(Continued from Part 1.)
Feeding and Condition
This year started out in drought, so I will feed hay until such time as the fields are abundant in grass. Last year, I did not have to feed hay year round, but the year before I did. I don’t know how this year will go, but so far the cows have plentiful hay available to them. When I first started with dairy cows, I fed the cows square bales, but soon found that to be a lot of work and not cost efficient with more than one cow to feed. I purchased a hay ring and had round bales delivered. To give you an idea of size, a regular square bale of hay can weigh 40-50lbs, whereas an average round bale of hay weighs 1,000 – 1500lbs. I have the facilities to store square bales, but do not have the facilities to store round bales.
I am fortunate to have developed a relationship with my hay provider to have round bales delivered upon demand. I always keep an eye on the weather to make sure that the roads are passable, and if I’m expecting torrential rain that would make the ground too soggy to drive over, or a blizzard. I have the round bales of hay delivered before it’s needed, and I store square bales for the year in the barn as a backup. Sometimes hay is wasted due to an early delivery. But it is better to have too much hay than to run out. I purchase round bales and square bales for the year, which some people don’t do. But, that gives me the assurance that I will be given priority, and the rancher who provides it gets paid in advance. The square bales are useful when cows have to be separated and do not have access to the round bale.
For my own budgeting and math purposes, I allow 1 square bale per cow per day, or 1 round bale per 4 cows per week (or less) during the winter when grass is not available. Costs for hay vary considerably across the country. I budget a few thousand dollars a year just for hay.
My hay providers, who have since become friends, paid me a compliment the other day. They used to tease me that I wasted hay and spoiled my dairy cows (they are beef ranchers). However, they recently delivered hay to another small farm with dairy cows and they were aghast at what poor condition the cows were in. He said that the people had not been feeding the cows hay all year, even during winter. I don’t know how that is possible, but apparently the people realized they needed to feed hay. He told me that my cows were in excellent condition, so I teased them about teasing me over wasting hay. I appreciated the compliment.
I also learned to read my dairy cows’ body condition. Dairy cows are known to be “boney” looking, but a very boney-looking cow is an underfed cow. I get fairly upset when I see a dairy cow in very poor condition and the owner says, “Oh, those cows are just boney.” Nope. They are starving.
A dairy cows’ condition changes throughout the year depending upon if they are pregnant, lactating, or dry (as in, not lactating and preparing to deliver the next calf). A cow in milk can very quickly lose condition if she is prone to “milking off her back”. Some dairy cows will put all their energy into milk production and lose too much weight quickly. A dairy cow should not be too fat during pregnancy, as that might present problems when calving. A dairy cow who is too thin may have problems conceiving, and/or her milk quality will be lacking. I regularly “score” my dairy cows’ body condition throughout the year. To me, a skinny dairy cow is a travesty, but it’s important to know how to score her. Here is a great primer from Cornell University in scoring dairy cattle body condition.
I have one such cow that I have to watch closely because if I ramp up her feed intake to match her milk production, she will just produce more milk rather than put on weight. There is a balancing act with her and so I have learned to shorten her lactations by getting her bred back fairly quickly (60-90 days) after calving, then slowly over months bring her milk production down by reducing her grain. She starts out being milked twice a day. Her capacity is 10-12 gallons a day, so even with a nursing calf, she still must be milked out twice a day. As her calf grows and takes more milk, I can go to once a day milking with her. After the calf is weaned, and if the grass is good, and there is plentiful hay, I can slowly reduce her grain so that her production will slowly drop off. And then I can dry her off before the next calving. As I said, she is a balancing act, but so worth it. Drying her off, which one should do a good two months before the next calf is expected, is also tricky. Generally, once she is giving just 2 gallons of milk a day, she is safe to “dry off”.
There are many methods of drying off a cow without fear of mastitis developing. Some cows who are low producing cows are just fine going cold turkey – you just stop milking her, and the milk is reabsorbed by her body. With this particular cow, I have to slowly dry her off over a period of weeks by skipping a day milking, then 2 days, then 3 days, and then quit milking her (after she is down to 2 gallons a day). That is not an ideal method and I have to watch her with an eye out for mastitis, which she has never had. My other cows do not require this much hand holding, but their production maxes out at about 3-4 gallons of milk per day. They are not subject to the same issues she is. Her first lactation was 18 months long because I didn’t understand how to dry her off safely. I limited her second lactation to 8 months, got her bred back timely, and gave her a rest period before calving again. She did very well.
I’ve learned a lot about feeding cows. There are some people in certain areas of the country who can do without graining their lactating dairy cows. I only know a handful. People are always searching for that “grass fed only” dairy cow. Exclusively grass fed dairy cows have been, and are being, promoted in certain popular homesteading groups. I have to say, those cows are in the minority and have the genetics that allow them to thrive on grass only. The majority of dairy cows have come from commercial breedings and are dependent upon supplementation to thrive. I do so wish this would be emphasized more broadly.
If someone is interested in an exclusively grass-fed dairy cow, I would suggest avoiding pure dairy breeds and look for crosses. One such cross would be a Belfair (Dexter/Jersey cross), or a Jersey/Angus cross. Dexter and Angus breeds can thrive on good grass. I suggest avoiding pure dairy breeds, such as Jersey, Guernsey, Ayrshire, Holstein, etc. Not to say it can’t be done, but you would have to witness the living and feeding conditions of a pure bred dairy cow before purchasing a “grass-fed only” dairy cow, and know how to body score the cows before making a decision. There are definitely “grass fed only” genetics out there, but you must be careful to identify them. A person’s “ideals” can wreck a cow.
My cows are pure dairy breeds and require grain when in milk. The only time I feed grain is when a cow is lactating. There are several reasons for why I do things how I do. One, I don’t want a pregnant cow to get fat before calving to preclude calving problems. Two, a dairy cow is built to eat grass and hay, not grain year round. Grain is a supplement to help her through lactation only, on my farm. I know many who grain their dairy cows all year long, but mostly they are fed a small amount to help train them. I know some who feed their lactating dairy cows with alfalfa pellets to keep with the grass fed only theme. If a calf needs extra nutrition, I will feed them a little bit of grain every day, which also helps with training them, but their primary food is mother’s milk, and fresh grass/hay. The grain is not used as the major source of food. Mind you, my experience is a small family farm, not a commercial dairy where things are done quite differently and for very good reasons.
In the commercial dairy world, calves are often sold off young because the mother’s milk is needed for the business. Those calves often are picked up by resellers and then sold to people who have no clue how to feed a calf, or they are sold into the beef market. I had a horrible experience with selling a pure dairy bottle calf to a family who led me to believe they knew how to care for a bottle baby. They raised beef cows. 10 months after the calf left, the people sent me a picture of a half starved, under developed calf, and asked me why she wasn’t growing. They had ignored my instructions that she needed milk or milk-replacer for at least 5 months. I even sent her mother’s milk and a bottle with her so that they could get her started right until they sourced raw milk (which they said they had) or milk-replacer. I was so upset and I determined that I would no longer sell bottle calves. I will keep them until they are at least 6 months old to ensure good nutrition and growth before letting them go.
Another really important thing I learned was to feed specific minerals and salt in a free choice manner. My cows have access to a local, high magnesium, mineral blend to prevent grass tetany. My land is deficient in Selenium, so the cows have access to a Selenium salt that I purchase from Redmond Agriculture through Azure Standard. I buy 50-pound bags at a time. I had originally tried various mineral blocks, protein tubs, and salt blocks, but I found a couple of problems with those. The main problem was that a cow would have to lick and lick and lick to consume enough to make a difference. Whereas, loose minerals are much easier for a cow to get a mouthful of when needed. I keep mineral feeders under cover in the run-in portion of the barn, but there are mineral feeders you can buy or construct and keep out in the field. The cows were immediately attracted to the minerals and salt. If I notice a cow in milk who is not availing herself of minerals on a regular basis, I will top dress her feed with minerals when I bring her in to milk.
(To be continued tomorrow, in Part 3.)