In general, we expect cows to be more persistent in robot barns than in conventional milking. Heifers tend to start their lactations more slowly than in parlors but can maintain near-peak production well beyond 200 days in milk. Getting high producers to dry off at the end of lactation is a more frequent concern in robot barns than in conventional barns. But, as Mark Twain said, “All generalizations are false, including this one.” Some cows are less persistent in robot barns. Why are some cows ready to dry off before we are ready to dry them off? What can we do to keep them milking longer.
Farmers talk about cows that, “Just stop coming to the robot.” Cows can be “lost” when feed tables or milking permissions shift from early to mid-lactation and those problems need to be investigated and resolved. More often, poor persistency is caused by one or more of the problems that affected the cow with the Lely Horizon lactation curve below. Let’s call her Bessie.
This curve shows Bessie’s milk production dropped from 120 to 70 pounds at 28 days in milk. The farm records don’t tell what caused that drop – probably one of any number of fresh cow problems. Production recovered to 120 pounds by 50 days in milk. Fresh cows can be resilient. But the opportunity to get to 140 pounds was lost. Bessie’s whole lactation curved moved 20 pounds lower.
Bessie got clinical mastitis at 200 days in milk. Milk production dropped from 100 pounds to 70 pounds and recovered to 80. Late lactation cows are less resilient. Bessie’s lactation curve from 200 days on moved another 20 pounds lower.
Fast forward to “Today” on the graph. Bessie is 370 days in milk, producing 40 pounds per day, and due to dry off in 10 days. She became pregnant at 163 days in milk. If she had become pregnant at 90 days in milk, she would have dried off at 300 days in milk. Even with the fresh cow problem and the mastitis, she would have been producing close to 60 pounds at dry off - another 20 pounds.
The point of all this is that Bessie did not just “Stop coming to the robot.” In fact, she did quite well considering all the challenges she had along the way. Poor persistency is most often cause by health and management events. Those events may have a bigger impact on robot cows than on parlor cows. It’s not just the physiological challenge of mastitis, lameness, or other health problems – it’s also fewer milkings, less pellets, and fewer trips to the feed bunk.
There are some things we can do to help. After a health event, it may be necessary to retrain cows to keep them coming to the robot. Reduced production may limit milkings for cows if their milking permission is based on expected yield. Consider temporarily adjusting permission on an individual basis to make sure cows are allowed enough milkings to return to full production. Similarly, feed tables may take pellets away from cows based on temporarily reduced production. Adjustments can be made to make sure feed is available for a full recovery.
Cow Corner can help you figure out why cows are not as persistent as they should be, and develop strategies to keep cows on track when they have setbacks.
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