DairyComp Case Study: Cow Comfort is King
Cow comfort plays an important role in milk production – but just how significantly can it be affected?
Recently, a producer who houses their animals in different facilities on different sites questioned the role varying cow comfort levels in the facilities played into their milk production.
When looking at this producer’s first lactation data in DairyComp, we saw a 12 lb., likely closer to 14 lb., difference in peak milk yield between the facilities – a substantial difference.
If this producer housed 120 first lactation cows in pen 3, and is losing 12 lbs. of peak per cow, this equates to 3,600 lbs. per animal, per lactation.
If we do some simple math, we find that 3,600 lbs. x 120 animals/100 lbs./cwt x $16 milk = $69,120. That’s a nearly 70k profit loss on those animals versus the others housed in another facility.
COW COMFORT IS KING – DON’T LEAVE PROFIT ON THE TABLE BECAUSE OF IT.
Do you have different cow comfort practices in different facilities? With DairyComp, you can drill down into your data to determine if you need to make changes to how you approach cow comfort – and to help track any improvements.
Below, you’ll find the command we used in this case study:
SUM PEAK ME305 FOR LACT=1 BY PEN
This command can be modified to look at different lactation numbers, as well. Consider: SUM PEAK ME305 FOR LACT>2 BY PEN to look at how cows with the largest body size function in different groups.
