|
A Year Later, How Are We Doing?
Tom Nauman, Nutritionist
Hoober Feeds
It seems like dairy producers are always being approached with new ways of feeding and managing their cattle. In some cases, the new ideas make a difference and they stay around for a very long time. There are other cases where the idea comes, is tried, and is gone. For many years we would see part bags of microbial products sitting in the feed alleys of our customers cow stables. The farmer would purchase a bag, feed it for a few weeks looking for a jump in the milk tank weights, and then quit feeding it because he saw no response. This is one reason that our company could not get excited about selling a microbial product. When we started seeing bags of P-One™ sitting around our customers’ cow stables, we thought that this was just another one of those “here today, gone tomorrow” products. This time, however, things were different. Our customers told us they were seeing good things happening. They kept on ordering more products and started telling their friends and neighbors about the product. Long story short, we eventually got the opportunity to take over the dealership for Priority products in our area and have been fortunate to have P-One™ as a tool in our dairy nutrition tool bag.
I, however, have always been a bit skeptical, and when the Priority folks asked to consider changing how we formulate our diets, I was a little reluctant to change. I thought the ideas make sense, but, what if they ended up like those bags of products that would collect dust in the corner of a cow stable? What if they were tried and found to not be beneficial and then discarded because of disappointment? I decided that if I were going to buy in to the ideas, it would have to be proven on my own cows first. Last summer, in 2008, I was pictured on the front of the Priority Report with the owner of the farm where my cows resided at the time. We began instituting the P-One™ feeding ideas on this farm in late 2005 and have pushed the envelope seeing how low we could go in protein content of the diet. By the time this article came out in 2008, our company had converted a number of our customers over to the P-One™ feeding ideas and a sampling of the results that they were having is shown on a chart in that same edition of the Priority Report. With having cows in one of those herds, I had very intimate knowledge about the nutrition program and how it was being administered day in and day out. I also spent much time with the herd owner and we both agreed that for the sake of his cows and mine, we couldn’t allow things to go backwards. We had made a lot of progress in milk and milk component production and we wanted to keep looking forward. Hence the question that we ask over and over again, “How are we doing?” To be more specific, “How is this herd doing a year after we shared some key production data with the folks at Priority? Let’s take a look and find out.
The following chart shows where some key production and health items were at various times. This will help to show how we are doing:
|
Parameter
|
June 2007
|
June 2008
|
June 2009
|
|
Herd Size
|
260
|
261
|
267
|
|
Milk lbs
|
74
|
75
|
77.4
|
|
Fat Percent
|
3.6
|
3.1
|
3.6
|
|
Protein Percent
|
3.0
|
3.0
|
3.0
|
|
Involuntary cull rate
|
24
|
22
|
31
|
|
21 day pregnancy rate
|
22
|
19
|
20
|
|
Rolling Herd Average
|
21672
|
23633
|
22831
|
|
Ration Crude Protein %
|
15.8
|
15.4
|
14.8
|
As you can see, herd size is gradually increasing, a little more on that later. Summertime milk weights increased. Fat percent in June of 2008 was off due to the very hot weather; it rebounded like normal in the late summer. Milk true protein percent stayed even as did 21-day preg rates, all three years at a good level. Culling picked up in 2009 for two reasons: low milk prices along with high feed prices, and overcrowding of the facility. Rolling herd average is not a static item and rose nicely throughout 2008. In early 2009 it started coming down and actually bottomed out in June of 2009. Since then it has rebounded nicely and is getting close to beating 2008 levels. From the fall of 2008 forward, we decided to try going lower on the protein to reduce costs. As you can see, that move didn’t hurt anything. One of the challenges on any dairy is to get cows bred back. 21-day preg rates have been almost identical this whole time and have been quite good considering our average in PA is only about 17% year around.
In addition, the foot trimmer keeps on complimenting the health of the cows’ feet. Earlier I mentioned that this is where my cows use to reside. They recently moved due to overcrowding. With the low cull rates for several years, the barn was getting too full even with the heavier culling in mid 2009. As we get in to late 2009, even with 35 cows removed, the facility will once again be filled as there are close to 50 first calf heifers calving by early 2010. Many farmers would like to have this problem.
So, how are we doing? All things considered, not too bad! The financial crunch of 2009 has changed the way we look at our herds. Striving for top production has given way to striving for top profitability. Feeds and feed ingredients have been stretched and used sparingly. Cows need to really pull their weight if they are going to stay around. Good herd health is critical and vet costs need to be kept low. All of these things have been going on in this herd as a means to maintain profitability. P-One™ helps achieve all of these goals.
The point is that all dairies have ups and downs and need something that performs consistently day in and day out, year in and year out. P-One™ has proven to be a long-term ingredient in our diets. Its ability to help us maintain herd health and production while keeping feed costs lower than average are benefits that we see year after year. P-One™ is here to stay.
|