Feeding your Dry Cows this Winter

The 2 most stressful times in a cows life are:

1. Weaning
2. The weeks leading up to and after calving

Correct dry cow management and preparation for this period of stress is critical

FOUNDATION for success:  Body Condition Score (BCS) at Calving

Without a strong foundation, your dry cow programme has little chance of success. Calving your herd down in the correct BCS (individual cow range 3.0 > 3.25) delivers this sound foundation; with proven benefits for fertility, milk yield and cow health (reduced metabolic problems e.g. milk fever).

Feeding Dry Cows This Winter:

Your cows will only gain weight for 6 of their 8 weeks dry period. During the 1st and last week they won’t gain any weight. For the mid 6 weeks if a cow is gaining 1kg per day, 40% of this is going on her back with the remainder used to grow the calf. During this 6 weeks your cow therefore has the potential to increase her liveweight by c. 20kg or c.0.5 BCS.

Assuming your cows don’t have to gain any body condition it is relatively easy to meet your dry cows energy requirement in month 7 and 8. However, in the final few weeks before calving your cows intake drops, as her dry cow energy demand is peaking. An all grass silage diet will not meet her energy requirement then. During this phase concentrates are required to limit the degree of negative energy balancing at calving.

What are the consequences of the wrong BCS at calving:

Too Thin:

1. Poor subsequent fertility performance
2. Low milk yield, milk protein % and milk fat %
3. Increased incidence of lameness
4. Increased degree of immune suppression

Too Fat:

1. Higher degree of negative energy balance at calving will result in:

1. A 4-fold increased risk of milk fever
2. An 80% increased risk of retained cleansing
3. Increased risk of fatty liver, ketosis and displaced abomasums

1. Lower milk yield and milk protein %
2. Poor subsequent fertility performance
3. Increased degree of immune suppression

It is preferential to avoid both scenarios.