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Stevie Hay
AUTUMN 2010 ISSUE
LIVESTOCK MATTERS
20
C A S E S T U D Y
LAMENESS
CONTROL PLAN
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A comfortable cubicle to encourage
adequate lying times - comfortable
lying surface (Wilson Pasture MAT),
uninterrupted forward lunging space,
high neck rail, brisket locator to
position the cow correctly in the
cubicle, etc.
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Wide passageways and cross
passages for good cow flow.
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Rubber flooring in feed passage.
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Two footbaths at exits from robots.
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Footbath for dry cows and heifers.
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Cubicle training for heifers.
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Early detection and treatment of
lame cows.
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Regular foot trimming.
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New box scraper to improve slurry
management and keep cows' feet
dry and cleaner.
managing the sand/slurry lagoons. So
instead he opted for good quality cow
mattresses with sawdust: muck is scraped
off them twice a day and sawdust replaced
as needed. Julian adds: ‘Cow environment
has certainly improved over the straw yards.
Alan is meticulous about keeping cubicle
beds clean and dry.’
Controlling mastitis
The change in housing has helped reduce
mastitis cases. ‘Mastitis used to be the
principal health issue on the farm,’ explains
Julian. ‘This was mainly due to the straw yard
housing and the purchase of some cows with
pre-existing udder health problems.
‘The robotic milkers have also had a positive
impact - each quarter is milked separately, and
clusters are disinfected in-between animals.’
Alan spends at least 10 minutes each day
going through the robot computer's data
readouts. These provide information on milk
conductivity and cell count readings taken
from each quarter at each milking, and so
identify potential problem cows.
Julian adds: ‘Using these readings, milk
bacteriology samples from clinical cases and
high cell count cows can be taken to identify
the pathogens involved. We can then select
appropriate treatment to control mastitis, or
in some cases make culling decisions.’
Since the change to robotic milking, there has
been a dramatic reduction in clinical case
rate: from over 100 quarter cases/100
cows/yr under the old conventional system
down to just 16 quarter cases/100cows/yr
in the first 12 months with the robotic milkers.
Julian adds: ‘Based on a conservative
estimate of £100 for a clinical mastitis
case, that's a saving of £12,900.’
Herd nutrition
In the past Alan has struggled to get the
right nutritional feed inputs that he wanted
for his herd, but has always valued Julian's
unbiased advice. ‘After all,’ says Alan, ‘Julian
is also interested in cow health. I've got the
right nutritionist involved now and we meet
regularly with Julian to discuss the herd.’
The transponders on the cows enable them
to be rationed individually according to yield.
Cows are currently averaging a production of
33litres of milk sold, and making an average
of three visits a day to be milked. Fresh
calvers come in for milking four times a day,
and stale cows less.
Julian adds: ‘One noticeable change is that
the body condition score across the herd has
become very even - with few cows at the
extremes. The robot automatically weighs
cows at each milking so it is easy to monitor
BCS changes.
‘On average cows in the herd lose around
30kg of body weight after calving, equivalent
to 0.5 of a body condition score, with the
lowest weight reached at about 25 days into
lactation. Cows regain their post calving
weight at about 120 days. This shows the
negative energy balance is well controlled in
the herd - and will be a principal reason that
the herd enjoys good fertility.’
Improved fertility
Julian routinely visits the farm every month to
carry out fertility checks, he says: ‘As is often
the case, fertility has improved as a result of
improvements in other areas of cow health
and cow comfort - especially transition cow
management, body condition score and
lameness and mastitis management.
‘The activity meters also help Alan with heat
detection and the robot provides a daily list
of potential bulling cows. The current average
days in milk is 163 days, which is very good
for an all-year round calving herd, and
calving index is around 385 days.’
ROBOTIC MILKERS,
OVERALL SUCCESS
Both Alan and Julian agree that the
robotic milking system has made the
herd quieter and calmer.
Health improvements are also evident. As
a consequence of the new system - robotic
milkers, cubicles, fewer bought-in milking
cows - mastitis incidence has significantly
reduced and herd fertility is excellent. A
close eye is kept on lameness.
Alan adds: ‘Robotic milking is not for
everyone, but it works well here, and frees
up my time for other things.
‘Vets’ roles are changing, they are no
longer just there to pull out big calves.
These days, they sit down with you and
discuss your herd targets and problems.
‘They are also your eyes and ears for new
products and developments - I don't have
the time to learn about these, but I know
Julian will always tell me about anything
that would be of benefit to my herd.’