Learn how she behaves..........& she shall enjoy her meal!!

Learn how she behaves..........& she shall enjoy her meal!!

Feeding Dairy cows is science- when you hear this, what comes to mind? Texts and articles on Nutrition and nutrients and metabolism related to all this, right!! But there is another aspect to this which till the recent times has not been looked into all that much, that is, cow eating behavior which can alter your nutrition program upside down. Designing feeds as well as facilities in tune with how she behaves or the way she likes it, may have very un-thought of outcomes.

'Dangar' is a local word used in Punjabi dialect referring to Animals in a crude or disrespected way. This literally translates into one without brains. But let me tell you these girls do have brains and they are smart. During early part of my career, I visited a dairy farm in village Channuwala of Moga, Punjab, India. The farm is run by Mr. Tej Singh. When I went to see it, he had over a 100 cows and each cow had a name, which she not only recognized, reacted to it. Mr Tej Singh believes in nurturing each of his cows as if they were his children. And so he gives each one a name.

"Along with a name comes a personal relationship. When an animal recognizes the name, he shows that he too needs love and affection, which every child gets from his mother," the farmer from Channuwala village of Moga says.

He has been following the practice of naming since 1984, and has never had to use a stick or chain to handle his herd of 150 cows and heifers, Singh says. Veerjindera Dairy Farm, named after Singh's daughter who passed away when she was 22 years old, is now a model farm. Now I truly was amazed to see the social settings and order amongst cows at his farm. I was like a kid in the candy store. 

Off late there has been work done on cow behavior and how that impacts their feeding habits and how can we have things in cow's favor. Under natural grazing conditions dairy cattle will be eating anywhere from 4 to 9 hours per day. This feeding time would be split into a number of smaller meals occurring throughout the day, with the largest meals occurring in the early morning and late afternoon. Modern, intensively-housed dairy cattle fed a conserved ration typically consume their daily dry matter intake in up to 6 hours per day, spread between 7 or more meals per day (DeVries et al., 2003). Management practices like limiting the feed availability and the time causes a shift in their behavior to eat fewer and larger meals more quickly have been associated with an increased incidence of Rumen Acidosis. When cows are offered feed only once daily, there are significant peaks in feeding activity in the immediate time period following feed delivery compared to twice a day offering the feed. This results into slug feeding and greater rumen pH changes but when cows are fed more frequently  5-6 times a day, they consume feed more evenly after each feed delivery, increasing their feeding time throughout the day. Added to that, DeVries et al. found that subordinate cows were not displaced as frequently when fed more often, indicating that these cows would have greater access to feed, particularly fresh feed, when the frequency of feed delivery is high. Further, providing feed twice or more often has also been demonstrated to reduce the amount of feed sorting as compared to feeding once a day.

There is evidence to suggest that the timing of feed delivery is also important for lactating dairy cows. Availability of fresh feed following the return from milking has typically been used to encourage cows to remain standing (while feeding) rather than to lie down. This is a known fact that immediate lying down post milking have more incidences of udder inflammation. Potential undesirable impacts of nutritional management on the behavior of dairy cows can be intensified under situations where cows do not have good access to their feed ( higher stocking rates). When feed bunk competition is high, increases in aggressive behavior limit the ability of some cows to access feed at times when feeding motivation is high, particularly after the delivery of fresh feed. Reducing feed bunk competition, by providing adequate feed bunk space (to allow animals to eat simultaneously), particularly when combined with a physical partition (e.g. headlocks or feed stalls), has been known to improve access to feed, particularly for subordinate dairy cows. In a study, free-stall herds that every 10 cm/cow increase in feed bunk space was associated with 0.06 percentage point increase in group average milk fat and a 13% decrease in group-average somatic cell count Sova et al. (2013). Even in the robotic milked herds, an increase in feed bunk space is associated with increase in yield and components. 

Another factor stimulating feeding activity is feed push-up. When fed a TMR, dairy cows have a natural tendency to continually sort the feed and push feed away while eating, resulting in much of the feed being tossed forward where it is no longer within reach. Regular feed push ups have been known to increase the feed intake or as Dr Mike Hutjens terms it-" FIND FREE FEED." Cows need a comfortable environment and adequate food and water to meet their behavioral and physiological needs. Reduced space availability both at feed bunk and resting are have been known to cause aggressive behavior leading to not only DMI suppression of smaller and timid cows but also their resting time. 

One of the most obvious features of the feeding area is the physical barrier that separates the cow and the feed. The various barriers are all designed with the intention of allowing cows access to feed, however, some designs can have unintended consequences, such as limiting the cows’ ability to freely access feed and increasing the frequency of aggressive interactions at the feeder. Many producers believe that a feed line barrier that provides some sort of separation between cows (e.g., headlocks) will reduce competition and increase intake. I have known people who have been adjusting the heights of the bars as per the size of the cows-of course one size does not fit all. But design and implementation is crucial.

So the need is to listen to what the cows are telling you and design and implement things as she tells you to.

DO Cows Tell Something?- The body language of cattle

There is an increasing need to pay attention to the environment and nature of the cows. By the time, the animal shows the symptoms of disease it usually is too late. There may be anorexia, mastitis or bad milk, before reaching these stages, the animal shows a lot of behavior changes which usually go unnoticed. How long the animal is lying, keeps standing or walking usually are such indications. Be it the milk yield,  SNF or milk Fat, we have been tracking all this since long but that is because this determines the milk check or payment we get, but we don’t relate it to animal’s health and well being. Many a times changes in these components are the first symptoms to appear. If we pay heed to nature and behavior, we can actually predict before the disease actually hits. Eating less, less activity, less lying behavior, raised temperature etc can tell the disease is about to hit.

Normally, the animals likely to get disease would take 10-15 less steps than a normal one and the animals getting Ketosis would drop the milk production by 8-10 litres.

The cows susceptible to metritis spend less time eating and also eat lower quantities. These signs can show upto two weeks prior to the disease actually hitting. Even if the animal spends 10 mins less eating, she is 1.2X more likely to get the disease. And if  she eats 1 kg Dry matter less than normal she is three times more likely to fall sick.

The animals with Dystocia exhibit a lot of changes in eating and general behavior. Before calving, there are many noticeable changes in lying and resting behavior of cows. 24 hours before calving, if a cow has more than 30 standing episodes, she is more likely to have dystocia- difficult calving.

The need of the hour is watch cows, understand them and and most important listen to them.

“ My cows can’t read the feed report”, says Rajinder a saddened dairy farmerto his friend Dharminder.    “ Dharam,” he says, “I feed them a very high priced feed but neither the milk yield goes up nor SNF and Fat. I got the feed tested from the lab, it is upto the nutritional standards, protein 20%, Fat 2.5%, Fiber 10%, and the moisture content is right too. I even showed the report my cows but they don’t increase the milk yield.”

It sounds like a joke but a dairy farmer thinks if a high priced feed doesn’t benefit, what is the use? In fact there are many more nutritional factors that play a role and on top of these, there are many non dietary factors which play a role in enhancing yield and components.

The most important thing is that the concentrate feed you buy, complements the green fodder/ forage you have, so that all the nutrient requirements can be met.

The cows don’t have a crude protein requirement. They require Amino Acids or the metabolizable protein. Which amino acids actually reach the intestines and what is the ratio of Lysine to methionine, there is a lot of science that goes into it and research is still ongoing.

Even the crude fiber test doesn’t say much about the diet digestibility but newer lab tests like NDF (Neutral Detergent Fiber), eNDF (Effective Neutral Detergent Fiber) and peNDF (physically effective Neutral Detergent Fiber) can give much more valuable information.

Don’t get disheartened that it is so detailed and tough subject. The crux is that the cows can tell you- WHAT WORKS AND WHAT DOES NOT.  This observatory experience and the science can help prepare great rations for cows. But one must not forget the non dietary factors for performance.

Research shows that animals with similar milk yield genetic potential, differ largely in yields ubder different farm management and comfort conditions even if on same diets. Only 4 factors have about 46% role play in determining of yields. These are: 1. Age at first calving, 2. Amount of feed refusals, 3. The method of delivering feed, and 4. The space available per cow. Overcrowding in the farm and feed bunk can affect yield by 32% and how much time a cow gets to rest has 31% impact.

Along with the caring of animal, how much rest they get, how much time they spend on rumination/cud chewing, total time eating can effect the components and yield. We know that the particle size  has a direct impact on rumination. If you pack in 14 cows in 10 cows space, the cows are more likely to reduce the rumination time by 2 hrs, it is like feeding 7% less peNDF. More factors bringing down the rumination time are housing the first calf heifers, locking animals in head locks for extended periods, uneven floor area or not leveled or comfortable. These factors can bring down rumination by 15-20%.

                                                                                                                                                           Amit Arora

Ketosis- Monitoring, preventing and treatingPart II- Hot Topic in Cold Winter

Ketosis as discussed earlier is a condition that goes highly un-diagnosed or unnoticed on dairies. Since the cost of this condition is very high due to compounding problems of milk loss and reproductive and health failures, actually monitoring it can add to the bottom line of your business.

Testing for Ketosis : The basic idea for monitoring is to test for levels of ketone bodies in the fluids like blood, milk and urine and determine the plan for prevention or treatment based on that. Excess ketone are produced by liver in response to excess fat mobilization. The circulating ketones are acetone, acetoacetate, and beta-hydroxybutyrate (BHBA). They are found in all body fluids including urine, blood, and milk. The predominant ketone in cows is BHBA. The gold standard for testing is considered the BHBA testing in blood by lab. But this is costly and inconvenient and time consuming as well. Fortunately there are cow side testing methods, some of which are pretty dependable. Theses are discussed below:

Milk Tests: There are majority two types of these where milk sample is tested for ketone bodies. The first measures Acetone and Acetoacetate levels in milk and commonly known as Keto-check. Most of the times a positive result confirms ketosis but the test is highly insensitive and the poor sensitivity may cost money and yield no results. You may miss many potentially problem animals. There is another milk test known as Keto-Test which measures milk BHBA. This one is more specific and sensitive. Plan with your Nutritionist/Vet if they feel that this test may be part of your herd monitoring.

Urine Tests: This test measure Acetone and Acetoacetate. But there are reported a high number of false positive results. Bayer has this test by name of Ketostix.  Ketostix test has comparable test performance to that of the Keto-Test, provided that the test is interpreted within 5 to 10 seconds following contact with urine. Plan with your Nutritionist/Vet if they feel that this test may be part of your herd monitoring.

Blood Tests: Abbott Laboratories manufactures a glucometer for use in humans called Precision Xtra. It also takes ketone strips for measuring BHBA. Several researchers have evaluated this test and found it highly accurate for testing dairy cow blood. In a monitoring program, a cow that is tested at or above 1.4 mmol/L BHBA in blood is considered to be positive. Plan with your Nutritionist/Vet if they feel that this test may be part of your herd monitoring.

Other Monitors: There are some more indicators of likely ketosis, which are as follows:

• More than 5% DA incidence.
• Fresh cows having milk protein/Fat ratio over 0.75.
• Close up cows having BCS>3.5.

These all can be warning signals and the animals can be put in active watch, treatment/support group, actively testing and designing a support program.

Prevention and Supportive Treatment: 

1. Most important step shall be improving the Dry matter intake and designing specific diets for each phase especially Transition phases of close up dry cows and Fresh cows. Controlled energy high Intake diets in Close up period have been specifically successful in many of the research studies.
2. Monensin Sodium fed to cows during early lactation and/or during the Close up period reduces the incidence of ketosis and fatty liver. It alters rumen microbe populations such that more propionate is produced. Increased supplies of this glucose precursor help decrease the incidence and/or severity of ketosis.
3. Niacin at a dose of 6-12 mg throughout the Transition period has proved helpful in a high percentage of studies.
4. Glucose precursors like Calcium Propionate and Propylene Glycol for fresh cows have been part of successful strategies.
5. Feeding Rumen protected Choline has been a successful strategy in Transition period and is especially helpful in overconditioned cows.
6. For treatment purpose, Dextrose, Insulin in some cases and glucose precursors have been helpful but choice of treatment is totally dependent upon Veterinarian's decision.

Hot Topic in Cold Winter

Ketosis- is a very significant disease in transition cows and is rather a gateway for many other diseases that is why early detection, treatment as well as prevention are very important. There should be herd monitoring strategies in place to implement this plan. There are tools available which should be made use of which shall be discussed in detail later in this write up.

A Hidden Disease  Ketosis goes highly undetected that makes it a very dangerous disease. I wrote a small write up on Ketosis on my facebook group a couple of years back and I had a comment from one renowned Indian dairy Scientist," Is this disease even prevalent in India?" That was a shocker!! What can you expect from farmers and inexperienced Para Vets and young Vets. One detected case of Clinical Ketosis is a tip of Iceberg of undiagnosed sub clinical cases.

Some tech details about Ketosis:

• Ketosis is a metabolic disorder that occurs in dairy cattle when energy demands (e.g. high milk production) exceed energy intake and result in a negative energy balance. Ketosis is essentially a transition phase disease and if animals can be manged well in this phase, the outcomes can be better.
• For milk production large amounts of body fat are mobilized as an energy source faster by a cow than her liver can properly metabolize it. If this situation occurs, ketone production exceeds ketone utilization by the cow, and ketosis happens.
• Ketone bodies are produced from the incomplete utilization of fat as an energy source. Acetoacetic acid, acetone, and beta–hydroxybutyric acid are the ketone bodies produced in the cow during this process.
• Ketone precursors may also exist in high levels in legume and grass silages containing high levels of butyric acid. They can increase the risk of ketosis by increasing the supply of ketone precursors to cattle.

Why is Ketosis so Hot: 

• Ketotic cows are at upto 8x risk for displaced abomasum(DA).
• Upto 2x risk of Retained Fetal membranes.
• Upto 3x risk of Metritis.
• Upto 2x culling.
• Upto 6X cystic Ovaries.
• Lower reproductive performances
• Lower immune function overall!
• Upto 350 Litres/770 pounds less milk in lactation.

Monitoring for Ketosis: For indvidual cows, keep an eye on:

• Higher BCS,
• Rapid BCS reduction in late and close up Dry period.
• Longer dry periods
• Twin pregnancies
• Milk fat Milk protein ratios of more than 1.5 in previous lactation
• Late freshened heifers

Herd level, monitor all Transition cows for BHBAs and Ketone bodies, some of your options are:

• Lab BHBA monitoring
• Cow side BHBA ketometer test- good effective and cost effective strategy
• Milk Ketone tests- Cow side
• Urine Ketones- Is not very reliable with many false postive but all positives can be further evaluated with above methods.

Whatever difficulties are there to monitor but if this can be made a part of fresh and transition cow program, there are going to be guaranteed gains and lower losses. Shall be discussing the prevention and supportive treatment options in follow up write up.

Silage- Evaluating quality for your Dairy

Ensiling forages is a great way to have a forage ration year round. Not only that, you can have a consistent quality for one silo or pit and that becomes really easy to balance the complimenting ration to a consistent forage. Corn silage is one of the most prevalent silage used.
But it is very important to check the quality of silage before feeding that to your cows. These are the parameters you need to evaluate silage for:

DRY MATTER- This is a must. A good quality corn silage shall be between 30-40 % dry matter, depending upon how wet or dry the crop was harvested. Anything outside that range may not be fit or feeding, may not have fermented right in the silo. Apart from that it is recommended to test the silage for dry matter every 7-10 days. The diet or concentrate might have to be changed depending upon that. The standard method is oven drying but it can be checked on farm in a microwave and that is fairly valid.

PHYSICAL FORM- That includes the chop length and kernel processing. PENN STATE SHAKER BOX is the best tool for it. You can use standard size sieve boxes if it is not available in your country. This will give you a fair idea of physically effective fiber in diet which is very important for cattle.
Apart from that bucket test to see Kernel processing is a very good tool to determine Kernel processing which may impact available starch to a large extent. If you cows are excreting whole kernels in Dung that is energy down the drain.

FERMENTATION ANALYSIS- Quality of fermentation can be assessed by the pH first of all. A pH in range of 4 is good. Anything above 4.5 is a not well fermented silage and your herd may have performance and health issues. If you can get the organic acids analysis done, Lactic Acid- 5-10%, Butyric Acid should be not more than 0.5%, otherwise there is Clostridial fermentation and feeding such silage is not recommended. You may have serious fresh cow issues. Lactic acid should be more than 70 percent of all acids, and the lactic-to-acetic ratio should be more than 3. If there is more than 3% ethanol, you might have aerobic stability issues on storage.

Apart from that you can get NDF, ADF and lignin tested for your nutritionist to have an idea of the digestibility.
For details on microwave testing for DM, Penn state shaker box and Bucket method testing, You can contact me.

Additives and Supplements- Investment or Expense

Additives and Supplements- Investment or Expense

If the milk prices are average/low and the feed prices are high, the first thing to go out of Rations are the additives or the supplements. I have long been an advocate of additives in Ration if can be taken out, should not have been added in the first place. Of course, the cost of milk production is important but animal health and longevity must not be compromised. One thing is to be remembered always, don't ever ever try to lose milk or cut down the production, two reasons, whatever you are getting is after the animal's body maintenance expenses and the more you get, the cheaper it is. Second, Lost milk never gets back. You might have to wait for the next lactation and who knows even you attain the peak there or not.

 So here is a list of additives that are highly recommended in Rations and then there are which could be used as well. But first of all it is important to have the cows grouped based upon stage and level of production to decide who gets what.

1. Far Off dry cows: Monensin, Organic Trace Minerals, Vitamins, Silage inoculants, Anionic Products(Can be, depends on diet and ongoing research)
2. Close up Dry cows: Monensin, Organic Trace Minerals, Vitamins A, D3 and E, Silage inoculants, Can be used- Some B Vitamins(folic and B12), Choline, Anionic products depending upon diet DCAD.
3. Fresh Cows: Rumen Buffers, Monensin, Yeast products, Organic Trace Minerals, Vitamins, Rumen protected Niacin, Choline, biotin, Silage inoculants. Can be used- Glucogenic precursors like Calcium Propionate, Propylene Glycol etc.
4. High Producers/Mid lactation: Rumen Buffers, Monensin, Yeast products, Organic Trace Minerals, Vitamins and Silage inoculants
5. Late Lactation/Low Producers: Monensin and silage inoculants

For selecting a product, no 1 priority should be the research and proven efficacy of the product.

Second you should know your return on Investment. Just spending can be an expense not an investment.

The most mportant thing while using the additives or supplemets is using the right doses. Underdosing may save you money on paper but shall be costing you money in reality. For example an underdose of Rumen buffer like Sodium bicarbonate is of no use as lower doses than 0.75%  of total diet dry matter shall not have a beneficial effect at all.

There are many more products available in the market, but the research and return on investment should be your criteria for selecting those.

The Start that sets the pace:

For years, farmers have been advised to feed the right quality colostrum with in time. There has been much research about the quality of colostrum and ways to determine it, early feeding and feeding the right quantities. All this progress has helped much in calf nutrition and a healthy start. Most of the focus has been on Immunoglobulins particularly IGg, which have been the bench mark of the colostrum quality measurement. No denying the fact that IGg is a very important part of early calf nutritional needs and is very vital for immunity development. This has lead to development of colostrum supplements and replacers in many world markets which mainly have IGgs and not other colostrum constituents most of the time. This has been the holy text till date for colostrum quality so far.

But recent work from Dr. Mike Van Amburgh and colleagues has been eye opening. Their recent presentations and publication on the topic have been really amazing. Following are some details and the recommendations from Dr. Van Amburgh for colostrum feeding.

Dr. Van Amburgh recently shared his thoughts with attendees at the 2016 Dairy Calf and Heifer Association annual conference, underscoring the value of colostrum to calves. “While a fetus is developing in-utero, the dam controls its environment entirely,” he said. “After her calf is born, she continues to share maternal influence throughout the first weeks of life via milk-borne factors. The benefits of mom’s milk, in promoting long-term health and optimal physiological development, do not end with the first feeding of colostrum.” "Colostrum contains many more substances beneficial to newborn calves, including steroids, hormones and growth factors such as relaxin, prolactin, insulin, IGF-1, IGF-2, and leptin,” said Dr. Van Amburgh. “Colostrum, even in its transition state at the second, third and fourth milking, also is richer in nutrients than standard cow’s milk.”
Dr. Van Amburgh presented results from a study that showed glucose absorption was markedly improved in calves fed colostrum for the first four days of life, compared to those fed milk replacer. He said enhanced glucose absorption appears to favor anabolic processes and improves growth and energy storage. He noted that, in fact, Olympic athletes consume colostrum as a legal means of developing muscle mass.

To capture the benefits of colostrum beyond the first feeding, Dr. Van Amburgh advised the following colostrum delivery regimen for the first four days of life:

(1) First-milking colostrum within 6 hours of birth. Administer 4 quarts in this feeding for large breeds, 3 quarts for smaller calves.

(2) An additional 2 quarts of first-milking colostrum at 12 hours of life.

(3) At least 4 quarts of second-milking colostrum on Day 2 of life (over at least two feeding periods).

(4) At least 4 quarts of third-milking colostrum on Day 3.

(5) At least 4 quarts of fourth-milking colostrum on Day 4.

“Colostrum is a readily available resource that represents our best chance to program calves for a lifetime of health and productivity,” said Dr. Mike Van Amburgh. “There is significant value in taking the extra measures to deliver it to newborns beyond their first day of life.”