Long drought period leads to adjustments of feed settings

Many countries have experienced a long dry period that challenged farmers to produce a good quality of roughage and in some cases no roughage at all. This resulted in a lack of roughage and reduced ingredients content in some areas.

Feeding

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If your area is affected, you should take a look at the feeding settings of your farms to make sure the cow is able to satisfy her feed needs. While visiting a farm, it is advised to address this issue to make sure the farmer adjusts his or hers feeding management to this dry period. This could be, depending on the ration on the feed fence, to increase the concentrates intake in the Astronaut, to change the type of concentrates or to discuss the issue with the feed advisor of the farmer.

Next to the feeding settings, it is also good to think about the grassland. The management of the grassland could be adjusted to make sure the roughage is of good quality for the next year by for example over seed some grass. Check the effects of the drought on the grassland and what changes are needed in grass management to help the farmer produce high quality roughage next year.

Other Farming Insights

Cow health

Preparation for dry period pays off

Dry period infections are a very important part of the epidemiology of environmental pathogens such as E. coli and S. uberis. These infections often remain subclinical throughout the dry period, but are then an important cause of clinical mastitis in the first few months of the subsequent lactation period. This article will give more insight and information about the different stages of the dry period and their relation to mastitis.

Management, T4C & InHerd, Feeding, Tips & Tricks

Adjust Vector feed setting based on cow signals

Observing cow behaviour in the barn and at the feed fence for a period of time can provide you with a lot of information. This information is very useful to help manage the feeding strategy. It is important monitor cow behaviour daily as it gives you information you can react to directly in order to create the best feeding conditions on your farm.