The Netherlands is a European pioneer in using local vegetables and food sector byproducts into dairy cow diets. Every month, the local dairy sector makes greater success in this area, and other nations such as Germany are keeping a careful eye on it.

However, the issue is complicated, according to Dr Wilfried van Straalen of Wageningen University’s Schothorst Feed Research.

What do dairy cows consume now in the Netherlands, and why?

“Cattle feed is primarily byproducts of grain or oil seed processing, with palm expeller meal imported from Indonesia and Malaysia being a common ingredient,” Van Straalen explains. “From 5-25% of the concentrate feed can be palm expeller meal, because it’s high in protein, the price is reasonable, and it’s well evaluated as an energy source within the Dutch feed industry.”

However, utilising less of this feed source is typically regarded desirable in Holland due to worries about local use/transportation as well as concerns about burning forests to produce palm. According to Van Straalen, this feed component is no longer utilised in certain other European nations, such as Scandinavia. This is owing to environmental concerns, but it might also be due to its high transportation costs and abundant supply of local crops like barley and oats.

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Feed efficiency on a dairy farm improves animal performance while also ensuring a profitable and sustainable enterprise. Rosalinde Goselink was interviewed in this video at the Dairy Campus in Leeuwarden, the Netherlands. She works at Wageningen Livestock Research and does research on this topic. Continue reading…
“Also, in the Netherlands, we feed dairy cows meadow grass, corn silage, and grass silage, as well as wet by-products like beetroot pulp, brewer’s grains, and potato byproducts,” Van Straalen explains. “These products are well suited to ruminant diets.” Brewer’s grains are rich in fibre and low in protein. By-pass starch is present in relatively high concentrations in potato processing by-products. Beetroot pulp was formerly dried and pelleted, but owing to costs, it is now maintained moist and ensiled. It has a lot of digestible fibre, which is great for dairy cows.”

Corn gluten feed, wheat gluten feed, wheat middlings and corn DDGS are also fed to Dutch dairy cows, either locally or from across Europe. These materials are also abundant in protein and fibre. Citrus pulp is also often consumed, although it is becoming more scarce. Wheat, barley, and sunflower meal are further ingredients.

According to Van Straalen, more of these local feed sources from additional areas and sectors are projected to be introduced to the dairy cow diet in Holland. “The dairy industry, as well as the consumer and government, want this,” he argues.

Legislative thrust

The urge for more local feed is motivated by cost, but it is also motivated by rising environmental concerns and laws. Farmers are facing rising limits in terms of greenhouse gas emissions (nitrous oxide, CO2, methane, and ammonia) across the EU, with a particular emphasis on nitrogen restrictions in Holland, as everyone in agriculture is aware.

That is why, as Van Straalen says, there is a trend towards more crude protein in diets, which minimises nitrogen waste. “This will entail a focus on high-quality protein sources, as well as a much closer look at amino acid levels in diets to better match cattle needs,” he adds. In the future, this will be increasingly essential in ruminant feeding.”

Climate Change and Cows From the environment and emissions to food and welfare. Many variables influence how to effectively manage dairy cows in order to farm sustainably. We look at everything from ammonia to carbon emissions and methane in this section. More information may be found here.
He also believes that additional study into how to utilise by-pass amino acids and protein in the diet is needed. That is, there are several methods for protecting amino acids from ruminal breakdown, such as altering the chemical structure or adding a protective coating, to guarantee they remain intact until they are absorbed in the small intestine.

According to Van Straalen, the good news is that amino acid products have greatly improved in terms of by-pass protection as well as gut digestibility.

In the past, good by-pass value was obtained by treating rapeseed meal and soybean meal with formaldehyde, but this treatment has been outlawed in other EU countries and will be phased out in the Netherlands this year. As a result, in the next months, there will be a quick shift in the Netherlands to alternate therapies, untreated meals, or other sources of by-pass protein.

While lupins and peas contain protein with high by-pass value, they must be toasted to do so. According to Van Straalen, this is not yet an industrial practise, but study into it is ongoing at Schothorst Feed study and other institutions and enterprises.

Soybean meal, presumably certified against rainforest damage, is one dairy feed component Van Straalen does not anticipate to alter in Europe in the coming years. This is because to its high protein quality.

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Commitment to sourcing local feed

According to Van Straalen, the Dutch Dairy Association (NZO) has made a general promise that in the future, 65% of protein in the national ration would originate from local sources (including grass). This is part of the bigger ‘On the Way to PlanetProof’ food certification system.
PlanetProof says that “by having a minimum of 50% of the feed generated in-house, [farms] are motivated to further close the cycle…The dairy farmer may conclude the cycle by employing self-produced raw materials such as manure and calf feed, as well as acquiring raw materials in an efficient and restricted manner.”

Education provided by the government

According to Van Straalen, the largest hurdle to raising the quantity of local feed used by Dutch dairy producers is government officials’ lack of expertise.

“To reduce ammonia, the government here has requested voluntary milk production stops and plans to force farm buyouts in 2024 if necessary, but there are other solutions,” he adds.

“We’ve done a lot of research on how to reduce protein, but there’s still work to be done to figure out how low you can go without affecting cow performance.” And if we utilise more grass, if grass is the primary food supply, and farmers do not fertilise the fields, the nitrogen/protein concentration of the grass will be reduced, resulting in decreased ammonia emissions from cow excrement. This implies that we may have to tolerate decreased milk output in order to minimise ammonia levels. More debate of these and other topics is required.”

In a recent study, Texas A&M University researchers discovered that keeping cows in self-locking head stanchions for lengthy periods of time had a negative impact on dairy cow performance.

Lock-up time is the length of time an animal spends restricted or locked into a head stanchion every day, which is often seen at dairy farm feed bunks. Dairy cattle are confined on a regular basis for pregnancy testing, artificial insemination, veterinarian treatments and inspections, immunisations, heat detection, and feeding.

However, it has been shown that using a head lock as a technique of restraint may have a detrimental influence on an individual animal’s well-being and productive performance within a herd, particularly if the device is used outside of the typical management routine.

According to studies, when this management practise is not followed correctly and cows are confined for lengthy periods of time (>4 hours daily), the animals suffer varied degrees of stress, which might jeopardise their productivity, health, and wellbeing.

Researchers investigated the effects of prolonged or extended lock-up period in dairy cattle in this study.

Milk production effects

Reduced milk output in cows is typical when lock-up period surpasses 4 hours, according to data from several research. Scientists from the University of Cambridge discovered that when cows are denied of eating and laying for more than 4 hours during hoof clipping, milk output is lowered by 2 litres per day for 3 days.

Stress is linked to longer durations of lock-up time. According to research, stress alters mammary homeostasis in dairy cows. It has been proposed that the stress caused by a longer lock-up period may result in suboptimal performance of alveoli in the mammary gland, resulting in reduced milk supply, increased mastitis incidence, and worse milk quality.

A comparable investigation on the effects of lying or standing on mammary blood flow in dairy cows found that lying time resulted in 24% greater blood flow to the mammary glands owing to cardiovascular homoeostasis caused by gravity. As a result, decreased lying time as a result of increased lock-up time may be another cause for the reduction in daily milk output in dairy cattle.

Cow protection

Recent research has linked headlock restraint for more than 4 hours per day to increased aggressiveness in dairy calves. This violent activity was discovered to be the result of dissatisfaction or discomfort experienced throughout the constraint phase. Aggressive conduct in dairy cows has been linked to worse reproductive performance, including decreased conception rates for heifers at first service, according to a recent research.

When compared to cows in an extended lock-up period, normal herd management increased the amount of time cows spent reclining, self-grooming, ruminating, and feeding. The changed time budget management as a result of increased lock-up time (>4h) has an impact on total daily cow behaviour. In another research, the authors discovered that cows that were denied laying for 2 hours lost their feeding time for the following 24 hours, and cows who were denied lying for 4 hours required 41 hours to regain their feeding time.

ALSO READ: Dairy feed: cost, climate, and local sourcing
The Netherlands is a European pioneer in using local vegetables and food sector byproducts into dairy cow diets. Every month, the local dairy sector makes greater success in this area, and other nations such as Germany are keeping a careful eye on it. Continue reading…
Lameness and heat exhaustion

Lameness is a serious problem on dairy farms all around the globe, and studies suggest that longer lockup durations may increase the problem. Although studies examining the direct relationship between lock-up hours and lameness are lacking, some study work implies the possibility of the impact.

Researchers discovered that cows exposed to tight feed alleys and limited lunge space, resulting in more cow standing, were more prone to lameness in their study published in the Journal of Dairy Science. According to another research, prolonged lock-up time adds to departures from the typical daily time budget, demonstrating variability in lying time and lying bouts that predispose cows to lameness. However, experts recommend that the possible direct relationship between increased lock-up time and lameness be investigated further.

Furthermore, studies found that extended lock-up time (>4h) was more detrimental in hotter temperatures than in mild temperatures due to the additive effect of restraint stress and heat stress, implying that it is more critical to minimise lock-up time in extreme heat environments to reduce the detrimental effects of these stressors.

Cow in transition

During the changeover phase, the cows need extra lock-up time. Cows change their behaviour during the transition period, which is defined as the three weeks before and three weeks after calving. The transition phase is a key stage in the life of a dairy cow because of the animal’s vulnerability to illness and the nutritional, physiological, and social changes that occur around the time of calving.

However, due of the need to carefully watch the animal for post-calving examinations and treatment of health concerns, dairy cows in the transition phase are more prone to extended headlock periods. As a result, transition cow stressors should be reduced, and lock-up management procedures should be constantly monitored for the effects on the transition cow’s time budget and cow comfort.

What is the ideal timing for head lock-up?

The head lock-up time studies fall short of identifying the required period without causing health and productivity issues. Several studies have shown that keeping cows in self-locking head stanchions for a lengthy amount of time (>4 hours per day) may have a negative impact on dairy cow performance. The emphasis should be on properly managing the farm by limiting restraint time to less than 4 hours per day and avoiding the use of headlocks during the late morning and afternoon hours of the warmer months.

Mitch Theurer and Mike Brad, dairy consultants affiliated with the Standard Nutrition Company, recommended the following lock-up periods in their research concentrating on issues that restrict cows’ time budget:

Lock-up periods should be kept to a maximum of two hours.
Schedule lockup periods to correspond with feedings and urge cows to the bunk, rather than setting the locks 3 hours before the event.
During lock-up, always have enough of fresh feed on hand.
Researchers proposed future study effort to focus on the impact of varied lock-up periods on the health and productivity of dairy cows in order to better appropriate lock-up time.

Lower replacement costs, greater average milk output, and fewer replacement heifers are all connected with increased lifespan. Because longevity statistics are collected late in life, stayability, defined as the chance of surviving from birth to a specific age, may be used as an alternative metric. The purpose of this research was to investigate the impact of various type features, inbreeding, and production level on the stayability of Jersey cows at various ages, as well as to track changes over time. The data set included 460,172 to 204,658 stayability records for survival from birth to 36, 48, 60, 72, or 84 months of age, depending on the duration of the opportunity period. Threshold models were used to analyse the stayability features, which included explanatory factors such as various type attributes, inbreeding coefficient, and within-herd production level. Stayability trait heritability estimates varied from 0.05 (36 mo) to 0.22 (84 mo). As predicted, the likelihood of survival declined with age. Regardless of age or the type attribute tested, highly productive cows were more likely to survive than their poor-producing peers. Our data show that farmers’ selection choices tend to penalise low productivity in the beginning and reward good production later on. Inbreeding reduced the likelihood of survival, particularly when inbreeding coefficients surpassed 10%, and this effect was most obvious at 48 months of age or later. Some personality features, such as size and foot angle, have minimal influence on survival. Other type attributes, such as strength, dairy shape, rump breadth, and rear legs, had a better likelihood of survival at intermediate scores, while fore udder attachment, rear udder height, udder depth, and final score had a lower probability of survival at higher scores. Finally, our findings show that the chance of survival has reduced over the previous decade, most likely owing to a larger number of available heifers and, as a consequence, increased culling rates.

Longevity in dairy cattle is linked to lower replacement costs and higher average milk output. Farmers cull low-producing cows willingly for economic reasons in order to increase farm profitability. Poor reproduction, injuries, and diseases, on the other hand, might require the forced culling of productive animals, increasing veterinary expenses and decreasing farm profitability. In addition to milk output, linear type features and inbreeding may be linked to culling, either directly or indirectly via connections with disease, injury, or infertility. Stayability may be used as an alternate metric to longevity since it is assessed late in life. Small heritability estimates for STAY36, STAY48, STAY60, STAY72, and STAY84 in our analysis imply that selection for enhanced stayability would result in gradual genetic gains. Kern et al., 2014 discovered similar findings when using a threshold model to assess the lifetime of Holstein cattle. Productive life is used to assess the duration from first calving till culling in the lifetime net merit index (NM$) published by the Council on Dairy Cattle Breeding (Cole et al., 2021), and it gets a relative economic focus of approximately 20% in Jersey cattle (VanRaden et al., 2021). As a result, despite the possibility of sluggish genetic improvement owing to low heritability, selection for longevity is critical in US dairy cattle. Furthermore, since it is substantially and favourably connected with survival until later ages, stayability till younger ages may be a suitable selection criteria for longevity.
Through its correlation with the occurrence of certain illnesses and injuries, type features are indirectly associated to lifespan. Poor foot and limb conformation, for example, has been linked to higher lameness genetically (Khansefid et al., 2021). In earlier research, however, the connection between chance of survival and foot angle and rear leg scores in Jersey and Holstein-Friesian cows was minimal (Caraviello et al., 2003; Williams et al., 2022a). Our research discovered a little link between STAY60 and foot angle score, while rear leg score seemed to have greater impacts on survival, with reduced survival at both extremes. Rump angle scores with low or high pins may be connected to calving problems, which might increase the likelihood of culling (Sewalem et al., 2004), and our findings revealed that cows with an intermediate rump angle were more likely to live to 60 months of age. Poor teat placement has been linked to lower machine milking efficiency and a higher incidence of subclinical mastitis (Singh et al., 2017), and our study found that cows with more central teat placement, and thus intermediate scores for front and rear teat placement (side and rear views), had a higher chance of survival. Other udder-related type features, including as udder depth, udder cleft, fore udder attachment, rear udder height, and rear udder breadth, are linked to variances in milk production and injury sensitivity. Among the type characteristics evaluated, Caraviello et al. (2003) found that udder features were the most significant predictors of lifespan in Jersey cattle. Similar to the current research, the authors reported a significant danger of culling for animals with low scores for those features, with declining rewards in survival likelihood as type scores neared their maximum. In earlier investigations with Holstein and Jersey cattle, height was shown to be the least relevant feature in terms of survival (Caraviello et al., 2003; Sewalem et al., 2004). Notably, within-herd ranking for milk production has a considerable effect on culling choices, and its relevance in comparison to type features seems to have risen over time. Cows with high final scores had identical chances of surviving in the past, regardless of milk production level. Cows with poor milk output, although having excellent type ratings, seem to be removed from the herd in recent years.
owing to increased homozygosity, inbreeding depression has significant direct consequences on performance, which may lead to greater culling owing to poor production, longer calving intervals, lower conception rates, and higher somatic cell scores (Doekes et al., 2019). Caraviello et al., 2003 found that animals with inbreeding coefficients more than 7% had a higher risk of culling, and they found a roughly linear association between risk of culling and inbreeding coefficients. According to Sewalem et al. (2006), Jersey cows with inbreeding coefficients more than 12.5 were around 30% more likely to be culled than their less-inbred peers. Furthermore, the impact of inbreeding on survival may rise throughout parities; for example, du Toit et al., 2012 found a greater correlation between inbreeding and survival in second-lactation Jersey cattle in South Africa than in their first-parity counterparts.
Because mature cows who are highly productive and need minimal veterinary treatments are extremely lucrative, genetic increase of lifespan may have a large economic effect on dairy herds (Garca-Ruiz et al., 2016; Dallago et al., 2021). Furthermore, most cows do not recoup their raising expenses until the second lactation (Boulton et al., 2017), and early culling of cows results in economic losses for the farmer. Longevity increases may also have an impact on environmental sustainability and animal welfare. Increased annual herd replacement rates, for example, can contribute to higher greenhouse gas emissions at the farm level (Wall et al., 2012; Grandl et al., 2019), and higher involuntary culling rates in young animals can indicate poor welfare, which can influence consumers’ perceptions of and demand for dairy products. Furthermore, excess heifers that are not required as herd replacements may be sold to generate extra farm revenue (Dallago et al., 2021). Finally, by combining the use of sexed semen on young cows and heifers with the use of beef semen on older cows, farmers can profit from high milk production from mature cows without jeopardising genetic progress, allowing mature cows that are healthy and reproductively sound to remain in the herd for one or two additional lactations.
Management practises, infrastructure, herd size, economic demands, and other variables have all lowered the likelihood of cow survival in commercial dairy herds. For example, with the introduction of sexed sperm, a greater number of heifers are now accessible as herd replacements. Furthermore, producers may be driven to raise culling rates if facilities or available area restrict herd size (de Vries, 2020). Furthermore, genomic selection has accelerated genetic development and produced replacement heifers with increased milk production capacity (Meuwissen et al., 2001; Williams et al., 2022b). Despite genetic advances in productive life and other fitness qualities, these and other variables have resulted in a lower chance of surviving to old ages in Jerseys and other breeds. This apparent paradox results from ongoing changes in the balance of voluntary (economic) and involuntary (forced) culling, and breed improvement programmes should aim to improve animals’ genetic proclivity to remain healthy, fertile, and productive as long as they can make greater economic contributions to the herd than their potential replacements.

Source: Journal of Dairy Science

Precision animal husbandry, according to researchers, produced more sustainability on various dairy farms than conventional practises.

Precision livestock farming approaches involve installing sensors and instruments on livestock farms and/or animals to monitor them and assist farmers in making decisions. Precision livestock husbandry recognises warning signs and increases cattle efficiency.

This monitoring has a direct impact on animal welfare, health, and production, as well as on farmer lifestyle (fewer hours worked), knowledge, and traceability of livestock products. Instead, the indirect implications include a reduced carbon footprint and enhanced social-economic indices of cattle products.

Researchers from the University of Milan in Italy investigated the development of a dairy farming indicator that takes into consideration the indirect repercussions.

Dairy farmers’ sustainability cornerstones

The indicator was created by merging the three sustainability pillars (with particular criteria): environmental (carbon footprint), social (animal welfare freedoms and antibiotic usage), and economic (cost of technology and labour utilisation).

It was then tested on three dairy farms in Italy, where a baseline conventional scenario (BS) was contrasted to an alternative scenario (AS) that used precision animal farming methods and better management solutions.

The first farm investigated heat stress, while the other two focused on the identification of oestrus occurrences and the impact of unrestricted access to pasture.

The findings showed that the carbon footprint in all AS decreased by 6% to 9%, and the socioeconomic metrics improved animal and worker welfare, with slight variances according to the investigated approach.

Investing in precision livestock farming methods has a beneficial impact on all or almost all of the sustainability indices, with case-specific considerations. According to the researchers, since the indicator is a user-friendly tool that allows for the testing of many scenarios, stakeholders (policymakers and farmers) might use it to choose the optimal path for investments and incentive programmes.

Dairy cow illnesses cost New York dairy producers millions of dollars each year in diminished milk sales and treatment, labour, and culling expenses. Maintaining a healthy and productive herd, as every dairy farmer knows, requires robust health monitoring practises for accurate and early illness identification. However, owing to labour restrictions, this has proven more challenging for farmers.

The usage of Automated Health Monitoring systems (AHM) might be one approach. AHMs use sensors to monitor cow behaviour and physiology and identify possible health concerns. While farmers are using this technology, there is little independent study showing its worth. NYFVI is supporting a research at Cornell University with Dr. Julio Giordano to investigate their efficacy.

In this study, researchers will evaluate the performance of AHM systems to non-intensive health monitoring methods used on dairy farms. The study will specifically compare AHM systems to dairy farm situations that lack labour, time, or both for effective cow monitoring.

The initiative also aims to close a significant knowledge gap in the dairy sector by teaching farm health-care personnel, extension educators, professionals, and students at SUNY institutions and Cornell University in the use of AHM. Participants will learn how to utilise and maximise the value of AHM tools in hands-on workshops in English and Spanish.

“We are excited to roll out this project aimed at addressing some of the most pressing herd management challenges for commercial dairy farms in NY,” stated Cornell University professor and project leader Julio Giordano. We will increase cow health by using automated health monitoring technology while lowering labour requirements and animal disturbance. We will test and illustrate the benefit of automated monitoring systems for farms who, owing to a lack of time or manpower, struggle to identify cows that need treatments or interventions.

“Our on-farm training programme for cow health-care technicians will help current and future users of technology be more proficient and feel more comfortable with their operation and value for herd management in order to foster adoption and better use of automated monitoring technologies.” Finally, this research will benefit dairy farms by enhancing the health and production of dairy cows and assisting farm staff in more efficiently using technology.”

Over the last two decades, the dairy sector has seen a revolution in herd fertility success. Widespread fertility programmes, as well as the industry’s greater understanding—and optimization—of the holistic relationships between a dairy cow’s body condition, general health, and fertility, are at the core of this leap ahead. Researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Michigan State University synthesise the past three decades of scientific research explaining these relationships and highlight the key actionable takeaways for establishing and maintaining high fertility in a dairy herd in a recent mini-review published in a special fertility issue of JDS Communications®, published by Elsevier.

One of the co-authors, Richard Pursley, PhD, of Michigan State University, created the phrase “high fertility cycle” to reflect this knowledge of the interconnected components on a dairy farm that combine to promote reproductive success.

“We now know that reproductive success is tied to other health markers in a dairy herd after two or more decades of research,” Pursley explained, “and we set out to show how this knowledge can be utilised to maximise a herd’s fertility rate through simple, applicable changes in farm production management.”

In their mini-review, the scientists looked back over three decades of dairy research to give the fundamental findings on this issue. They begin by creating a link between fertility and the bodily condition score (BCS), which is a consistent 5-point scoring system in.A realistic management tool for Holstein cows that is 25 increments long and utilised to understand their body fat or energy levels.

“We know from the research that healthier postpartum cows have better embryo quality, higher fertility at first insemination, and fewer early pregnancy losses after becoming pregnant,” said co-author Paul Fricke, PhD, of the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Furthermore, BCS reduction after calving was linked to an increase in health difficulties, while maintaining or increasing BCS after calving was linked to less reported health events, such as metritis, mastitis, ketosis, and pneumonia.

So, how can dairy farms guarantee that their herds retain or grow BCS after calving in order to produce healthy cows and good reproductive rates? According to the study, the crucial aspect is calving cows with a BCS between 2.75 and 3.0, which may be accomplished by employing an intensive reproductive control programme. Getting cows pregnant as soon as the voluntary waiting period ends assures a lower BCS at calving, which leads to less body condition loss after calving and hence healthier cows who are more reproductive and better able to get pregnant again, resuming the cycle.

New York state legislators approved a $229 billion spending package earlier this week that would gradually raise the state’s minimum wage to $17 in New York City and its suburbs and $16 in the rest of the state by 2026.

Raising the minimum wage might be the last nail in the coffin for many.

“There will be changes at farms as these costs rise and farms look to cope and deal,” said Steve Ammerman, Communications Director for the New York Farm Bureau.
In Valatie, dairy farmer Eric Ooms of A. Ooms and Sons Dairy has hundreds of cows to milk every day – a large chore that used to take several hours of labour.

With labour prices rising, he realised something had to give.

“To address higher costs, we’ve always tried to find ways to minimise labour.” “In the dairy industry, that means robotics,” said Ooms.
Instead of training employees, he now uses technology to educate his cows to milk themselves.

When the cows want to be milked, they just go up to the machine, which does the rest.

“So, the cow comes in, and the robot identifies who she is, and it has all the information on the cow on the screen,” Ooms added.

He claims that, in the long run, employing technology is less expensive than paying workers.

However, rising expenses have made it impossible for some dairy producers to remain in business.

“With inflation, overtime, minimum wage, unions, and so on, it’s no longer worth doing business in this state,” said dairy farmer Raymond Dykeman of Dykeman & Sons Inc in Fultonville.

“We can’t make ends meet because we have no control over the price we’ll receive for our product,” he continued.

Dairy pricing are federally controlled, which means they are not determined by farmers.

“As a result, they have no control over passing on those higher labour costs,” Ammerman said. “They’re going to have to absorb them.”

While the state has implemented tax credit schemes to assist farmers financially, there are concerns about their long-term viability.

“Tax credit–someone has to pay for that, so people’s taxes pay for that, and that doesn’t make a lot of sense to me,” Ooms said.