In normal circumstances your herd may not be high risk of developing acidosis. However, drought conditions force many farmers to change their feeding practices. Use the Risk Assessment Grid – Factors affecting rumen function & risk of acidosis, to make sure you are not inadvertently putting your operation at high risk.
Read the options in the three columns of this grid and identify the box that best describes what happens on your farm.
Assessing risk
How the process might help…. a farmer’s comments
Well I’m keen to deal with my red risky areas but I’m not sure I can do much about the first one … what am I going to do for 14 days while I’m waiting for the 3rd leaf to grow! The consultant will earn his money helping me out on this one!
Doing something about my second red area is easy … I’ll just introduce that new feed I bought a bit more slowly than I planned.
With the last one, I think I’ll have to draft the heifers out in the shed and give them a separate paddock. Not ideal … but the drought’s not ideal, is it?”
Risk assessment grid:
Factors affecting rumen function and risk of acidosis
Use this Risk Assessment Grid to make sure you are not inadvertently putting your operation at high risk. Read the options in the three columns of this grid and highlight the box that best describes what happens on your farm.
Note: < = less than; > = greater than.
Moving from a high-risk level (red zone) to a lower-risk level (orange or green) doesn’t always need to be expensive.
For instance, the list below contains ideas for changing to a lower risk feeding system.
• Plan ahead to make feeding change slowly over a couple of weeks.
• Introduce a transition diet during the last 2-3 weeks before calving for both cows and heifers to get them used to the diet they will be eating after they calve. There is a good chance this will easily pay for itself in higher milk production.
• Some high fibre by-products can be fed in the paddock. Just make sure all animals get free access to the feed.
• If pasture in the paddock is plentiful, don’t hold the cows back after milking. Let them head to the paddock to reduce the time between grain/concentrate and forage feeding. However, if the pasture in the paddock is only enough for about 2-3 hours grazing, hold cows back after milking and offer them some hay or silage while waiting, then allow them to head to the paddock as a herd.
Even the simple management changes can make a difference.
Once aware of the risks, many farmers can come up with ideas and strategies tailored to their situation.
Sometimes, taking action isn’t hard but it might mean feeding a little differently.
