There’s nothing like wet weather to strip body condition score (BCS) from cows. The problem is particularly sharp, excuse the pun, at this time of year.

A combination of lower grass dry matters, reduced grass utilisation, reasonably good milk production, wet farm roadways and long walks to far-off paddocks make the problem worse.

Sticky

After very heavy rain over the weekend and more heavy rain to come, farm roadways have become very wet and sticky. This is hard on cows.

Anyone who remembers walking through mud during wetter Ploughing championships than last will know how hard it is on the body. It’s the same for cows.

Putting this BCS back on is going to cost money

Increased incidence of lameness usually follows prolonged wet periods. Energy intake is reduced during wet weather and more energy is used up.

To make up the deficit, BCS reserves are used up. As a result, BCS will drop.

Putting this BCS back on is going to cost money, whether that’s a longer dry period (less milk produced), extra meal being fed during the period or less milk production and greater infertility next season as a result of cows calving down in lower than target BCS next spring.

Crush

Farmers should run cows through the crush now and highlight cows that are in low BCS. For me, anything less than a BCS of 2.75 or less now is in dangerous territory and these cows should be considered for special treatment.

That treatment could be once-a-day milking, longer dry period or extra meal feeding now.

However, not all cows in all herds are equal. The problem is more pronounced in larger herds, mostly because they are walking longer distances.

The quality of roadways needs to be better on larger farms than it does on smaller farms, as cows spend more time on roads in larger farms.

Select cows that have a BCS of 2.75 or below now. If these cows are in-calf and calving early (before mid-March), then action needs to be taken and the sooner the better.

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