Feeding close up dry cows...

[crashbox]

Hi all,

What do your dry cow diets look like, for final weeks before calving? Looking for tips, note I don't have a mixer wagon!

For us, av. 9000 litre Holsteins, from 4 weeks to calving diet is supposed to be:
- c. 15kg maize
- Ad lib barley straw
- 3kg Translac cake for DCAB

Can I replace the straw with hay, without causing milk fever issues?

My problem is I don't have a TMR, so I can't weigh the maize. Too much, the cows get fat, too little they go hungry.

Number of cows fluctuates all the time and 3 different people do the feeding so I need something simple.

Thanks, CB

 

[pappuller]

Hi all,

What do your dry cow diets look like, for final weeks before calving? Looking for tips, note I don't have a mixer wagon!

For us, av. 9000 litre Holsteins, from 4 weeks to calving diet is supposed to be:
- c. 15kg maize
- Ad lib barley straw
- 3kg Translac cake for DCAB

Can I replace the straw with hay, without causing milk fever issues?

My problem is I don't have a TMR, so I can't weigh the maize. Too much, the cows get fat, too little they go hungry.

Number of cows fluctuates all the time and 3 different people do the feeding so I need something simple.

Thanks, CB

We feed 50% of the forage as straw, we find that if we try to feed too much grass silage/hay we encounter problems with mf, I put this down to high levels of potassium in the grass forage due to regular applications of slurry.
But we put everything through a mixer wagon

 

[dinderleat]

Why do you want to replace the straw if it’s working.

 

[crashbox]

Why do you want to replace the straw if it’s working.

They have to be pretty hungry to eat the straw.
I am (perhaps unduly) concerned about low DM intakes as plain straw is not that palatable.
Leading to smaller rumen, lower intakes when they join the herd, risk of energy deficit etc.

I think they would eat more hay, and I would not be so concerned if feeder man only puts in 10kg of maize a head instead of 15kg (it is quite a skill to judge it with a loader tractor bucket).

 

[jimmer]

Is there space or room to feed all the drys their rolls or cake at the same time?
If so, just feed adlib hay and ensure they get adequate suplementation

 

[Ducati899]

Is there space or room to feed all the drys their rolls or cake at the same time?
If so, just feed adlib hay and ensure they get adequate suplementation

Ad lib hay and molasses buckets is where it’s at for 10K+ cows

 

[Beef farmer]

Ad lib hay and molasses buckets is where it’s at for 10K+ cows

Your alive? Few

 

[Ducati899]

Your alive? Few

slight technical issues in the world of iPhones,slumming it till I can upgrade

 

[Beef farmer]

slight technical issues in the world of iPhones,slumming it till I can upgrade

Il tear up my obituary

 

[Ducati899]

Il tear up my obituary

stick it on the shelf for a while yet farmer

 

[Jamer]

Ad lib hay and molasses buckets is where it’s at for 10K+ cows

Molasses for dry cows? I thought the k in molasses threw the Dcab?

 

[Jamer]

Can you get hold of any NIS chlor pellets?

 

[crashbox]

Can you get hold of any NIS chlor pellets?

Just googled these, look like more of a thing to include in a TMR for milkers?

 

[Hotspur]

Can't you get somebody in to chop the straw up short, then just mix maize and chopped straw together with loader bucket?

 

[som farmer]

2nd quality hay, 10kg maize 1kg 16% blend, dry cow mins

 

[crashbox]

Can't you get somebody in to chop the straw up short, then just mix maize and chopped straw together with loader bucket?

Yep an option, would it work without chopping straw or will they just sort through it?

 

[buffalo_soldier]

Haylage 'n' nuts.

 

[Jamer]

Just googled these, look like more of a thing to include in a TMR for milkers?

Normal NIS, treated with caustic, is a milking cow ingredient but NIS chlor is available in big bags and for dry cows.

 

[Derrick Hughes]

This is what we supply to a lot of our dairy farmer customers
Been through a chopper baler

 

[Farmersdaughter]

Depends on your hay, we feed adlib meadow hay which has not had any slurry on, hopefully low in k, also they really like it so helps in takes. (they get some tmr with mag chloride added as well)