Cow condition

Cows in good body condition are better able to withstand cold as the fat layer beneath the skin acts as an insulating layer.

Split dry herds on BCS and time until calving

If you dry-off all at once then it is necessary to split the dry cows into herds based on condition and expected calving date. This allows for preferential feeding to get all cows to target BCS. Even if not enough feed is available to put on extra condition, creating herds is still a good idea, as it protects the younger cows from competition from the older more dominant cows. If supplement is going to be fed then feed it to the herd you want to gain the most condition or that needs to put it on fastest.

• BCS your cows in mid winter. Redraft cows into the appropriate mobs to ensure they reach calving at target BCS.
• Monitor cow health daily. Get together with your team and discuss common cow health problems prior to winter. Early detection of a cow health problem will greatly increase the cow’s chance of recovery.

Create a winter cow care plan with your team to ensure a successful winter for all.

Cow allocation and feed utilisation

It is important that cows are allocated enough feed to achieve their body condition score targets. Feed utilisation rates on crop based diets are often lower than grazed pasture diets and must be taken into account when determining appropriate allocations. To determine the appropriate feed allocation for your cows, use the .

Feed utilisation rate can be influenced by grazing management. Reduce trampling wastage by moving the fence once or twice a day rather than offering a few days feed at a time.

Crop is utilised more efficiently when long, narrow breaks, rather than wide breaks, are offered, as less of the crop is trampled. To ensure that all cows have access to the crop, there should be 0.7 metres of feed face per cow. If the paddock has a short feeding face, consider splitting the herd by condition score, and feeding both ends at the same time, rather than running the animals in one larger herd.

Downhill grazing may interrupt a cow’s natural grazing stance, which can decrease crop utilisation. When grazing from the top of the slope to the bottom, to reduce overland flow, you may need to increase crop or supplement allocation, to ensure cows are fed the required dry matter.

Cow health

When checking cows on crops it's important to look out for:

• lameness, injury, loss of BCS, mastitis
• health issues caused by consumption of the crop (red water, bloating, wobbly or down cows)
• slipped or early calved cows
• frozen troughs/pipes and empty troughs.

Some of the signs of health issues that can occur on crops are:

See the Cow health section for more information.