Milking parlour bucking broncos have been on their best behaviour
MURDO SETS THE PACE IN CARBERY
FEBRUARY IS always an exciting time in the parlour. As freshly calved heifers come in, you always proceed with caution as you never know when you’ll have a ‘bucking bronco’ to control.
Thankfully, this drama can often be over in one milking, once the heifer figures out what’s happening. Unfortunately, others persist with the routine of jumping and thrashing around for days.
Luckily, at home the number of excitable heifers has been low, at no more than 5pc.
I feel that having practised running heifers through the parlour for three to four weeks prior to calving to feed and teat spray them has definitely made the first few weeks of calving so much easier.
Compact calving of the heifers, aiming for greater than 75pc calved in three week, is an essential step in maintaining a compact calving herd. However, I do recognise that the fun is taken out of milking when you have a full row of them in the parlour at once.
Another thought that often crosses my mind in February is the emphasis we make on udder confirmation and teat placement with our breeding decisions.
While the majority of heifers are OK, there are always a few where the two back teats are too close, or teat size is too small, and so on.
With poor teat placement and size, you find the vacuum on the cluster requires you to hold it on in some form or fashion, or it falls off.
If this is combined with a flighty heifer, well it’s frustrating to say the least, and I feel for you all going through the motions. Thankfully, these challenges don’t last for the whole season.
Considering these thoughts, and as we proceed closer towards mating, I still feel it’s important to cast an eye over confirmation and management traits when picking AI bulls primarily merited on fertility, production and other desired characteristics.
Undesirable udders effectively cost time, and ideally we want to avoid them.
Another important task is the detection and treatment of high-SCC heifers and cows. Management practices such as regular fore-stripping and the use of the CMT (California Milk Test) to test quarters at days four, five and six post-calving, are essential in making sure that any cow or heifer entering the main milking herd is clean of infection.
It’s also important to continue stripping the main milking herd at least two or three times a week, or ideally once a day. This process helps in the early detection of new infections.
Early detection and treatment of mastitis will improve cure rates and the chance of such cows re-entering the main milking herd with four productive quarters.
However, where a quarter is repeatedly getting mastitis or has a continually high SCC, then the next step is to dry the quarter off and milk on three to allow you to continue to milk the cow but prevent the spread of infection.
Herd efficiency
Where this is practised, a system of identification of three quarter cows will be important and needs to be implemented.
Remember high SCC quarters reduce the production potential of the cow, and the efficiency of the herd. If you have taken part in cell check you will be aware that a cow with a 300,000 SCC is likely to be down two litres a day, so it’s worth the effort.
Personally, I think maintaining a clean milking herd requires a shift in mentality from the focus on the treatment and management of high SCC cows to the protection of cows and heifers that have low SCC, especially if you have had SCC trouble in the past.
While I’m not negating the importance of treatment, what I am trying to emphasise is the importance of detection.
Early detection identifies any cow or heifer with an infected quarter and reduces the potential of her infecting other quarters of other cows.
I know it’s another job on top of a busy and hectic day at calving time, but setting up a low SCC herd now pays dividends in months and years to come.
Mary Kinston is a discussion group facilitator and consultant, and farms with her husband in Co Kerry.