How to maximise intakes?
• Feed must always be freely and easily available. Never let the cows run out. Regularly push the feed up to within easy reach for the cow at feed barriers.
• There must be adequate feed space so all the cows in the group can eat at once. They are herd animals and want to do things together. (Minimum of 60cm feed space per lactating cow. More for late dry period cows and freshly calved cows.)
• Water must always be fresh, and available with at least 10 cm per cow of water trough space and water trough filling speed of >20 litres per minute (cows can drink a lot very quickly!)
• Cows eat more when offered mixed forages. Maize and grass for example.
• If the ration is too fibrous (too high in NDF – neutral detergent fibre) cows will eat less.
• Particle size. They will eat more if chop length of forages is shorter.
• For grazing, the sward must be at the optimum height, around 15-20 cm. This means that the grass
sward will be dense allowing more grass per mouthful.
• Minimise group disruption. If you introduce new cows into a group it can upset intakes for 48 hours
afterwards.
• Time budgets. If cows are being milked for an excessive time, they have less time to eat drink, loaf,
and lie down.
• Lameness, injury and disease. Lameness will reduce intakes exacerbating the stress induced
suppression of fertility caused by lameness. Swollen hocks, something farmers think of as relatively
minor, will considerably reduce feed intake.
• Feed must be fresh. Cows have an exquisite sense of smell and poorly fermented silage or old feed
that has been in the feed trough for a day will smell bad and be unpalatable. Cows need feeding fresh diet at least once a day and there should be >5% left from the last feed which should be pushed out and fed to other animals – perhaps young stock or beef animals