The starting point is knowing if your cows are cycling. Tail paint your cows a month out from mating to check for cycling cows.

Light and overfat cows at calving are at risk of falling below BCS4 at mating. Cows under BCS4 at mating may take longer to get in calf, and in turn, produce less milk for the season. Therefore, it is important to identify lighter cows with some urgency and have a plan to increase body condition between now and the start of mating.

To put body condition on, starch is the best ingredient to include in the in-shed feed or feed pad diet. Maize usually has the highest starch content, but other grains like barley, wheat and grain blends can also be good options. Talk to your store or PGG Wrightson Technical Field Representative about what options are available in your region.

Comparing different products based on dollars per tonne of starch is a good exercise to do, as a cheaper per tonne product may cost more per tonne of starch. The equation is:
Cost per tonne of feed divided by the DM percentage, then divide by the starch percentage. For example, a blended product that is $600/t at 85% DM and 65% starch will be:

$600/0.85 = $706 then $706/0.65 = $1,086. Therefore, this blend is $1,086/t of starch.

Here are some practical strategies for cows that are too thin:

º Make early decisions on the choice of supplement and buying in feed.

º Remove light cows from the main herd and feed them with a higher allocation of good quality pasture or mix of pasture and supplement.

º Change the milking regime e.g. move from twice-day milking to once-a-day milking, or 10 in seven. This decreases the energy requirement. If you can’t move into a different mob, identify skinny cows with leg bands or spray. Although cows will still be using energy walking to the shed twice a day, there will be BCS benefit from not producing quite as high milk yield. All dairy farms have a mineral blend included in the feed ration or through the water that likely includes the main five trace minerals (copper, cobalt, selenium, iodine, and zinc). For additional supplementation that support improved mating performance, Injectamin or Injectamax are good options when included more than three weeks before the planned start of mating.

It is not too late to improve reproductive outcomes. Reviewing your plan now and implementing change could assist in a smoother mating period.

Your local PGG Wrightson Technical Field Representative can help. Find their contact details at the back cover of Rural Diary or visit store.pggwrightson.co.nz.