Your milk statements from the plant carry more meaning than how big the check will be at the end of the month. You already know that fat and protein test averages tell volumes about effective fi ber, ration digestibility, protein and carbohydrate balance, as well as many other factors, such as fat levels in the diet. The variability of these component values can be as telling, if not more so, than the monthly or weekly averages. Variations in milk fat, protein percentage and milk urea nitrogen can also point out effects of crowding, heat stress, large meal sizes and slug feeding, and inconsistencies in feeding times or accuracy of total mixed ration formulation.
Use your herd as a benchmark It is not necessary to set a benchmark based on other herds. You can use the past performance of your own herd to set a standard going forward. Once you establish comfort with how consistent the herd is, watch for a known stress event such as a hot week to see how the herd responds. You may fi nd similar periods of high variability when you are at the end of a feed pile that had some problems with preservation, or during the transition from last year’s forages to this year’s. You must account for sources of variability that are not really affecting your cows. For instance, if you have milk picked up on a schedule that makes one load primarily morning milk and another load afternoon and evening milk, you should expect some variation, as cows vary in milk components depending on the time of day the milk is produced. Generally, morning production is lower in fat and, to a lesser extent, protein as compared to the daily average. Many producers are accustomed to looking at the bulk tank average milk production to gauge the success of changes implemented on the farm; however, fewer look for changes in consistency. There is profi t to be made from improved consistency in greater production and better health. Improved consistency can translate into less mastitis, improved fertility, better foot health, and eventually, more milk production and reduced culling. If you monitor dry matter intakes of your TMR mix, you understand the importance of consistency, but perhaps you have been missing another element that can be monitored to help obtain a consistent and positive environment for your herd.
TMR intake, pounds of milk sold, milk components and variability of manure are all valuable herd metrics that can be combined to gain confi dence in the health and performance of your herd. These measures are available to nearly all herds. Are you making full use of this information?
Systems that provide more data to make herd management information such as daily individual cow milk weights available, or devices that measure rumination, physical movement, activity level or body temperature are being successfully marketed and successfully used by dairy producers. But these systems usually are not inexpensive. Will you use the data if you have it? If you are not using data that is already available, you may not be a good candidate to utilize additional data collection, unless the system helps you take action to utilize the data. There are many tools available to monitor the consistency and desirability of cow environment for even the least-sophisticated management system. Variability is as important as simple averages in indicating how the herd is doing.
For more information regarding benchmarking your herd, please visit UW-Extension Dairy Management . For more information regarding dairy nutrition, please visit Dairy Cattle Nutrition UW-Extension.
