving and in early lactation. Too much energy and the cow gains condition, which is a situation seen in late lactation or during

18

the dry period. The implications can be costly with problems such as calving difficulties, ketosis, displaced abomasum, retained placenta, cows failing to reach production potential and fertility issues.

Identifying where condition loss or gain occurs during the lactation will show where remedial action needs to be taken. A recent study in France showed that cows with high body condition scores (BCS) had a poorer dry matter intake, experienced greater negative energy balance and had the highest concentration of Non-Esterified Fatty Acids (NEFAs) in the first seven weeks of lactation. The presence of NEFAs is a sign that the cow is mobilising body fat reserves and an excessive amount can

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lead to accumulation of fat in the liver, leading to poor liver health and ketosis.

Work at Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC) is looking at measures, using infra-red technology, to determine a ‘signature’ from which individual cow milk profiles can be measured. Using this signature the work aims to predict changes in energy levels of individual cows and it will hopefully enable the development of a cow energy monitor.

“Very simply, we want to give producers and advisers an indication of a cow’s energy status from the normal milk recording sample that they can then use to monitor and manage cows ahead of any significant problems caused by a lack of or excess of energy,” says SRUC’s Eileen Wall. “Future developments aim to use this data to predict breeding values for energy turnover in the cow so that producers could then begin to select bulls for such traits.”

Validation A vital stage in the development of this ‘signature’ – or fingerprint – from the milk sample is its validation. This is currently underway and, as part of the work, herds in the M&S producer group have been condition scored at regular intervals throughout 2013 and changes, related to stage of lactation, monitored.

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between 0 and 100 DIM

between 101 and 250 DIM

over 250 DIM

45 40

% of cows

35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0

lost 2.5

lost 2 lost 1.5

lost 1

lost 0.5

NC

gain 0.5 gain 1 gain 1.5

gain 2

condition score change

Figure 1: Condition score change at different lactation stages.

Routine energy monitoring could bring yield and cow health benefits

“The actual changes in condition score will be used to compare against cow energy status predictions derived from SRUC’s new measure,” says NMR’s Victoria Hicks. “This will tell us whether the predictor tool is an accurate indicator of the energy status based on real-life results.”

Carried out by NMR recorders, with veterinary input, the results have shown

interesting trends. Figure 1 shows how many cows lost or gained condition during different stages of lactation.

The greatest loss of condition can be seen within the first 100 DIM as expected, although nearly 19% of cows lose more than 0.5 BCS in this period. A lot of change in BCS after 250 DIM is also seen. Ideally any change in BCS should be limited to +/– 0.5 BCS at this stage of lactation, but around 20% of cows see their BCS exceed this.

The summer showed the greatest period when cows lost condition, particularly for those in later lactation. These cows are more than likely to be grazing in a ‘low’ group and the results could suggest that the grass was not providing sufficient energy for production and pregnancy at this time.

Although highly reliable, accessing energy status of individual cows by blood testing is invasive and time-

consuming. And while routine body condition scoring is currently important, it is also a time-consuming and subjective approach.

Milk sample test “A far more efficient technique would be an accurate milk sample test,” adds Ms Hicks. “But like any of these energy measures, it is important that they are used routinely to monitor changes over time and interpreted alongside stage of lactation and other management and nutritional factors.

“We hope that the industry will be able to offer producers a service using the milk recording sample for accurately accessing a cow’s energy status at regular intervals. The benefits of more preemptive management that this energy status information brings could easily be seen in yield, health and welfare benefits – and the bank balance.” l

Milk profiles and cow health Five hundred British milk producers are a year into a four-year project that uses data from milk tests to measure health characteristics in cows. A key aim of the project is to use this data to develop new tools for improving production efficiency.

The project has been developed by NMR, in partnership with Marks & Spencer and Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC), and is cofunded by the Technology Strategy Board.

Twenty milk producers who supply Marks & Spencer have also been recruited

to take part in more detailed milk testing and data collection for individual cows.

“More specifically, the project will carry out mid-infra-red tests on NMR milk samples to establish fatty acid profiles,” says project manager Victoria Hicks.

“The project will investigate the relationships between these profiles and aspects of cow health and performance that will hopefully lead to new prediction tools.”

In addition, the fatty acid data may be able to deliver health benefits to milk and dairy products for human consumption.

All milk producers involved in the project and participating feed companies, nutritionists, consultants and vets will have access to regular project briefings and results.

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A

F E W

W O R D S

F R O M

R O G E R

E VA N S

Award-winning columnist and Shropshire-based producer Roger Evans tells us about his flair for bingo calling and hopes to persuade his son to use some Fleckvieh sires.

Attitude issues I

never read the editor’s notes in CowManagement, mainly because I never contribute anything she’ll think is worthy of a mention. But as I turned the pages of the December issue, my name caught my eye and I find that she is alluding to my festive-season grumpiness. Why wouldn’t I be grumpy? She asked me to write about TB! What is there not to be grumpy about when it comes to TB? She draws my attention to her ‘Overalls Off’ column to cheer myself up. I’ve been Father Christmas lots of times and I too have stories to tell. On one memorable occasion my then four-year-old daughter said: “That Father Christmas has my Dad’s wellies on.”

I could feature in ‘Overalls Off’. I bet the editor and you didn’t know that I am an occasional bingo caller at the charity bingo evenings we have at the pub. Serious stuff, bingo calling. Make a mistake and you can get a serious bollocking from the old ladies. Drop a ball on the floor, as I do occasionally, and all hell breaks loose. I don’t do all that ‘two little ducks’ stuff, but they reckon they’ve heard enough of all that anyway. They even say I’m quite good at it. So there.

But I do always read the rest of CowManagement. I was very taken with the article about Fleckvieh cattle. I don’t get to choose semen any more. David does the milking and he chooses what he milks – and quite rightly so. But that doesn’t mean I don’t have an opinion.

(There’s a surprise).

We’ve been a lot better off since we sold our feeder wagon and went back to a silage/cake in the parlour system. We make a lot more and make better use of grazing and fodder crops. We have between 30 and 40 cows to dry off and they will go outside on kale and turnips. No slurry to shift and no bedding.

We will have a shed ready for the snow when it comes, but they should mostly be outside until they calve. We’re only aiming for between 6,000 and 6,200 litres per cow. And we are looking to increase the value of that litre we sell by increasing the butterfat, which is the only constituent we presently get paid for.

What interested me about the Fleckvieh cattle is the opportunity to further enhance what we sell by having a better beef type calf to take to market. If the cows only have to do 6,000-odd litres, then surely they have the ability to grow a good calf.

I suspect that Montbeliarde sires would do this, but people sometimes tell me that Monty crosses have attitude issues. One thing I have found out over the years is that you don’t get any more money per litre off a cow that kicks, compared with a cow that doesn’t.

I’ll leave this article open on the table for David to read. It could be that we end up with a herd of robust healthy cattle that yield between 6,000 and 6,500 litres of good compositional quality milk and, as a byproduct, cow that produce a valuable calf for someone to rear on for beef. And isn’t that the sort of description I could just as easily have applied to the British Friesian herd I had 30-odd years ago? The practice of farming in cycles is alive and well.

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F R O M

T H E

V E T E R I N A RY

M A A RT E N

P R A C T I C E

B O E R S

West Sussex-based vet Maarten Boers, from The Livestock Partnership, quells some increasing, and exaggerated, concerns about the incidence of rumen fluke in UK herds and urges producers to only treat cattle if there are clinical signs of the disease.

Parasite is difficult to spot but rare in UK

Migrating menace P

roducers have been asking me about rumen fluke recently. There are some drug reps who are advising that stock should be treated now for this parasite. In most instances I would have to disagree, not least because there have been only a handful of cases reported in the whole of the UK, with the last clinical case being seen in November 2012.

Rumen fluke has a similar life-cycle to liver fluke in that it requires a mud snail living in wet conditions to complete its life-cycle. After ingestion, immature stages of the rumen fluke settle in the small intestine. They then make their way from here and end up as mature fluke in the rumen. It is this migratory phase that causes problems and this is when producers may see clinical symptoms, although they are rare and only associated with heavy burdens of fluke.

Symptoms can include watery scour, milk yield reduction, rapid weight loss and bottle jaw. Once the adult fluke have migrated to the rumen, they’re fairly harmless and symptoms should ease.

There is currently just one product effective for rumen fluke in this country. This is also a flukicide but only covers mature liver fluke.

It should, therefore, only be used for treating liver fluke 12 weeks after housing.

At this time of the year it is essential to treat for immature stages of liver fluke rather than adult stages as it takes 12 weeks from ingestion of the cysts to the development of adult liver fluke. The advice for rumen fluke must be not to treat unless clinical signs are present.

Please speak to your vet to discuss prevention and control of this parasite in your herd.

The encyclopaedia Rumen fluke Causes Rumen fluke is a parasite with a life-cycle very similar to that of liver fluke. It uses the mud snail as an intermediate host and relies on cattle to then ingest the parasite at its cyst stage, which then settle in the small intestine before migrating to the rumen.

Diagnosis Diagnosis is difficult as there’s currently no test. Post mortem examination can reveal adult fluke in the rumen or immature fluke in the intestine.

Symptoms The symptoms are rare and only usually

seen when the fluke migrate, in significant number, from the gut to the rumen. They can include profuse diarrhoea, reduced milk yield, weight loss and a swelling under the jaw (bottle jaw).

Treatment There’s only one recommended product available, containing oxyclozanide, which will treat rumen fluke.

Prevention Take the same preventative measures as for liver fluke – graze cattle away from wet areas and other mud snail habitats. Avoid buying in stock, if possible, to reduce the risk of introducing the parasite to your unit. Increased cattle movement and wetter weather could see rumen fluke becoming a problem for more herds in the future.

COW MAN AG E ME N T

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23-01-14 14:23

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M A I Z E

S P E C I A L

Under plastic: using film could be the answer to maize success in marginal areas. Page 26 What’s new? A round up of the latest maize products and research. Page 30

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M A I Z E

S P E C I A L

Extra cost can be offset by early harvest and silage quality benefits

Make maize a ‘film’ star

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Growing maize under plastic could be worth a second look, particularly for those in marginal areas who want to manage risk.

We spoke to an agronomist and three producers to find out more. text Rachael Porter

I

t’s not for the faint hearted – with an outlay of £250 per hectare – but growing maize under plastic is a viable option for producers in more marginal areas of the UK. And there are more benefits to be had that simply an earlier harvest. So says Limagrain maize product manager Tim Richmond.

“For growers in very marginal areas, sometimes plastic film is the only way to ensure crops can reach maturity before wet winter weather sets in. So although film is an extra growing cost, it can mean the difference between good and poor dry matter yields and a mature crop at harvest. So it removes a considerable element of risk,” he says.

“To ensure that maize crops reach their full starch and energy potential, it’s important that they are harvested once cobs have reached maturity, which is when the plant has dried down to between 32% and 35% dry matter.

“The maturity of maize can be brought forward by growing it under plastic film, which is also sometimes referred to as cover. This creates a greenhouse effect for the seedlings and protects them from frost. Warmer growing conditions mean rapid growth and early flowering. There’s more time for starch development in the cobs and makes an earlier harvest possible,” he explains.

Tim Richmond:

“There’s more time for starch development in the cobs”

The area of maize being grown under plastic is fairly static and comprises about 10% of the UK’s total maize hectarage. As well as serving as insurance – or literally a safety blanket – against bad weather and a poor harvest, using film can also save on seed costs. Seed rate is reduced from 111,150 to 98,900 seeds per hectare: “And there’s also a saving on fertiliser as there’s no opportunity to put fertiliser ‘down the spout’ at drilling.”

Using film is about lengthening the growing period and adding heat units in marginal areas. Weather is the main variable when growing maize and it is key to any successful crop. The soil needs to be between 8°C and 10°C for maize to germinate and sowing and growing under plastic means that growers can plant maize in marginal areas three or four weeks earlier – usually in April – than they could without it.

“It’s a kick start for the maize, which is vital in colder areas, but can also be useful in other regions if producers want to ‘shoe horn’ maize into a crop rotation and harvest it a little earlier, allowing them to follow it with an autumn-sown cereal crop,” adds Mr Richmond.

Crop rotation That’s exactly why David Inman grows some maize under plastic. He milks 125 cows, and has 200 beef cattle and 500 sheep, at his unit based at Milnthorp near Kendal. He feeds maize silage in a 50:50 split with grass silage, as part of the dairy ration, and in 2013 he grew 22 hectares of maize, as well as 32 hectares of winter/ spring wheat.

He’s been growing maize for 10 years now and around 20% of it is under plastic.

“Not only does it negate the risk of crop failure, but it also means that I can get in and harvest the crop three or four weeks earlier than the open-sown maize. This is usually cut in October.”

This allows him to fulfil his crop rotation policy for regular grass reseeding. He follows the maize under plastic with winter wheat and the optimum drilling time is during the first half of October.

“Any later and it’s too wet and cold for the crop to get off to a good start. It’s very

David Inman:

“Using film allows me to maximise production from my land” wet here – we see almost 1,500mm of rain a year,” he says.

After the wheat is harvested in the following August or September he can then successful reseed the field with grass, which can again establish in good time before the winter and is ready to use in the spring.

“For me, growing maize under plastic is very much about maximising the production from my land. A later maize harvest, with open sown maize, would mean it was too late to get good wheat establishment in the autumn and if he delays until a spring reseed then there’s a delay in being able to utilise the field the following autumn.”

In 2013 he grew the maize variety Ambition under plastic, and grew three other early maturing varieties in the open. Typically he sows under plastic in mid-April, around three weeks prior to drilling the conventional maize.

“Growing maize under plastic also means that there’s more starch and a better quality product, due to the cobs having reached maturity earlier, so that’s another bonus to offset the extra cost of using film. It’s a superior crop – there’s no doubt about that. And it’s certainly better than looking at a field of maize stubble all winter.”

Risk management Using plastic is all about risk management, according to Hugh MacClymont, research farm manager at SRUC’s Crichton Royal Farm, in Dumfries.

He’s been growing maize under film for the past 15 years to feed the unit’s 510cow herd, which includes a 230-strong commercial herd, and it’s difficult to find

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M A I Z E

S P E C I A L

Hugh MacClymont:

“Growing all our maize under film works for us” a greater advocate of the system for a producer looking to produce the crop in marginal areas.

“It started as an insurance policy really and after the disastrous harvests of open-sown maize in 2011 and 2012, we now sow all 43 hectares of our maize under plastic,” he says. It was a 50:50 split, which then crept up to 75:25. But after 2011’s open sown crop delivered ‘a waist height crop with silly little cobs’, Hugh decided that it was time to take the plunge.

“Growing maize is not for everybody and neither is growing it under film, but it works for us,” he says.

“It takes a lot, if not all, of the risk out of growing maize and ensures that we harvest a mature crop with good dry matter and starch yields.

“Yes, establishment costs are higher.

A special drill is needed, which is more expensive, and there’s the actual film that costs £250 per hectare. But I firmly believe that the extra cost is worth it,” says Hugh, who is also the chairman of the Maize Growers Association.

That said, he doesn’t recommend plastic systems for very exposed

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windy sites, as the film can get blown off.

He stresses that weed control is vital to success: “It’s imperative to get this right from the onset as maize plants hate competition.

“So the only chance to spray is using a pre-emergence herbicide at the same time as the plastic is laid – that’s why a special drill is needed. Previously, when maize was conventionally sown in the open, we would wait for the weed challenge and then use a post-emergent herbicide. But you can’t do this with maize under plastic.”

Maize silage is obviously an important feed for the unit – hence the additional investment in the crop. Hugh says that the cows milk well on it and it doesn’t require inorganic fertiliser – just farmproduced slurry.

“We plough the land, then add separated slurry, and leave a few days for it to dry before cultivating the top soil to establish a fine seedbed. All the nutrients are then directly available to the seed when it goes in.”

Hugh likes to sow maize straight after taking first-cut silage, which means a late sowing.

So having the plastic – which creates a greenhouse effect and speeds up crop growth – shortens the growing season and still ensures starch potential is achieved by harvest.

Guaranteed quality Anglesey-based producer Wil Williams grows maize under film to feed to his 130cow herd, which is currently averaging more than 9,000 litres.

He has grown maize for the past six years on outlying land: “It’s less hassle to grow maize there than grass, which will need several cuts. Maize is just the one.”

Wil also appreciates the benefits that maize starch brings to the ration in improving milk production. Maize silage makes up 60% of the forage component of the herd’s ration.

Conditions for growing maize on his Holyhead-based unit are very marginal:

JANUARY/FEB R U ARY

Wil Williams:

“Using plastic is good insurance in the event of a bad growing year” “Cold is a real issue here. We’re close to the sea and there’s a high rainfall. I think the film helps to protect the crop from the elements.”

So he has always grown it under plastic and says it’s good insurance in the event of a bad year.

He tried growing open-sown maize four years ago: “I won’t be doing that again.

It wasn’t ready for harvesting until November!”

For the past two years he has grown Ambition, which he first saw in trials at Limagrain’s site at Bangor on Dee – also a marginal site.

He grows it because it is recommended for use under plastic and has high dry matter yields of starch and ME. He estimates that it costs him an extra £247 per hectare for the plastic and the drilling cost is also slightly higher than with ‘conventional’ maize.

“But I think it’s well worth it and I saw that first hand in 2012. I got a good crop of maize that year. We harvested it in mid September and we had good starch and good dry matter yields,” says Wil. “Without the plastic, I dread to think what we’d have been looking at. Certainly not the quality crop we ended up with.” l

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M A I Z E

S P E C I A L

A few of the latest products and research to help boost maize crops

Get more from your maize Our round up includes a tool that measures nitrogen availability, a controlled-release fertiliser, and research that highlights the importance of accurate maize silage analysis. text Rachael Porter

David Christensen: “This tool helps to increase our efficiency”

Elaine Jewkes: “Accurate measurement is vital”

Measure nitrogen to improve maize management A tool to help producers manage their maize crop more effectively has been introduced by fertiliser manufacturers GrowHow UK. N-Min for maize is an extension of a well-established service for wheat, barley and oilseed rape. It measures the amount of nitrogen the crop will get from the soil during its growing season. In this way it allows producers and their agronomists to calculate whether any additional nitrogen is required to ensure that the crop achieves its optimum yield potential.

On-farm trials across a variety of scenarios during the past five years have shown that the N-Min service can be extended successfully to maize cropping.

Producer and maize grower David Christensen, from Kingston Hill Farm in Oxfordshire, has been involved in the trial. He milks a 600cow herd, averaging 8,500 litres per

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cow per year, and at any one time there will be around 700 other cattle on the 650-hectare holding. Maize silage is an important part of the cow ration in what is a relatively dry part of the country.

“We are trying to improve our efficiency in every respect, from the productivity of the herd and the land, through to our use of manures and our environmental performance,” explains Mr Christensen.

“Tools like N-Min will help us achieve that and we need more of them.”

GrowHow’s Elaine Jewkes worked with David and his agronomist during the trial: “Even though running a large dairy herd means that fields receive regular supplies of manures, most of David’s maize fields were measured at the equivalent of SNS index 1.

“There were some fields with higher results, particularly where cereals had been the previous crop. Interestingly, according to the Fertiliser Manual (RB209), these should have been index 1 too, but they were not. There are a

JANUARY/FEB R U ARY

number of possible reasons for this – perhaps crop off take or something in the field history. Such results demonstrate the benefit of actual and accurate measurement.

“David’s yields have been generally good in the years he has helped us with this trial. The mean dry matter yield we measured was more than 15t per ha, or a fresh weight of more than 50t per ha,” says Ms Jewkes.

Across the farms and the years of the trials work, the N-Min measured ‘N reservoir’ – or N that will be available to the crop over the growing season – varied widely. The values ranged from less than 55kg to more than 500kgN per ha. “It was interesting to see that while the lowest results were generally on sites that did not routinely receive manure, not all of the lower results were from unmanured fields.

“And nor were the highest ones always from sites that had received organic material of some kind,” adds Ms Jewkes.

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Apply nitrogen during growing season to boost yields

Peter Townley: “Option for greater yields”

Maize crops saw an average increase in total fresh weight yields of 14% and cob weight of 13% during trials using a late application of a slow-release foliar nitrogen fertiliser. The work was carried out by Agro-Vital in 2012 and 2013. The company’s Efficie-N-t 28 is a controlledrelease foliar nitrogen, developed for maximum efficiency and crop safety, to reduce the problems of leaching and

volatilisation of nitrogen associated with conventional fertilisers.

“Trials across a variety of crops, during a four-year period, have shown that 7kg of nitrogen from Efficient 28 can replace 40kg of nitrogen from granular fertilisers, making it particularly useful for producers needing to comply with increasing environmental regulations,” says the company’s Peter Townley.

It is applied to maize between the eightand 12-leaf stage, as a supplement to soil applied nitrogen. “Until the product’s launch, we didn’t have a ‘safe’ form of nitrogen fertiliser to apply to maize during the growing season,” says Mr Townley.

Agronomist Neil Potts, from Exeterbased Matford Arable, says that the controlled-release foliar nitrogen should be a planned input in all maize crops.

“In 2013 we saw increases in cob weight ranging between 15% and 35%. Even at the lower end of the response range, the product is delivering a handsome return on its input cost.

“It is easily mixed with a maize eyespot fungicide and the timings coincide. It really is a ‘no-brainer’ for maize.”

Cob weight increased by 13%

Re-think maize analysis to balance rations

Research carried out by Mole Valley Farmers and Sciantec, as part of the Forage Analytical Assurance (FAA) group, has highlighted how current maize silage analysis could be under estimating rumen available protein and energy levels. “This means, in practice, that it is likely cows are possibly being under fed by up to two litres a cow a day,” says Mole Valley Farmers’ Robin Hawkey.

“Maize silage augments diets by supplying starch, enhancing energy supply and supporting milk protein, body condition and fertility. Mixing forages can increase total dry matter intake and maize silage may account for in excess of 50% of forage dry matter intake. As a result, understanding the quality and digestive characteristics of maize silage is fundamental to accurate rationing,” he explains.

rumen degradability with respect to maize analyses to more accurately predict maize silage utilisation and enable rationing programs to calculate microbial protein yield.

“As a consequence of these findings, it may be relevant to increase starch supply in the ration. However, doing so could raise the potential for SARA or acidosis, which will lower the efficacy of fibre digestion in the rumen,” he says.

Mr Hawkey adds that company research has used eCow rumen boluses to assess rumen pH. “Initial findings show that, through good management and buffering, higher starch levels can be safely fed without detriment to rumen health.

However, it’s important to consider the differing digestibility of starch feeds to ensure a balanced and rumen safe ration.”

Figure 1: Effect of time on starch degradability in maize silage (Newbold 2006)

percentage

Robin Hawkey: “Cows may be being underfed”

Anecdotally, many producers have reported increased output a few months after ensiling – commonly in January and February after October harvesting.

This is a consequence of increased starch digestibility with time (see Figure 1).

“Some farms now delay opening clamps to utilise increased digestibility and balance high protein grazing by buffering with maize silage,” adds Mr Hawkey.

“In addition to increasing starch digestion with time, there are additional variables such as variety and agronomic factors.

Understanding maize silage digestion and ensuring analyses that reflect maize degradability is pivotal to accurate rationing.”

The Forage Analytical Assurance (FAA) group has studied how both nitrogen (protein) and dry matter are ruminally digested to predict more accurately how maize silage supplies the rumen with energy and protein.

“This affects how rationing models predict the nutrients that maize silage can supply. This latest FAA LINK study indicates some degradability parameters are lower in practice, impacting on microbial protein and metabolisable protein. This means cows could be being underfed.

“Practically, this has resulted in the reassessment of dry matter and

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starch degradability

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FACEBOOK FOLLOW COWMANAGEMENT ON FACEBOOK WWW.FACEBOOK.COM/ COWMANAGEMENTUK

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Ambition-CowManagement:CowManagement

20/1/14

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Page 1

At last, a great maize variety to improve the performance of your cows The quality clamp filler

NIAB 2014 Less Favourable List.

Maximises energy yield from every hectare of maize, lowering the cost of production and produces high quality silage.

Unrivalled energy yield of 199,223 MJ/ha Very high DM yield (105%) and starch yield (108% of controls) Top early vigour maximises early crop growth Early maturing for an early harvest (Maturity Class 9) LGAN status is only awarded to the very best varieties – those with the genetic potential to deliver silage of high energy yield and superior nutritional quality that enhances the performance of your cows.

Rothwell, Market Rasen, Lincolnshire, LN7 6DT Tel: 01472 371471 I Fax: 01472 371386 I Email: enquiries@limagrain.co.uk

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www.lgseeds.co.uk/maize

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DAIRY MANAGEMENT NEWS

Vets get milk records training As part of a new undergraduate curriculum at the University of Glasgow, final year vet students are offered workshops run by NMR’s James Hanks and Laurence Loxam.

“It addresses more advanced aspects of herd health and population medicine,” says University lecturer Matthew Denwood. “These workshops help students to understand the potential benefit of using milk recording data to

help their clients to identify and resolve a range of issues relating to fertility, productivity and disease.

Our students are being shown how important it is to have a centralised and well managed data recording system, and that by combining these types of tools with their own clinical judgement and experience they can provide a valuable service,” adds Dr Denwood.

Top cows Ranked on lifetime daily yield, the top three cows from the 100-tonne yield breaker’s list for October and November 2013 are: 1. Cleave Courier Naomi, who gave 117,326kg of milk in seven lactations and achieved a LDY of 31.84kg.

Owned by the Tillers, Lifton.

2. Wilderley SS Hunday, who gave 107,185kg of milk in seven lactations with a LDY of 31.66kg. Owned by Wilderley Hall Farms, Shrewsbury.

3. Line 192, who gave 114,820kg of milk in eight lactations with a LDY of 29.78kg. She is in TN Beeston and son’s herd, Market Drayton.

Dairy data sets 2014 targets New targets for dairy producers have just been published by the University of Reading in the Key Performance Indicators report based on NMR records from 500 Holstein Friesian herds.

“The average herd somatic cell count has improved from 210,000 cells per ml to 195,000 cells per ml with the ‘best’ 25% of herds setting a new target of 155,000 cells per ml – a marked improvement from 169,000 cells per ml four years ago,” says James Hanks, who co-authored the report with Mohamad Kossaibati.

Likewise heat detection indicators are encouraging with the calving-to-firstservice interval moving from 87 days to

77 days and the percentage of extended service intervals of more than 50 days dropping from 22% to 18% of service intervals in the four-year period.

“The real purpose of these results is to stimulate discussion and management action.”

Data from the study is used directly by NMR’s InterHerd+ dairy management programme, where producers, their vets and advisers can benchmark individual herd performance for 32 parameters against that of the 500 study herds. The herd’s strengths and weaknesses can then be clearly identified. Data for Jersey, Ayrshire and Guernsey herds has also been published this year.

Vicky Hicks, NMR new product manager

New product manager Vicky Hicks has taken on the role of new product manager for NMR. Her main responsibility is to co-ordinate two industry projects on behalf of the company. One is the Technology Strategy Board co-funded project developed by NMR in partnership with Marks & Spencer and SRUC that uses data from milk tests to measure key health characteristics in cows. The second is an EU project, looking at the use of fatty acid data to assist in herd management.

A dairy herd management graduate from Hartpury College, in Gloucester, Vicky’s first job was as supply chain co-ordinator for a regional milk buyer. She then spent 18 months as an environmental project co-ordinator with the NFU in Warwickshire before joining NMR.

SW team leader Based just outside Weymouth, Keri Thomas is the new NMR area field manager for Dorset, East Devon and part of Somerset. She co-ordinates a team of 25 recorders and samplers plus an area co-ordinator. Keri first recorded milk yields ‘unofficially’ on a neighbour’s farm at weekends when she was 12. Since then she has worked as a recorder for NMR, in the 1990s and then from 2009, until moving to her new role.

Final diaries NMR has a few 2014 Herd Management Diaries left. A ‘must’ on many units for recording health, treatments and, in fact, all cow details.

Call Customer Services today on 0 0844 725 5567 and place an order.

For more information on NMR products and services contact customer services, 0844 7255567, NMR web address: www.nmr.co.uk, NMR email address: customerservices@nmr.co.uk COW MAN AG E ME N T

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H E A LT H

Preventing post-calving difficulties starts at grass roots level

A pungent problem Retained placentas can occur in up to half of the herd, at an average cost of £350 per case.

We spoke to three specialists to find out why this problem seems to be prevalent in some herds and what steps producers can take to help prevent it. text Allison Matthews

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Costly problem: retained cleansings can require treatment and also impact on overall herd fertility

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arger calves, twins, premature births, unnecessary manual interference, and infectious diseases such as IBR and BVD are all guilty of causing a placenta to be retained beyond 12 hours.

And nutrition should also be acknowledged as having a significant part to play, according to Thompsons’ dairy specialist Richard Moore. “With some producers seeing more retained cleansings this year, possibly more than ever before, the first item under investigation should be forage,” he says. “High potassium levels in grass silages contribute significantly to the incidence of sub-clinical milk fever. With levels ranging between 1% and 4%, potassium in grass silage is variable and is usually dictated by the level found in the soil or the stage of maturity of the grass at harvest.”

Milk fever and, more importantly, sub-clinical milk fever are recognised as being key factors in the incidence of retained placentas. In many cases the foetal membranes will detach from the cow’s uterus but, due to sub-clinical milk fever, weak contractions will fail to expel the placenta. In areas where grass silage is the forage of choice this is becoming a greater problem as discussed by vet Keith Sheridan from County Tyrone.

“This year forage does seem to be a catalyst for milk fever in a lot of herds. The cold weather in spring 2013 meant that there was a burst of grass growth in May when potassium levels are already naturally high. This is hitting producers now as they feed the silage that is high in potash.”

Thomson and Josephs’ forage mineral specialist James Bretherton has seen this trend approaching for more than 12 years and warns of its impact. “In 2012 the temperatures improved in mid April, making potash reserves in the soil readily available for the green leafy grass that grew in May. This made the potassium levels rocket. When combined with the cumulative effect of slurry and fertiliser the mineral levels now found in silage can be unsettling.”

The company analyses hundreds of forages samples from across the UK every year and have data that warrants consideration. “In

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Richard Moore: “Analyse minerals and be prepared to change forage”

Keith Sheridan: “Identifying sub-clinical milk fever is only the start”

James Bretherton: “Feeding silage that’s high in potassium is unsettling”

2011 forage analysis was showing potassium levels of 2.64% and in 2013 these were 2.89%. On a practical basis the dry cow forage needs to be below 2% whereas levels above that pose a much greater risk of subsequent problems,” warns Mr Bretherton.

how maintaining a healthy cow before and after calving is the first step. “Daily exercise, cleanliness of calving facilities and immediate access to water for rehydration after birth all play a role. In the long term, planning ahead for the forthcoming grass season is advisable and includes leaving a portion of ground aside that is earmarked for dry cows. This land should already be low in K index (0 or 1) and receive little or no slurry or fertiliser K. This practise has worked well on the units adopting the strategy,” adds Mr Moore.

However for those faced with a problem in the here and now, having a summer

plan is fine but will not alter the current situation.

Mr Moore advises carrying out a mineral analysis immediately. “If possible change forages and, ideally, bring in whole crop, straw, maize or more mature grass silage.

These forage alternatives offer the benefit of much lower potassium levels with whole crop sitting at 1.2%.

“The use of anionic salts, such as magnesium chloride, will also have a beneficial effect on reducing the DCAD of the diet. Ideally producers should be taking action now to gain both short- and long-term control of the situation,” adds Mr Moore. l

Increasing costs When there is a single incidence of a retained cleansing, due to a big calf or twins, it can be immediately explained.

Unfortunately retained cleansings are often not isolated incidents and producers usually get a run of them. This is when the vet and the nutritionist need to be called on to help investigate the cause.

“When sub-clinical milk fever is identified as a potential trigger for retained cleansings, herd management needs to be reviewed. The starting point is the dry period – what was the body condition score at drying off, were they dried off too early and was the DCAD balanced,” adds Mr Sheridan.

The lengthening of the calving interval and the impact on overall herd fertility are just part of the cost associated with retained cleansings. “You have to treat the individual, sometimes with fluids or antibiotics. It all depends on how the animal is coping. With regard to removing the placenta, usually the less interference there is the better the outcome.

“Every case is different and many take much longer than four days to expel it naturally. There are oxytocin products available that can prove useful, but these all add to the total cost. When producers record information it becomes far easier to identify the cause of the milk fever and work towards resolving that. Prevention is better than cure.”

Damage limitation As with any production disease the causes of milk fever are multi-factorial and so identifying how to prevent it becomes a wide ranging exercise. Mr Moore explains Fresh start: a healthy cow will experience fewer problems post-calving

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B U L L

P R O O F S

Guarini

Ballycairn Oman Pello

Home-bred sires fly the flag for UK genetics

UK-bred bulls top sire list We spoke to renowned Devon-based dairy breeder and former NMR/RABDF Gold Cup finalist Willy Ley to get his take on the movers and shakers in the December 2013 bull proof run. text: Rachael Porter

U

K success leaps out of the latest DairyCo Breeding+ bull proof run with three of the top 10 daughterproven bulls – in a fiercely competitive international field – being home-bred in Britain.

Of the three bulls – Ballycairn Oman Pello, Sherdon Irresistable and Cogent Twist – Irresistable will attract the most interest among producers as he is a newcomer to the top 10 Profitable Lifetime Index (PLI) ranking. He rose to third from 15th position and has an outcross pedigree into the bargain.

Irresistable certainly caught Willy’s eye and imagination. “We bought some semen and we’ve used some already.

Producers who I’ve spoken to about this bull, who already have heifers on the ground, are very pleased with them.

They’re good, sound, long-life cattle.

They’re productive and they get back in calf easily,” he says.

Bred by Jerry Palmer in Devon, he has no Oman, Shottle, Goldwyn or Planet in his pedigree and has been awarded 2013 Outcross Sire of the Year by an international Holstein magazine in a triumph for UK breeding.

A son of Cogent Maestro (in turn by Lukas), Irresistable has plenty of health and fitness in his pedigree and is predicted to transmit good fertility, low cell counts and long lifespans on to his daughters.

Willy Ley

His PLI is an impressive £255 while other highlights include 40kg of fat and positive components.

Phenomenal production Ahead of Irresistable, the German-bred Guarini retains his number-one position for PLI, rising to £268 and maintains his good Type Merit at 2.29. Willy has some calves by him on the ground and says that so far he like what he sees. He also has some calves by Pello, ranked second.

Pello has added even more production to

US collaboration offers global benefits Alta and CRV have agreed to collaborate in their North American Holstein genetic programmes. This co-operation offers economies of scale, resulting in greater volumes and higher quality of genetics on the US base, and the end product being a greater output of high GTPI bulls that will be available to breeders across the world, say the organisations.

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The collaboration is an extension and enhancement of both their current genetic programmes in North America.

“Through the partnership we can strengthen our portfolio of top-end GTPI bulls, both inside and outside the US. Each company will do this from their own vision of breeding and with mutual respect. This alliance will strengthen

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our ambitions,” says CRV’s Ate Lindboom.

“It enables both companies to make additional investments in genetics to continue to lead genetic improvement in the exciting and competitive era of genomic selection. And it will allow us to continue providing unrivalled genetic quality and value to their clients globally,” added Alta’s Paul Hunt.

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+0.01 +0.00 +0.25 +0.12 +0.20 +0.20 +0.07 +0.20 +0.06 +0.19 +0.17 +0.16 +0.05 +0.05 +0.04 +0.03 +0.11 +0.03 +0.14 –0.16 +0.15

+0.09 +0.00 +0.10 +0.06 +0.04 +0.07 +0.05 +0.09 +0.01 +0.12 +0.09 +0.13 +0.03 +0.04 +0.05 +0.00 +0.13 –0.03 +0.02 –0.07 +0.11

48 66 60 57 42 58 47 51 50 49 49 52 43 38 43 45 51 35 51 42 46

268 265 255 254 250 249 241 233 232 230 230 227 226 225 221 221 220 220 220 220 220

–29 –22 –6 –12 –25 –9 –17 –8 –12 –9 –19 –12 –23 –18 –16 –7 –12 –17 –7 –3 –21

0.5 4 1 1.73 2.16 2.29 0.1 –0.4 2.1 1.49 0.93 1.27 0.2 3.7 0.2 1.02 0.86 1.08 0.2 3.8 1.4 2.58 0.93 1.88 0.7 5.9 1.7 0.89 0.26 0.48 0.4 –2.5 –0.1 1.79 0.90 1.36 0.4 5.4 2.6 1.93 0.73 1.31 0.2 6.0 0.1 1.75 0.63 1.10 0.2 4.3 0.7 1.29 2.32 2.35 0.4 5.6 1.0 –0.32 –0.06 –0.10 0.3 4.0 0.5 0.48 0.58 0.73 0.2 0.2 –0.8 1.44 1.76 1.90 0.4 4.6 1.7 1.66 0.43 1.06 0.6 1.4 –0.4 2.14 2.04 2.36 0.3 8.2 2.4 0.79 0.17 0.40 0.3 7.7 1.4 1.17 0.16 0.78 0.1 5.3 1.4 0.43 0.69 0.71 0.6 5.1 1.4 0.96 1.43 1.49 0.2 1.5 1.8 1.99 1.54 1.87 0.6 –0.8 1.6 1.92 1.81 2.02 0.2 2.2 2.1 2.69 1.72 2.39

TM

+26.4 +35.8 +24.1 +26.7 +15.8 +24.5 +23.4 +21.0 +25.0 +20.2 +21.1 +23.3 +21.3 +19.0 +22.3 +23.0 +24.4 +17.9 +22.6 +28.8 +20.2

udder

+24.1 +43.7 +39.9 +36.5 +31.8 +39.9 +29.2 +32.9 +34.4 +28.5 +30.2 +29.0 +27.7 +23.9 +25.5 +31.3 +26.3 +27.7 +37.6 +27.8 +26.5

F&L

lifespan

+590 +1104 +481 +673 +387 +575 +599 +418 +746 +325 +415 +394 +586 +494 +563 +721 +431 +640 +658 +1079 +355

dCE

SCC

ind.

£PLI

75 95 91 77 85 95 83 73 95 76 80 75 79 79 92 77 73 82 82 98 82

fertility

£PIN

Bullsemen.com Genus Genus Viking/Nordic Gen. Bullsemen.com Cogent Genus Sterling Sires Alta Bullsemen.com Viking/Nordic Gen. Bullsemen.com Viking/Nordic Gen. Bullsemen.com Genus Viking/Nordic Gen. Avoncroft Bullsemen.com Cogent Cogent Cogent

protein

O Man Goldwyn Zelati O Man Zade Major O Man Lancelot Ito Manat Lukas O Man O Man Goldwyn Laudan Morty O Man Ramos Goldwyn Amel O Man

fat%

Goldwyn O Man Maestro Goldwyn O Man Shottle Buckeye Goldwyn O Man O Man O Man Roumare Mascol Planet O Man O Man Bertil Planet Baxter Taboo Goldwyn

prot. kg

Guarini Ballycairn Oman Pello Sherdon Irresistable Vh Tirsvad Goldwyn Grafit Whitman O Man Awesome Andy Cogent Twist Morningview Levi Gomez Regancrest Alta Iota Lynbrook Jancen D Omar Roskilde Dansire Mascol Mason Welcome Glenton ABS Simon D Oblat Aurora Jeroen Kings-Ransom Erdman Bakombre Ensenada Taboo Planet Pirolo Goldwyn Wyman

fat kg

mat. grandsire supplier

milk

sire

conformation

rel.

name

functional traits

%

production

Tabel 1: Top 21 sires available in the UK (ranked on PLI) and several other interesting sires (source: DairyCo Breeding+ and Holstein UK).

his high-performance index. Now with 1,104kg milk, 43.7kg fat and 35.8kg protein, he combines this phenomenal production with one of the lowest cell count indexes in the top 20 and ease of calving.

Beneath third-ranking Irresistable, a top20 newcomer makes his debut, in the shape of the Danish-bred VH Tirvad Goldwyn Grafit. Like Guarini, he is a Goldwyn son, and is predicted to transmit plenty of quality milk along with good health and fertility across the board, as well as a Type Merit of 1.88. On the strength of his original genomic figures he has already been used as a sire of sons in Denmark.

Just edging ahead on Type Merit at 2.36 is another newcomer to the PLI top 20 in the shape of Welcome Glenton. This US-bred son of Planet – one of Willy’s favourite sires of sons – has a PLI of £225 and transmits solid production and

fitness, as well as good type on to his daughters.

“Of course I’ve used some Glenton – I used him when he was a genomic sire.

And the daughters I have on the ground are great. I’m pleased to see him in the daughter-proven rankings, but then I have a lot of confidence in the genomic rankings anyway.”

Genomic list Moving to genomic sires, the list features many familiar young bulls, as well as a smattering of newcomers to liven up the pack.

Retaining his number-one position is Robust son, De-Su RB Moonray, a top fat improver at 46.1kg, whose transmission of health, fertility and conformation earn him a sky-high Profitable Lifetime Index (PLI) of £292. “It’s no surprise that he’s a sire of sons,” says Willy, adding that he’s got some of his semen in his AI flask.

Sharing second position are Mr Moviestar Mardi Gras and Hoanster Zanzibar, each with a PLI of £278. Mardi Gras is a son of genomic sire Mogul and out of a Planet daughter from the Rudwy Missy family.

“Mardi Gras is an interesting bull and certainly one for a few dabbles. I’ll wait for him to drop in price a little and then I’ll put my order in,” says Willy.

The high type transmission predicted for Mardi Gras is a particular feature, as he weighs in with a Type Merit of 3.66.

Ranking in joint fifth position is SeagullBay Supersire and Willy ordered some semen in mid January. “He’s £10 a straw now – much less than he was when he first came out. And he looks to be worth every penny.”

Willy believes that these young genomic sires continue to represent a big step up from most of the daughter-proven sires.

“And my confidence in them grows with every proof fun.” l

Interactive photo gallery It’s now possible to re-live the unforgettable black-and-white action in 2013 through Holstein UK’s interactive ‘Photo Gallery’.

Cleverly linking to the Holstein UK Facebook page, the galleries allow you to ‘like’, ‘comment’ and ‘share’ all your favourite photos at the click of a button.

Covering a mixture of industry events,

album highlights include the HYB Weekend Rally, Premier Pedigree Herd Open Day, Holstein Celebration and AGM and the All-Britain All-Breeds Calf Show.

“In today’s modern world, it is a great interactive way for Holstein UK to showcase the superb genetics and skilled people we have in the UK industry,” said Holstein UK’s Lucy Andrews-Node.

“By allowing global access to the galleries through Holstein UK’s website, viewers can see for themselves the unlimited talent the UK has to offer,” she added.

To access Holstein UK’s new ‘Photo Gallery’ visit: http://www.wukcows.com/holsteinuk/ publicweb/FacebookGalleries

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Healthy Hooves® The Copper Delivery System®

Solutions for Footbaths Sustained copper level, allows more cows per bath

Uses up to 80%* less copper than standard footbaths Eliminates the need for formalin Better for the environment

Helps maintain healthy herds

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BREEDING INFORMATION

Highly reliable black-and-white bulls Well-known bulls like Delta Atlantic and Newhouse Gofast now have hundreds of daughters in their proofs.

Thanks to their previous use as InSire (genomic) bulls, they now have very reliable daughter-proven breeding values at a young age.

This fact makes the acceleration in breeding easy to see and it is reassuring that these bulls maintain a stable position in the highest level of the rankings. Atlantic stands firmly on the top spot in the rankings and Gofast increases his already very high type score.

have many positive qualities. The Jeroen daughters are moderate sized and have strong front ends and a very good body capacity. He traces back to a US cow family that now has four generations in the Netherlands.

Both dam and grand dam both have a lifetime production of more than 70,000kg of milk with more than 3.60% protein.

Calving ease

A bull that obtained his first daughter proof in this run is Aurora Jeroen (Bertil x O Man x Jocko, £220 PLI) Jeroen is what many dairy producers are looking for. He is a phenomenal production improver and his daughters

With +431kg for milk and +50kg for combined fat and protein and excellent milk solids (+0.11% fat and +0.13% protein) Jeroen is part of an elite group of daughter-proven bulls.

His daughters produce milk very easily due to his high breeding value (107) for condition score. Jeroen daughters are also born easily (106), have very good hoof health (108) and a good type score (108).

Jeroen daughter Southland Belle

Jeroen daughter Hennie 44

Strength and components

Breeding for polled at top level Given the public debate about dehorning, it is good to see that breeding for polled red-andwhite Holsteins has reached the top level.

With more than 260 milking daughters, Fasna Asterix P (Lawn Boy x Canvas) is doing well.

Asterix daughter Delta Keisha

Avoncroft Sire Card The new Avoncroft Sire Card is now available, and the CRV Fleckvieh’s can also be viewed, on the www.avoncroft.com website. Or call free on 0800 7831880 for your copy.

InSire – marked for profit AH Vitesse (Gravity x Jardin) is one of those InSire bulls with the beautiful combination of high milk production and high milk solids. Vitesse transmits high longevity (+582 days) and excellent health characteristics, with a score of 107 for udder health, 105 for

calving ease and 107 for hoof health.

Vitesse is a Gravity (Gibor x Ramos) son out of a Jardin daughter of Etazon Renate. He combines the health traits from Gravity (no Goldwyn, Shottle and O Man in his pedigree) with a very high production.

Red-and-white sires reliably tested

Sire Card 2014

Better Cows - Better Life

•Franzi and Gabina daugh ters of Windstar and Atlant

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The highly popular sires Delta Fidelity and Topspeed Kodak, like the aforementioned bulls Atlantic and Gofast, now have many daughters in their proofs. Kodak with more than 1,000 daughters and as Fidelity was

the most used bull in the Netherlands for many years he now has over 18,000 daughters in his proof, both are highly reliable bulls that have maintained their top rankings with a ‘second crop’ proof.

COW MAN AG E ME N T

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Freephone 0800 78318 80

Profitable Dutch Sire s

CRV Fleckvieh and Ger man Brown Swiss

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B U S I N E S S

U P D A T E

M I L K

Positive outlook Strong demand buoys UK milk price Global and domestic opportunities mean that milk price should stay strong, says The Farm Consultancy Group’s Charles Holt. text Rachael Porter

I

t looks like 2014 is already shaping up to be a ‘consolidation’ year for milk producers. Milk price is strong at the moment. The average for November 2013 was 34.45ppl – that’s nearly 1ppl up on the average price for October, which was 33.52ppl. This figure should be up a little more for December and January, when the figures are published.

Prices should certainly hold and I don’t expect to see a significant rise or fall during the next few months. There are certainly no immediate signs that that’s going to happen.

Will milk buyers pay producers as little as they can get away with? Yes, has to be the honest answer. But that’s the starting point for any business.

Producers shouldn’t dwell on that. They should focus instead on fulfilling their milk buyer’s contract and maximising the price they will be paid for their milk.

This needs to be the best quality – in terms of milk constituents and hygiene – and meet the production profile. Do everything you can and you’ll go a long way towards maximising your milk price.

That said, protesting about milk price still has to be an option albeit one that’s been put on ice for the moment.

Producers are not complaining, so there’s no incentive to increase prices further.

But if there was any sign that buyers were going to cut the price then I think we could see a return of producer protests.

And quite right too since both UK and world-wide demand for milk is strong.

Some UK buyers and processors have openly said that they’re looking for more milk. Arla Foods, for example, is looking for an additional 300 million litres in 2014 and offering an option of full membership of the co-operative. This, in turn, keeps the pressure on other buyers.

C OWMANAGEMENT

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Table 1: Top 10 companies based on November 2013 milk price (ppl), source: DairyCo (published January 10, 2014)

company

No incentive

42

They won’t want to lose members or litres. Other co-operatives are also investing in plant and processing. So the future, certainly for the short term and domestic market, looks positive.

Global demand for milk also continues to increase, particularly in Asia. China is importing more milk due to footand-mouth disease and many consumers don’t trust their domestic supply – a hangover from the melamine contamination scandal of 2008. They are willing to pay twice as much for imported dairy products and this represents a huge opportunity for dairy exporters.

Indeed, Arla Foods sold some skim milk powder in the Fronterra Global Dairy Trade fortnightly auction in December – a first for a UK company. And global SMP prices rose by around 1.7%.

So, the 2014 outlook for UK producers and milk price is positive. And I’m urging all my clients to use this period to consolidate their businesses and resist the temptation to spend any additional income on ‘a piece of shiny steel’.

milk price

Dairy Crest M&S – Profile1 34.70 Dairy Crest M&S – Variable1 34.62 Müller Wiseman Dairies Sainsbury 33.98 Dairy Crest Sainsbury – Profile 1 33.78 United Dairy Farmers (NI) 33.75 Arla Milk Link London Liquid 33.72 Dairy Crest Sainsbury – Variable 1 33.70 Arla Milk Link Northern Manufacturing Seasonal 33.69 Müller Wiseman Dairies Tesco 2 33.65 Arla Foods Sainsbury 33.56

For more information visit: www.dairyco. org.uk/market-information/milk-pricescontracts/milk-calculator-and-contracts/ league-tables/

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B R E E D I N G

Uniformity: producers want to consistently breed cows that are both easy to manage and milk well

Breeding tools will help producers to milk a healthier and more efficient herd

Health and efficiency Dutch AI company CRV has introduced two new breeding tools: Better Life Efficiency and Better Life Health. Both will help producers to breed a healthy and efficient herd with a high lifetime production. text Alice Booij

W

hen producers are trying to breed problem-free cows with a high lifetime and efficient production many traits are important.

For a sharper focus on health and efficiency, CRV has developed two new breeding tools: Better Life Efficiency and Better Life Health. They sum up all the

important traits to one just one single figure.

These new tools fit into CRV’s vision to help producers breed a healthy cow that lives a year longer. The goal is to lower the cases of mastitis by 10%, reduce the CO2 emission per kilogramme of milk by 10% and increase lifetime production by 30%. Ambitious targets, but the company believes that these two tools will help producers to achieve this.

CRV launched the breeding indicators for Holstein bulls and MRI dual-purpose bulls with the new index run in December 2013. Other breeds will follow

René van der Linde: “Every producer wants a problem-free herd that produces milk efficiently” “We have developed these two indicators to support producers,” says René van der Linde from CRV’s Innovation Department. “Health and efficiency are characteristics with increasing importance on dairy units.”

René explains that producers’ wishes are put together in the new tools. “Every producer feels that body weight and yield, in terms of kilogrammes of fat and protein, say something about the cow’s efficiency. However, longevity is important as well,” he adds.

“During rearing the animal does nothing

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but eat and the longer she keeps producing milk the more litres there are to offset this cost. Calving interval also has an influence on efficiency.”

Lots of the traits summed up in Better Life Health have a low heritability, says René.

“Producers can improve health with management, but breeding makes a contribution as well. You don’t want any negative health influence in your herd.

With Better Life Health, producers can rule out bulls with extreme negative scores and by selecting on this total

JANUARY /FEBR U ARY

health index they will, over time, definitely breed a herd with fewer problems.”

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Harry Janssen: “We take Better Life Efficiency and Better Life Health into account when selecting bulls” between individual cows. Small, highyielding cows will be more efficient than large, low yielding animals. Yes, I certainly take Better Life Efficiency into account when selecting bulls from the bull chart.”

They feel the same about the new tool Better Life Health. “Things don’t always run smoothly,” Harry says. He thinks back to a time when their cows had poor udder health. “We also want to improve herd fertility. Of course management is very important when you want to

improve health, but breeding also can make a contribution.”

120

100

100 number of bulls

120

80 60 40

80 60 40

20

20

0

0

–14 –12 –10 –8 –6 –4 –2 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14

–14 –12 –10 –8 –6 –4 –2 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14

number of bulls

While their herd has expanded during the past few years to 110 cows, Dutch producers Harry and his son Hans Janssen have focused on optimisation. “We have our farm in balance so the challenge is to convert the feed we grow into as much milk as possible,” says Harry.

Father and son regularly calculate the feed efficiency of their herd. A short calving interval, an even calving pattern and a high average age helps to improve feed utilisation, is Hans’ experience. “I am convinced that there are differences

efficiency (%)

health (%)

Newhouse Banker: +8% for Better Life Health and +5% for Better Life Efficiency

Figure 1: Efficiency of black-and-white CRV bulls, born 2004-2007

Figure 2: Health of black-and-white CRV bulls, born 2004-2007

at a later stage. Better Life Efficiency and Better Life Health are expressed as percentages, which makes it easy to see the effect that producers can expect from a given bull.

rearing period – a higher percentage of the energy in the feed she eats is converted into kilogrammes of fat, protein and lactose. Better Life Efficiency incorporates the following breeding values: • Milk yield • Persistency • Late maturity • Longevity • Calving interval • Body weight.

Selecting for efficiency will result in a herd producing higher yields and greater longevity at a lower body weight.

The indicator is expressed as a percentage, with the top animals scoring more than 10%. It means that the offspring of the bull are 5% more efficient – an economic advantage of £207 during a cow’s lifetime.

CRV expects breeding for efficiency to produce a 10% increase in feed efficiency across a few generations.

calculated for health traits and this tool sums them up.

The new indicator is based on the following breeding values: • Udder health • Hoof health • Calving ease • Maternal calving ease • Calf vitality • Daughter fertility.

No weighting is applied to the different breeding values. A high score means that a bull’s progeny will have a low rate of health issues such as mastitis, lameness, difficult calvings or poor fertility.

Selecting on Better Life Health makes herds easier to manage and means that cows age more healthily, fewer medicines are used and welfare is improved.

The top animals for Better Life Health score around +10%, which means that a bull will pass on 10% fewer health problems to its progeny.

If the bull is mated with an average cow, 5% fewer problems can be expected in his daughters – an extra profit of £58 during a cow’s life. l

Efficient production Better Life Efficiency can be used to breed a herd that converts the available feed into milk more efficiently. This should reduce feed costs and, at the same time, improve utilisation of every unit’s natural resources. This means that throughout a cow’s life – including the Table 1: Bull chart: Efficiency and Health, NVI

name

efficiency (%) health (%)

NVI

4 5 7 3 3 6 8 10 2 7 3

301 242 239 235 234 230 220 217 201 182 140

Atlantic Banker Jeroen Gofast Astro Pilot Silky Blitz Cricket Paramount Navarro

10 8 4 6 6 6 6 2 9 –3 2

Trouble-free cows The breeding indicator Better Life Health was developed to make it easier for producers to breed a problem-free herd.

Many different breeding values are

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H E R D

R E P O RT

One of Florida’s largest dairies thrives on personnel development and practical breeding

People, practicality and profits North Florida Holsteins has seen much success through innovation.

And, of all the tools and strategies in place, managing partner Don Bennink says the most important are investing in staff, adapting technologies and practical breeding. text Amy Ryan

B

eing home to 10,000 head of cattle (4,700 cows, 4,000 heifers, 350 bulls and 350 steers), North Florida Holsteins is one of the largest dairies in Florida and its website sports the tagline ‘Quality milk from comfortable cows!’

Managing and developing this type of operation is no small task, and managing partner Don Bennink says he relies on great people. “As a producer, you can have the best cows, machinery and land, but you need the best people to make it all work,” he says. “Procuring, educating and training staff is very important as you get larger and I am extremely lucky to have tremendous team members.”

The company employs 100 full-time, part-

time and trainees with a management team of seven in various roles on the farm. With underlying objectives of supporting the welfare of employees, animals and the environment, as well as providing employees with opportunities for growth and self improvement, Don sets the overall operation goal of remaining an on-going entity that provides employees plenty of job security.

To help achieve this goal, it offers numerous on-farm training opportunities.

International exchange In addition, it is open to researchers from the University of Florida and an international student programme run by

Don Bennink with By-My Rudolph Sally EX 90, at the time she broke through the 160,000kg of milk barrier

48 48

V E ECCTOO EW EWLM M T AAJNN AAA NGG UEEAM M R EIENN1TT/ 2J SAE2NP0U T0 A E9 M 0 9A R Y R YB /E FR E B2 R0 U

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North Florida Holsteins North Florida Holsteins in the USA takes pride in motivating its employees and providing job security while adapting new technologies.

Number of cows: Number of heifers: Amount of land: Rolling herd average:

Bell

USA

4,700 4,000 975 hectares 11,135kg of milk at 880kg fat and 720kg protein

Ohio State University. This programme, which began in 1991, has brought more than 200 students from every inhabited continent to the farm. Between eight and ten students are on the farm at any one time. They spend a year learning how each department operates before breaking into their specialised areas of study.

“The programme was developed to allow students to see, first hand, large dairy herd management and take that knowledge back to their home countries,” says Don. “We have on-site housing and stipulate that no two individuals from the same country, or who speak the same foreign language, live together, so they have the opportunity to learn other cultures while improving their English.”

For Don, the most rewarding part of the programme is seeing participants go home and succeed or recommend people to enrol. “Through my world-wide travels, I have connected with many past students,” he says. “It is gratifying to see them do well and talk with parents who are extremely grateful for the programme.”

Florida beginnings Although Don was born in Florida in the early 1940s, it took years of farming and practicing law in New York to lead him back to his birthplace. “Ironically, I was born in Florida. Shortly after losing my father in World War II, my mother decided a move back to her home state of New York was going to be the best fit for us,” says Don. “She taught there and I worked for many dairy producers until I finished college and rented a place for my cattle.”

Don’s busy schedule as a lawyer often conflicted with his farming schedule.

While travelling to Florida for a case, he says he saw a real opportunity there. After reassigning his cases, he purchased a feedlot property in June of 1980, the groundwork for what has now become the home of North Florida Holsteins.

Their first construction project was a

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Florida Holsteins herd. “We are using 100% genomic sires and have a new rotation of bulls within one month of the sire summary.

“If you look at the current top five on the gTPI list, we have daughters of each of the sires and we would have very likely used few, if any, of these sires if it weren’t for genomics.”

The dairy has been genomically testing all heifers for the past two years to identify animals to genetically develop further.

While Don says that many of the higher genomic individuals usually hail from their key cow families, this method helps identify outsiders and starts new cow families of interest.

IVF pregnancies

NO-FLA Oman Heidi 20611 is one of the most influential cows for North Florida Holsteins

double-10-point-parallel milking parlour and by September, they were milking 125 cows. Just five years later, the herd had grown to around 1,000 cows and a double12-point parlour was added. In 1990, a mere five years later, 3,600 cows called North Florida Holsteins home and they were being milked in a newly added double-40-point parallel parlour.

Don feels that the operation has differentiated itself in Florida by emphasising cow comfort and genetics.

This is where adopting technologies, namely tunnel ventilation and genomics, have been very important. “There are three major problems facing dairy producers in Florida: heat and humidity, mud, and producing quality forages,” he says. “To address the heat and humidity, we were the first dairy to have tunnel ventilation and worked on perfecting it with sprinkler systems and evaporative cooling.”

Cow families How did Don grow the herd so rapidly?

This is another area where the people part of the industry comes into play. He grew through buying whole herds of cows that good dairy producers had developed.

“We were contacted by breeders looking to sell their herds because they preferred to keep their whole herd together, as opposed to dispersing to various herds around the US. And they knew our interest in developing good cow families,” says Don. “We also had the reputation of offering flexible payments, which assisted with tax implications.”

He attributes much of the success of the North Florida Holsteins breeding programme to the acquisitions of these herds.

Namely, he says, their approach of purchasing whole herds to sometimes secure one cow family has afforded them the opportunity to work with some of the best cow families and consistent breeding lines to further develop their herd’s genetic potential. Embryo transfer (ET) and in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) have also boosted herd growth and genetic development.

Profitable cows The North Florida Holsteins’ breeding philosophy has always focused on developing the most profitable cow for the commercial dairyman. In a nutshell, Don sums this up as ‘good, practical, long-lived commercial cattle that pay the bills’. That is where the outstanding transmitting cow families mentioned earlier, along with some of the key cow families that made the trek with Don from New York, have contributed most.

“We don’t market to fads. Our ultimate goal is breeding cows that net the most revenue for commercial dairymen,” he says. “We choose the highest production and highest health trait sires available and always look for outcross bulls that meet our second goal of keeping matings below 3.5% inbreeding.”

Don also credits genomics, on both the paternal and maternal sides, with rapidly advancing the genetic pool in the North

Once identified, these animals under go intense ET and IVF programmes. In fact, two-thirds of the pregnancies carried by heifers and between 10% and 20% of the pregnancies in the milking herd on the dairy are IVF pregnancies from the top 3% (genetically) of the herd.

One of the most influential cows for North Florida Holsteins is NO-FLA Oman Heidi 20611, VG 87, whose dam was a Pebble Beach Prince of Wayne daughter that Don purchased from a neighbour in New York.

He says that a high percentage of his genomic offspring are coming from this O-Bee Manfred Justice-ET daughter or other branches of her family, with many of them being in the 850 to 900 net merit range.

While Don says North Florida Holsteins doesn’t actively market its genetics, they are doing business with all the major AI companies because their cow families are consistently producing high value offspring. They sell about 100 bulls to these companies a year, as well as between 1,100 and 1,200 bulls to commercial dairymen.

With a strong dedication to people, innovation and breeding, Don’s vision for North Florida Holsteins is creating an on-going entity with continued growth opportunity for the future and stability of workforce.

“I expect to add working equity partners who share the same goals and are committed to growing the business by investing in employees and new technologies while developing good cow families,” he says.

“Ultimately, I want the business carry-on for many years after me and to ensure that employees have plenty of job security.” l

CG O EWMME A COW MAN A NN T A JGA ENMU EANRTY /S FE EP BT RE UMAB RE YR 22 00 10 49

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C O N TA C T S

SHOWS AND EVENTS

Tasty ration: a high yielding cow fills up on a semi TMR Picture: Richard Stanton

February 12: February 13: Feb 22-March 2: March 5: March 8: May 14-16: May 21-22: May 28-31: May 29: June 5-7: June 27-28: July 2-3: July 8-10: July 21-24: September 17: October 1: October 14: November 19:

Outlook Conference 2014, One Great George Street, London Maize conference 2014, Easterbrook Hall, The Crichton, Dumfries SIA, Paris (France) Agro Nord Dairy Show, Aars (Denmark) Borderway UK Dairy Expo, Carlisle Balmoral Show, Balmoral Park, Lisburn Grassland & Muck, Stoneleigh Park, Warwickshire Royal Bath & West Show, Shepton Mallet, Somerset NMR/RABDF Gold Cup open day at Wilderley Hall Farms, Wilderley near Shrewsbury Royal Cornwall Show, Royal Cornwall Showground, Wadebridge, Cornwall All Holland Dairy Show, Zwolle (The Netherlands) Livestock Event, NEC, Birmingham Great Yorkshire Show, Harrogate, North Yorkshire Royal Welsh Show, Builth Wells, Powys UK Dairy Day, Telford International Centre, Shropshire The Dairy Show, Shepton Mallet, Somerset Welsh Dairy Show, Nantyci Showground, Carmarthen AgriScot, Edinburgh, Scotland

C O N TA C T S CowManagement is published eight times per year by CRV Holding BV

Editorial team Chief Editor Jaap van der Knaap Editor Rachael Porter Phone 01394 270587 E-mail rachael.porter@virgin.net Editing, design and production Veeteelt Contributing writers Alice Booij, Roger Evans, Allison Matthews, David Matthews, Amy Ryan and Karen Wright Publisher Rochus Kingmans

Chief editor’s address P.O. Box 454, 6800 AL Arnhem, The Netherlands Phone 0031 26 38 98 821. Fax 0031 26 38 98 839 E-mail cm.office@crv4all.com Internet www.cowmanagement.net, www.facebook.com/CowManagementUK

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If you think you are eligible, please contact: National Milk Records, Customer Services, Skipton Road, Harrogate, North Yorkshire HG1 4LG. Phone 0870 1622547 E-mail customerservices@NMR.co.uk Internet www.isubscribe.co.uk

Advertisements Julia Hughes, NMR. Phone 01249 467224 Willem Gemmink, Froukje Visser P.O. Box 454, 6800 AL Arnhem, The Netherlands, Fax 0031 26 38 98 824 E-mail willem.gemmink@crv4all.com

Illustrations/pictures Photographs by Veeteelt Photography, Sabine Hutchinson (10), Richard Stanton (12 to 14), John Eveson (18) and Willie Thomson (23).

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COMING UP

G r a s slan d an d m ach in er y sp ecial March (March 4) – Our annual early-spring issue’s special will focus on grassland and forage, with a close look at management at turnout and silage making preparations.

Disclaimer CowManagement does not necessarily share the views expressed by contributors. No responsibility is accepted for the claims made by advertisers. No responsibility can be accepted by CRV Holding BV for the opinions expressed by contributors. Whilst every effort is made to obtain reliable and accurate information, liability cannot be accepted for errors.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical including photocopying, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system without the express prior written consent of the publisher.

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Aurora Jeroen Bertil x O-Man x Jocko

Superb production Moderate sized cows with capacity Easy calving (106) Bertil son Holstein production Proof

Conformation Traits

Interbull, December 2013

Milk +431kg Fat +26.3kg +0.11% Protein +24.4kg +0.13%

Breeding Values GES December 2013

PLI ÂŁ220 Fertility Index +5.3 Lifespan +0.1 Longevity +168 days SCC -12

Frame Dairy Strength Udder Feet and Legs Total Score

166 daughters in 134 herds 73% Rel

Alex Arkink

106 108 106 106 108

40 Daughters in 33 Herds Rel 82%

Jeroen daughter, Hennie 44

Alex Arkink

Jeroen daughter, Belle

Alex Arkink

Jeroen daughter, Auroa Gina 2

Avoncroft Freephone 0800 7831880 Avoncroft genetics Ltd abide by the DairyCo and Holstein UK established Code of Advertising

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Every bite counts Get more from forage

Rumen specific live yeast reduces acid loading and increases fibre digestibility, which improves feed efficiency ensuring more milk from the same forage.

Ask BIOTAL how much extra money you can make today through improved feed efficiency delivering forage and nutrition technologies Biotal Ltd tel: (029) 2054 7050 www.biotal.co.uk

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