WHAT’S THAT COW DOING IN YOUR ROBOT?

I was reviewing low yield-per-milking cows with a farmer and a nutritionist on a recent farm visit. This analysis provides some insight as to whether milking permission is set correctly, and robots are being used efficiently. We came across a pregnant cow that not only had an extremely low yield per milking, her total daily production was well below the level needed to cover her feed cost. On further investigation, we realized that she wasn’t even covering her feed cost at the time she was inseminated. I bit my tongue, and thought to myself, “What is that cow doing in your robot?” The farmer provided a few different rationalizations for breeding and keeping the cow. The real reason didn’t hit me until a few days later. The bottom line – he kept her because there wasn’t a heifer to replace her. This example is extreme, but with high beef prices and low heifer inventory, it is not unusual to have a marginal cow in the robot because there is no heifer to take her place. Ultimately, this is often the result of a reproductive management decision.

Managing Heifer Inventory

A few months ago, a customer told me, “There’s nothing sadder than a Holstein bull calf.” He

had an aggressive program to use sexed semen to create replacements, and beef semen to create market calves. Either of those outcomes was much more profitable than sending a Holstein bull calf to market. The cost of raising heifers and the value of beef-bred calves has prompted many farms to produce just enough heifers to maintain herd size. The beef-bred calves have helped to maintain cash flow when milk prices were low. But it is important to keep some extra heifers in case of disease outbreaks, breeding problems, and other unexpected events. Those extra heifers can help you avoid keeping a cow in the robots that you would rather not be milking.

Managing Heifer Reproduction

Your heifers should be the most fertile animals on the farm, and they should have the best genetics on the farm. Poorly managed heifer reproduction is double jeopardy. Heifers enter the milking string later, and they produce fewer heifer calves. Feed heifers to calve at 85-90% of mature weight and 24 months of age. Move them to the breeding pen so that they are available for insemination as soon as they are eligible to breed. Use heat detection and synchronization protocols to inseminate them within 30 days after they become breeding eligible. The cost of feeding a heifer after 24 months is estimated at $2.00 per day. The cost of keeping an unprofitable cow in your robot, because a heifer is not available to replace her, is much higher.

Efficient cow reproduction is also an important part of a complete package. It not only maintains cows in the most productive part of their lactation curve; it can also produce more replacements. The cows that will be in your robots a year or more down the road, will be there because of the breeding decisions you make today. The right decisions, and an adequate supply of replacements, will keep you from asking, “What’s that cow doing in my robot?”