Saturday, March 30, 2024

Through the eyes of a cow

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Anyone can be a cow whisperer if they pay attention. If you know what you’re looking for cows will be a wealth of information, telling farmers about race or yard design, how well indoor systems are set up and a whole raft of animal health issues.
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West Otago dairy farmer and farm advisor Marloes Levelink, a reader of cow body language, is often surprised at just how many signals cows can give and how many farmers don’t know.

This is no pseudo, fringe practice – Levelink is formally trained in reading these animal signs by Netherlands-based Cow Signals Training Company founder Joep Driessen and is a certified Cow Signals master.

“It’s about being aware and observant,” she said.

Rumen fill, for instance is something farmers are used to looking at but Levelink points out that area on the cow’s left side between the hip bone and the last rib can actually be a key warning sign. Dubbed the danger triangle, a hollow triangular space there can be the first clue that something’s amiss.

On its own it may mean little more than the cow has not had enough to eat so making the most of the sign will require piecing together other evidence.

A keen eye will look for any other change in overall body condition, an arching of the back, strange leg placement, sagging head, hollow eyes or swollen udder.

Levelink came to New Zealand in 2002, originally on a working holiday milking cows. She’d already travelled and worked extensively, mainly as a tropical agriculture specialist working on farming systems analysis and husbandry. Originally from Holland, she’s worked in the Czech Republic, Kenya, Ghana, and Indonesia.

She spent five years working for FarmRight as a farm consultant in Southland and is now farming with her partner, Kiwi Jonathan Verkerk, milking 550 cows at Tapanui in West Otago as well as running her own consultancy business.

Her skills have been used by DairyNZ in helping with a soon-to-be-released guide to housed cows, a NZ adaptation of industry best practice from countries such as the UK and DairyCo’s booklet Dairy Housing (Dairy Exporter, March 2013).

Levelink is also helping with a NZ-specific Cow Signals book being published for PGG Wrightson.

There are a vast number of signs and coupled with a sound knowledge of cow behaviours in terms of how they socialise, their desire to be herd animals, the levels of hierarchy they have, and their urge to be creatures of habit, Levelink is able to pick up problems in either cow health or how the animals are being managed.

The practice of watching cow signals is used frequently overseas in housed cow systems. A reluctance to lie down in their stalls can indicate an animal health issue or an issue with the bail design; again more clues and observation are necessary to determine the problem.

But Levelink is strongly of the opinion that a cow is a cow whether she’s in an indoor system or spending all her life outdoors grazing, and her signals will be similar.

Many of the signs Levelink talks about are also cow behaviours observed by renowned lameness expert Dr Neil Chesterton who Levelink is working closely with as a registered DairyNZ Healthy Hoof provider.

Cow herd mentality will mean not all lame cows will be straggling at the back when they’re coming in for milking. The sore-footed animal will try and get in amongst the herd so she’s not obvious to predators.

Levelink’s now running her own workshops in CowSignals through her company Cows101, in which participants enhance their observation skills and knowledge. 

“It’s about looking at things through the eyes of the cow or at least looking with a different set of glasses.”

Farmeritis or tunnel vision can prevent those handling cows on a daily basis from seeing what’s right in front of them, whether they be a seasoned owner or a junior staff member. They begin to view some behaviours as normal because they see them over and over again.

Good observation and intervention can mean increased cow longevity and productivity for very little and sometimes no cost. And healthier, happier cows make for better production and profitability, and also a happier workplace.

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