Date post: | 24-Jun-2015 |
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Lifestyle |
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www.lely.com
Age HempeniusFarm Management Support
Cow management
Schedule
• The cow:• Origin of the cow• Digestion of the cow• Life cycle of the cow
• Cow management:• Free cow traffic• Barn lay-out• Cow signals
Origin of the cow
• Cows 700 B.C. (the Bos Primig)• Behaviour:
• Active early morning and late evening• Living in small groups headed by a single bull• Cow delivers calf separated from the group• Cow prefers ‘contact’ with group
Development of the cow in time
• 250 – 330 cm long now: 245 cm• 170 – 220 cm tall now: 145 cm• 70 – 100 cm tail• 700 – 1000 kg now: 650 kg
Different breeds
Development of cow figures
• Pregnancy time: 275 days now: 280 days• Number of calves: 1 calf now: 1 or 2 calves• Weaning: 7 – 9 months now: 7 – 9
weeks• Sexually mature: 3 years now: 2 years• Lifetime: 30 years now: 3,5 years
Digestion of the cow
• Cow is a ruminant• Digestion in two steps:
• Chewing and swallowing the normal way (3 – 5 hours)• Regurgitating and re-chewing the feed (7 – 10 hours)
• Other ruminants: goat, sheep, deer• Fibrous feed is necessary for maintaining rumination
Stomachs of the cow
• The cow has 4 stomachs:• The rumen 100 – 120 kg digestion material• The reticulum sorting mechanism (1 – 2
mm)• The omasum capacity 10 litters• The abomasum ‘real’ stomach
• Cows eat 9 – 14 meals per day
Anatomy
Rumen Papillae
Ration
• Fresh grass, silage, maize, concentrates• Product content:
• Water• Dry matter
• Protein• Energy• Vitamins and minerals
Protein Sugar Starch Fiber Fat
Mais Silage - -- +++ ++ -
Grass Silage ++ ++ --- ++ -
Alfalfa ++ + --- +++ -
Soya +++ + --- + +
Sugarbeet pulp - + --- ++ -
Cotton seeds + -- -- ++ +++
Wheat - -- +++ + -
Good digestion
• Short term:• Healthy and active cows• Good rumen fill (8 contractions / 5 minutes)• Optimal manure consistency and color
• Long term:• Good claw health• Good reproduction status• Successful robotic milking
Rumen fill score 1 to 5
Score 1 Score 2
Score 3
Score 4 Score 5
Milk production
• Udder is divided in four quarters• Every 1 litre of milk requires a passage of 400 litres of
bloodAverage production per year
year # herds cows/herd average age kg milk % fat % protein kg fat kg protein kg fat + protein EAR2007 17.557 70 4.09 8.197 4,37 3,51 358 288 646 20722002 21.268 61 4.07 7.671 4,45 3,50 341 268 609 1942
EAR =economic annual result
Life cycle of the cow
• From calving to dry off is one lactation (marked red)
• After each calving, the cow can be breed again
Birth
Weaning (7-9 weeks)
Breeding (15 months)
First calf (24 months)
Breeding (after 60 days)
Dry off (6-8 weeks before calving)
Calving
Two types of motivation
• By negative motivation/ punishment: if they do not give the milk, they will not get anything to eat! Or: if they do not give the milk they are not allowed to lay down.
• By positive stimulation: Attract them with concentrate (Lely style).
Different kinds of cow traffic
• Motivation by punishment
• Motivation by stimulation (attraction)
1. Forced routing
2. Guided cow traffic
3. Feed-first
1. Free cow traffic (Lely)
Forced routing
Forced routing
Benefits Negative
• Easy to understand for the farmer, since it is like the old parlor.
• Hard to learn for the cows. Much more queues of cows waiting.
• More over-capacity needed to generate success. This makes it more expensive.
• Health problems. Rank low animals do not have a chance to show natural behavior, they suffer.
Guided cow traffic
Guided cow traffic
Benefits Negative
• Easy to understand for the farmer, since it is like the old parlor.
• Hard to learn for the cows. Much more queues of cows waiting.
• Cows that do not need to be milked can go to the feed fence without passing the robot.
• More over-capacity needed to generate success. But less than with forced traffic.
• Health problems. Rank low animals do not have a chance to show natural behavior.
Feed-first
• GPS system for cows needed?
Feed-first concept
Benefits Negative
• Easy to understand for the farmer, but harder as guided or forced routing.
• Cows will queue in front of the robot. Cows can not do what they want.
• Cows have easy access to roughage.
• Health problems. Cows lay down with open teat channels and will lay down in the feed passage.
• Cows get the concentrate in the cubicle area. This is without roughage, which results in a low pH in the rumen for several hours.
• High investment in gates.
Free cow traffic
Free cow traffic (Lely)
Benefits Negative
• Easy to learn for the cows, high capacity of the robot.
• Hard to understand for some farmers.
• Cows can always eat roughage. Rank low cows perform the best.
• Healthiest cow system. Even better as with old parlour, since a cow can freely move 24 hours per day.
High Welfar
e
Increase
profit
Less work
Sorry
• Space is most important
Barn lay-out
Barn lay-out
• Guidelines:• From robot to first obstacle: 4.5 meter• Between two rows cubicles: 3.0 meter• Behind the feed fence: 4.0 meter• Passage: 2.0 meter• Passage with drinking troughs: 4.0 meter
Space
Bedding
Cow comfort
Feeding is key factor!
Why do farmers buy a robot?
• A better social life• Reduce labor costs• Interested in new technique• Improve udder health• Milk cows more often