Improving Your Management of the Replacement Herd

Herd health, nutrition and animal comfort are focus areas.

Replacement herd management is receiving increased emphasis in dairy production today. This is due to higher costs of raising heifers, an increased demand for more milk production in younger cows and the growing importance of total productive life of dairy cows, says University of Illinois Extension Dairy
Educator David Fischer.

For a productive and profitable dairy replacement enterprise, Fischer suggests you consider adopting these goals:

• 95 percent or greater survival rate(birth to calving)
• Healthy and disease-free heifers with permanent identification
• Bred by 14-15 months (58 to 62 percent of mature weight)
• Offspring of genetically superior sires
• Calve at 23-24 months; body condition score of 3.5
• Large breeds weighing 1,250 pounds after calving with a withers height of 54 – 55 inches
• Small breeds weighing 825 pounds after calving with a height of 51- 52 inches at withers
• High milk production in young cows 
• Produced and raised economically and profitably 
• Growth and health conditions of heifers in their first 22 to 24 months are important for the long-term productivity of dairy replacements, says Fischer. “Disease, overcrowded conditions and/or inadequate nutrition will have detrimental affects on the ability of replacement heifers to produce and reproduce,”he says.

Fischer recommends paying particular attention to management during the following stages of heifer growth:

Birth to weaning

The first 6 to 8 weeks of life is the most critical in keeping calves alive. During this period, strive to:

• Provide clean, dry, draft-freematernity pens and calf housing.
• Remove the calf from its dam within the first hour following birth and before nursing. 
• Because diarrhea and respiratory problems remain the leading causes of heifer mortality, always provide 3 to 4 quarts of high quality colostrum soon after birth and another 2 quarts 12 hours later. Avoid feeding colostrum from Johne’s-infected cows. Getting needed antibodies
  into the new-born calf as soon as possible is the single most important management practice in calf nutrition. These antibodies must be absorbed through the small intestine within the first 24 hours of life to provide needed immunity to disease. 
• After the colostrum-feeding period, provide a proper nutrient-balanced liquid feeding and dry grain starter program. Liquid feed options include waste milk, whole milk or milk replacer. Waste milk can be the most economical liquid feed. Research has shown the use of on-farm pasteurization of waste milk is effective in eliminating pathogenic strains of bacteria and also lowers the incidence of scours and pneumonia. Milk replacers provide a convenient and
  economical way to raise calves. The use of milk replacers with medicated products and feed additives can provide an added benefit to promote calf health and growth. 
• Ensure that drinking water is available at all times. 
• Dip navel with 7 percent tincture of iodine at birth and again 12 hours later.
• Wean when daily intake of calf starter reaches 1.5 pounds (Jersey) and 2.5 pounds (Holstein).
• Avoid other stressors at weaning, such as dehorning and removing extra teats.
• Apply vaccination and health programs as prescribed by your veterinarian.

Weaning to calving

Fischer recommends grouping heifers according to their nutritional and management needs. Usually growers will group them according to the following categories:

• Birth to 2 months.
• Post-weaning 2 to 4 months. 
• Pre-puberty 4 to 10 months. 
• Breeding 10 to 16 months. 
• Post breeding 16 to 24 months.

Because feed is the largest single cost of raising dairy heifers, Fischer says it is important to provide a balanced diet and position forages based on the nutrient analysis. “Daily feed costs from grower to
grower can vary by 50 percent depending on the feeding option selected,” he says. Feeding options that
can generate savings without jeopardizing the health and growth of the heifer include the use of intensive grazing, feeding corn stalks with wet distillers grains or limit feeding. Fischer cautions
that over-feeding or under-feeding protein and energy can result in higher feed costs, higher or lower body condition score, delayed puberty or poor reproductive performance.

Replacement dairy heifer nutritional goals include:

• Matching quality of feedstuffs tomeet the animal needs 
• Including ionophores to improve feed efficiency
• Considering feeding strategies with by-products, limit feeding or intensive grazing
• Adjusting rations for environmental challenges such as cold and heat stress
• Achieving 1.8 pounds average daily gain for large breeds and 1.4 pounds for small breeds
• Avoiding over-conditioning and monitoring body condition score

Bred at 14 to 15 months of age

With current documented research and knowledge of heifer growth nutritional needs and feeding technologies, it is an easily attainable goal for heifers to reach adequate size to breed at 14 months
of age, according to Fischer. “In order to make breeding decisions based on size and to monitor how well heifers are growing, it is imperative that you weigh and measure them at different stages of growth,” he says. “Heifer growth rates and body condition scores should be obtained and recorded at least twice per year.”

Calving at 23 to 24 months of age

Reaching optimum heifer size to calve at 23 to 24 months is achievable, Fischer explains. “While it is true that  historically, older heifers of 25 to 26 months of age have produced more milk, it also is true that the loss of milk production in early life and the increased cost to raise the replacement more than offsets the benefits for the extra milk produced. Reports from leading researchers indicate that the milk production in the first lactation is more a factor of size than age.

“Heifers that are not properly grown due to inadequate nutrition, overcrowding, unhealthy housing and
other conditions will need to reach an older age before achieving adequate size to withstand the demands of high milk output. Any delay past 24 months will add to the cost of raising replacements
as well as require more heifers to meet the herd replacement needs.”

Fischer concludes that sound management decisions based on proper  nutrition, herd health and  animal comfort can provide increased dairy profit potential for the replacement herd.