Description
Environment and feeding are the joint lynchpins of good production. Vets are becoming more and more valued in helping dairy farmers not only keep a healthy herd, but an efficiently producing herd too. When feeding goes wrong, the consequences are far-reaching, not only in the obvious (LDA’s, ketosis, poor fertility), but also further down the line (higher culling rates, poorer calf health and more lameness).
In this webinar, I will help you gain confidence in three key areas of cow nutrition, so you can either work more effectively with the farm’s nutritionist, or get involved with the rationing yourself:
Routine monitoring of rumen health: Using various on-farm techniques and also evaluating records, as well as cow observations, the vet can have a key role in ongoing performance monitoring of the herd’s feeding. I will discuss rumen fluid evaluation, faecal examination, rumen fill scoring, metabolic profiling and monitoring protocols.
Diet evaluation: I will explain what to look for - the common feeding errors you might find on farm, including how to check forage analyses, measure sorting and make assessments on forage clamps and feed bunks.
Solutions: There are some simple “rules” all cattle vets should know about feeding cows. I will explain these and how you can use them with your clients.