Anyone who is at least somewhat familiar with the cattle industry knows there is a long list of products and product types that can be used for providing supplemental nutrients to cattle.

In recent years, a growing number of ranchers across the West have begun asking a similar question: Why, when salt is offered in multiple forms, do cattle suddenly stop consuming their mineral supplement?

At Jerseyland Dairy, in-house maintenance has become the cornerstone of operational efficiency and longevity to their 18 Lely A5 milking robots. The team, led by herd manager Craig Flint, handles the majority of robot servicing internally, including greasing, part replacements and preventative upkeep.

There has been much variation in the dairy industry in how nutritional management occurs on automated milking system farms. In a recent large benchmarking study of automated milking system farms from across Canada, we aimed to quantify that variation, describing the diets fed on those farms and also detecting associations of nutritional practices with productive metrics from those farms.

When I talk with producers who installed automated milking systems, most say the first three days are the worst, the first three weeks are hard, and things are better within three months. By the sixth to ninth month, they say the automated milking system is better than the previous milking system, as both cows and people have adjusted to the major lifestyle change.  

Yeast has been part of the human diet for thousands of years, from leavening bread to fermenting wine and beyond. More recently, its beneficial properties have been used in human medicine and health supplements.

Quel que soit le type de système de traite que vous envisagez d’utiliser, la période de transition demeure un des moments les plus stressants dans la vie d’une vache.

Starting transition cows strong in a robotic milking system goes a long way toward maximizing milk production. Use these feeding strategies to get your fresh cows started right.