From: http://www.farmersguardian.com/story.asp?sectioncode=29&storycode=19883&c=1
Livestock | 11 July, 2008
Vets and dairy farmers met for the Large Dairy Herd Seminar organised by Lillico Atlee and the Evidence Based Veterinary Consultancy.
FARMERS needed to focus on cow comfort as a way to both assure consumers that animals were being treated correctly and to optimise productivity.
That was according to Jon Huxley, associate professor of farm animal medicine at Nottingham University, who argued the behaviour of dairy herds needed to be monitored, especially the time cows spent standing.
He said increased standing time, especially on concrete, raised the incidence of lameness and therefore effected yield.
Every effort should be made to encourage dairy cattle to lie down when not eating, drinking or being milked, he said. This should include ensuring cubicle size was sufficient, the lying surface was as comfortable as possible and the building was designed in such a way as to encourage lying down.
Mr Huxley said that when cattle stood up in the field they used a ‘pendulum effect’ to raise themselves up. “If you have housing right they can replicate this movement in the cubicles,” he said, arguing that if cows found it difficult to get into a standing position in the, they would ‘just stop lying down altogether’.
He also urged dairy farmers to consider using sand in cubicles. According to Mr Huxley groups of cows operated within a social hierarchy. ‘Dominant’ cows would do well, ‘bully’ ‘subordinate’ cows at the feed fence and water troughs and enter the milking parlour first. This, he said, meant subordinate animals spent more time standing, increasing the susceptibility to lameness and lowering productivity.
This could be eased by putting rubber matting down in areas where cows spend considerable time standing, ensuring there was sufficient feed and water trough space for all animals and creating a ‘circular flow’ in buildings so subordinates could keep out of the way of dominant animals.
The social hierarchy also meant that mixing groups would be problematic, as the group would have to re-adjust and each cow would spend time assessing where they were in the social hierarchy of the new group.
“Mixing groups is not good for yield,” he said. “It can lead to a 3 to 5 per cent reduction in yields. The cows are going around the group instead of eating.”
Staff management in large herds
Dairy farmers on opposite sides of the Atlantic face different challenges but have similar solutions.
• John Gilliland, from Florida, is the dairy operations manager for McArthur Farms, a dairy enterprise with four units each comprising 2,000 cows.
One of the biggest challenges he faces is ensuring the cows can cope with the sub-tropical weather conditions.
He is concerned with breeding consistent heifer replacements and ensuring he has healthy cows. He said staff management was key to success. Staff were set goals and had regular training and development, including vets coming in to give training updates and regular reviews of protocols.
“Higher levels of production require a higher level of management,” he said.
• Somerset-based Neil Christensen milks 500 Holsteins in Glastonbury.
He said one of his biggest challenges was fitting his business around Glastonbury Festival, which takes up 400 acres of his land. Other challenges were low prices compared to high input costs but, like Mr Gilliland, he saw the people behind the business as the most important part of the enterprise.
He said he wanted to ‘manage people effectively to satisfy the business needs and their personal needs’ and also holds regular training sessions and encourages good communication amongst his work force.
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