DairyBusiness

Replacements: Prices pressured lower

Although there is wide regional variation in weekly reported replacement cow prices, U.S. quarterly average replacement cow prices continued to be pressured lower. Based on USDA’s October Ag Prices report, U.S. average prices declined $40/head from July 2009, to $1,240/head. The October 2009 average was $680/head lower than October 2008, $780/head lower than the peak in October 2007, and was the lowest average since April 1999.

California’s October 2009 average rebounded slightly, up $100, to $1,200/head. The average was down $500/head from October 2008. Among the 23 major dairy states, California and Oregon were the only states to post gains in average replacement prices compared to July  2009; 17 states reported lower average prices compared to July; prices in four states were unchanged.

Technology: Automatic feeders and management decisions

In a follow-up to the Oct. Dairy Calf & Heifer webinar about automated feeders, DCHA member Roy Williams provided this  tip.

Some management decisions that need to be made when implementing automatic feeders are: how much milk (or milk replacer) to feed; how many calves to put in each pen;  how soon after birth the calves will be introduced to the automatic feeder;  whether to feed milk or milk replacer, and (if both) which calves get which feed; and the details of the housing design.

Published peer-reviewed papers give some guidance on these questions. All researchers report that feeding only the “conventional” one gallon of milk per day per calf results in each calf making many extra trips to the feeder each day in which the calf does not get milk. Calves that are fed at least two gallons a day spend about half as much time (41 minutes) at the feeder as calves fed only a gallon per day (77 minutes). This may seem backwards, but similar results have been reported in several cases, and there are no recent reports contradicting this guidance. This has important implications for how many calves can be fed from one feeder (35 vs.18, by these numbers).

Changes in feeding behavior by sick calves depend in part on the amount of milk allocated per day to each calf. This may take some time to work out on your farm, so that you can use information provided by the automatic feeder to help identify sick calves.

Moving the calf from one environment to another causes stress responses in the calf (including a depressed immune system). This is a stress that we should seek to minimize by moving the calf as soon after birth as possible. It may not be feasible to put the calf in the group pen within 6 hours of birth, but producers should consider trying to incorporate this long-standing guidance as far as possible. One approach is to include a small gate that can be moved into place to prevent other calves from intruding into the feeding area while the calf caregiver works with a new calf on how to eat from the automatic feeder.

Education: Ranch management seminar set by K-State

MANHATTAN, Kan. – The K-State Winter Ranch Management Seminar will be available at four locations Jan. 11.

The seminar will run simultaneously at Ashland, Manhattan, Parsons and Phillipsburg. Speakers will focus on such topics as cow herd economics, practical genetics, calving management and bull management. An evening meal will be served at each location.

Speakers will be Harlan Hughes, of North Dakota State University, cow herd economics; and Kent Andersen with Pfizer Genetics, practical genetics.

Each seminar will begin with registration at 2:30 p.m. and the program starting at 3 p.m., including: More information is available by contacting K-State Extension veterinarian Larry Hollis at 785-532-1246 or lhollis@ksu.edu.