Five Dairy "Do NOT Do" in 2018

5/16/2018
Here is a quick-hit list of “do NOT do” items this year, despite low milk prices and low margins:
- Remove minerals from rations
- Cheat heifers; slow down growth
- Delay breeding with longer calving intervals
- Avoid body condition scores > 3.25 without rBST
- Saving a dime and lose a dollar (organic trace minerals, hoof trimming, bull breeding)
Also, here is a check-list of management items you should be doing on your dairy to optimize profitability. Are you doing at least five?
- Feeding an accelerated milk or milk replacer program (2% birth weight as milk solids dry matter)
- Calving heifers at 23 to 24 months of age with monitoring growth 1.8 lb average daily growth (Holsteins)
- Consider the low-energy / high-straw dry cow ration
- Strategic use of feed additives
- Implement a fresh cow group (for 10 to 21 days)
- Use of calcium boluses for at risk cows (50 grams with Calcium chloride, propionate, or sulfate)
- Supplementing organic trace minerals (Zinc, Copper, Chromium, and Selenium)
- Heat stress abatement for dry cows