Thursday, March 28, 2024

Figuring out the score

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Although farmers should be well-versed on body condition scoring (BCS) and the importance of hitting condition targets, Jacqueline McGowan, developer at DairyNZ, says it’s easy sometimes for farmers to forget its importance with so many other things happening onfarm.
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Body condition scoring is a subjective assessment of a cow’s energy reserves. The ideal BCS for mixed aged cows is 5.0, and 5.5 for first-time calvers and heifers.

McGowan says the main reason BCS is important is by getting a cow at the correct body condition at calving you are setting her up for the most profitable lactation you can.

“There are also animal welfare codes around animal condition. The minimum standard is a body condition score of three. Any less than that and farmers need to take immediate action to improve her condition. This might be through once-a-day milking, extra feed or drying her off.”

Between now and drying off is a critical time of year to be scoring cows, because it aids in drying-off decisions and ensuring cows go into the calving in good condition McGowan says.

“Best practice would be to do 70 cows as a snapshot at calving and then again around mating to see how well they have done keeping condition.

“This time of year it’s good to score each individual cow so you can pick out the ones who need a bit of help getting to a BCS of 5 for calving.”

McGowan says although it’s a handy skill to have, it’s worth getting a professional in once a year to score the herd.

“Often we either forget because there’s so much else going on, or we approach it with a highly biased eye. Professionals can also offer advice on options available if cows are not at target condition score which can be helpful.”

There are a number of certified assessors around the country.

“Reflecting on my own experience, we had a herd test the other week in our small herd and pulled out some high somatic cell count cows and found a very thin cow that we didn’t even know about, but it’s not until you actually force yourself to look at each cow that you pick these things up. It’s easy to generalise the herd based on a handful of them.”

How to BCS

Although BCS is mainly done visually, McGowan says it’s a good idea to do a hands-on assessment of 10-15 cows to train the eye before going out in the paddock for visual assessment.

“We now have an app for BCS that farmers can download. You can record BCS and email it to yourself so all the information is in one place as opposed to on lots of little bits of paper.”

Process:

• Line up 15 cows with a range of BCS

• Put your hands on the critical points for body condition scoring

• Feel the amount of fat cover on the various body points and look at the differences between the cows

• Average the different areas to come up with the BCS for that cow

• What to look for:
• Backbone: is it flat or is there a ridge? Can you see or easily feel the notches?
• Long ribs: Can you see or easily feel them? How many are visible?
• Short ribs: Can you see them? What do they feel like? Are the rib ends sharp or rounded?
• Hip bones: Are the bones rounded or angular
• Rump: Is the area between the pins and hip bones flat, sunken or hollow?
• Pin bones:Are they pointed, ‘tap’-like or rounded?
• Tailhead: Is there a hollow between the tailhead and pin bones? A deep V or shallow U shape?

For more information and a comprehensive guide to BCS visit DairyNZ.

Download the DairyNZ BCS Tracker App from your App store or the DairyNZ website

Things to remember

Body condition scoring is the same for all breeds BUT remember

• Jersey: Are smaller-framed with a narrow body and prominent hip bones
• Crossbred: Are medium-framed and have an even distribution of fat over body
• NZ Holstein-Friesian: Are medium-framed, even distribution of fat over body and have a blocky shape – shorter and rounder
• Overseas Holstein-Friesians: Are larger-framed with an angular body shape, appear thinner and carry more body fat over their ribs.

The dos and don’ts of BCS

Don’t score from down in the pit
Don’t forget to do it
Do BCS out in the paddock so you can see the whole cow.
Do look at first-calvers separately – like heifers, they need to calve at 5.5
If scoring in the dairy ensure you are at the level of the cow

 

 

 

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