DPSL consultants excel in dairy cow management and cow skills. On farm consults, they will teach you the cow management tools that will prevent problems arising. These animal handling skills are the cornerstone of successful dairy farm management and are necessary if you are to maximise productivity within your own farm system.
Your dairy cows’ response to you and their environment is directly reflected in their feed conversion efficiency, health and performance. This can be responsible for up to 30% of the variance between cows and between seemingly identical herds, yet its significance is frequently overlooked in dairy farming practice.
Dairy cow management
Poor cow management is the most common limiting factor on many dairy farms. Much of this can also be termed cow comfort. Cows will accept many things and people they don’t like so it can be easy to assume that all is good; but analysis of performance, feed conversion efficiency, health and reproduction, along with simple observation, reveals that there are problems. The cow is very adaptable, yet, if there are aspects of her life she isn’t happy with, her production and overall well-being will drop accordingly. Learning how your cows function and preventing problems from occurring will save you time, money and resources.
Stockmanship and animal handling skills come under the broad title of cow management, as do other factors:
Mob size
Growing young dairy stock well
Your herd’s adaption to new systems, feeds and facilities.
How you manage dairy cow condition, mob sizes and special groups such as problem cows, colostrum cows, and transition (calving) cows will directly affect outcomes within your system.
Cow comfort and welfare
DPSL consultants excel in cow skills and dairy cow management, helping you to avoid problems and increase returns from your own farm system.
We spend much of our time on dairy farms teaching you to observe your cows, the signals they display and what these mean, so you can make more effective decisions about your dairy herd management and nutrition every day.
If the cow is not happy and healthy, you won’t maximise feed conversion efficiency, milk production and profitability, regardless of your input or farm system.
