Building 'Match-Fit' Cows for Calving, Lactation

Using the dry period to your advantage

What happens in the dry period affects cow condition, calvingrecovery, milk peak and fertility. Good management reduces early-lactation disease, speeds appetite recovery and cuts treatment time and days open. Using the dry period well allows cows to rebuild energy and protein stores, top up minerals (especially calcium and phosphorus), renew milk-secretory cells and restore liver capacity.

Key factors that affect calving readiness

• Fibre is key: Research shows that fibre helps to increase rumen smooth muscle strength - these are the muscles that cause the rumen to contract during rumination. Good fibre levels help to improve transition and early lactation appetite, which helps to reduce condition loss post-calving. This lowers the pressure that mobilised fat puts on the liver, helping to increase liver capacity, maintain strong immune system function and reduce days to first cycle. Aim for high effective fibre in the dry cow ration - many systems target NDF around 45% on a dry-matter basis, and where possible offer roughage ad lib.
• Intake consistency and feed space: Keep the ration consistent and make feed access predictable. Sudden changes, variable mixing or limited space at the feed-face cause cows to eat less or irregularly. Check each cow has enough room to eat without being pushed off their feed - >0.8m per cow at the feed-face generally reduces inconsistent intakes and results in a tighter BCS range across the herd at calving.
• Make adjustments when needed: It's important to make adjustments to diet and feed allocation based on cow performance and weather conditions. Allowing for wastage to ensure intakes are as consistent as possible day-to-day makes a big difference in performance and cow health at calving.
• Shelter in bad weather: Poor shelter and exposed paddocks in bad weather increase energy use and can stop cows from rebuilding condition. Try to provide windbreaks or shelter where needed.
• Mob pressure and social stress: Group size, frequent mixing and dominant animals can suppress intake for less dominant, younger or thinner cows. Where possible, separate vulnerable animals such as older/younger cows, late dry-offs or those with low BCS, so they have good access to feed and less bullying/competition.
• Body condition monitoring: Score cows at late lactation, before dry-off and before calving. Aim for 4.8 - 5.2 on a 1-10 scale at calving. This is the standard NZ benchmark, so it should be the goal for every NZ farmer. Use scores to pick out who needs extra feed, who can go into a tighter group, and who may need a different drying-off plan.

Checklist

Here is a simple dry-cow checklist. It is good practice to run through it each week and record your findings so you can refer back to it:

• BCS of the mob and a few individual cows.
• Feed calculations & analysis when needed (DM, NDF, ME, protein).
• Allocated space at the feed face per cow is >0.8m per cow.
• Weather and shelter needs.
• Any recent health issues or cows that need separate attention.

Common pitfalls to avoid

• Inconsistent feed allocation, high feed wastage due to weather or high levels of competition for feed.
• Big diet changes late in the dry period that reduce palatability.
• Wating until four weeks before calvign to focus on lighter-condition cows that have been struggling.

Watch behaviour as much as numbers - steady cud-chewing/rumination, firm manure consistency and cows that are standing off the fresh feed are good signs. Signs to act on include a significant reduction in rumination, variable milk fat after calving, or cows that lose a lot of condition in early lactation.

Small changes early are easier and cheaper than fixes after calving. Adjust rations in small steps, keep mobs stable, and flag cows that need extra attention well before the expected calving window.

Chris Balemi is Agvance Nutrition founder and managing director.