Keeping a watchful eye on body conditioning score throughout the season has paid dividends for Waikato farmer Byron Bird.
A third-generation farmer, Byron contract-milks 600 cows on 195ha of effective land near Gordonton. His late grandparents bought the farm years ago, and the property is now owned by a family trust and his father (who also sharemilks).
Before joining the farm, Byron worked for an Ag consultant in Rotorua and became a trained DairyNZ Body Condition Scorer – a skill he now applies to the farm.
“We condition score throughout the year. You’re not looking at one aspect of the cow, you’re focused on eight critical points (backbone, long ribs, short ribs, hip bones, rump, pin bones, tailhead, and thigh). We run all our heifers and young cows in one mob and do a regular walk through the paddock using the DairyNZ body condition score app,” Byron says.
A healthy cow is not too heavy, and not too light.
Studies show that by hitting the target weight and body condition score throughout the season, cows will have less risk of disease, better milk production and reproduction outcomes. Achieving a pre-calving body conditioning score (BCS) of 5.0 for cows, and 5.5 for first and second calvers, sets them up to reach 4 or above going into mating.
“Milking our cows twice-a-day gives us a good opportunity to keep an eye on their condition. If any look a bit light, then we’ll quickly move them to once-a-day milking and temporarily move them to a separate mob where we put cows that need a bit of support with lameness, mastitis, weight, or those that just need a bit of time out to catch up,” says Byron Bird.
Regular body condition scoring, coupled with herd data from wearables, helps Byron and his team to make decisions quickly.
“Compared to when my father ran the farm, there is so much data and technology available. We dry off based on body condition score. This year, I dried off my young cows a week earlier than my older cows. With the payout being around $10/kg/MS, it was tempting to keep going, but in the long term, you’re better off as a farmer pulling the pin earlier and building towards the next season. If you push the boat out and milk too long, it can have a negative impact on the next season,” Byron says.
That long-term view has also applied to decisions around future-proofing the farm against external risks.
“We wanted to be less vulnerable to external factors like feed prices and weather. So we installed a feed pad that allows us to better utilise the feed that we grow on-farm and maximise profitability. Once dried off we keep the maize in the system until we’re satisfied the cows are in the right condition and we have enough grass on-farm to maintain that condition,” he says.
“A few years ago, we struggled to maintain condition, especially over a dry summer. But this year, with the feed pad and everything in place, we were able to maximise the feed grown and feed the cows maize and PKE on the feed pad. We are well ahead of last year’s milk production despite the tough summer. We didn’t have a whole lot of work to do to get the herd in optimal condition ahead of dry-off.”
Farm Source’s team has helped provide additional support and expertise to the farm staff.
“We have a great relationship with Farm Source. Our TSR (Dilbir Singh) has been great at connecting us with other people in the industry. We always find Farm Source reliable. We’re able to call up for a product, and they’ll deliver it to us quickly, making everything a little bit more efficient for us on-farm, and helps take a bit of the stress away.”
