DHI Notes...

June 2006 | Let ‘em drink! | Bennet Cassell

State DHI averages for important management areas in May 2006

Management area	May 2006	Change from last year
Rolling herd average milk	21791	+969 lbs.
Peak yield in heifers	74	2 lbs.
Days to first breeding	96	0 days
Days open	162	+3 days
Net Merit of proven service sires	$315	+$39
Herd turnover less dairy sales (%)	29%	+2%
Monthly average SCS	2.9	0.0
Feed cost per cwt. (milking cows)	$5.19	+$0.25
Milk blend price	$14.52	-$1.87

I write this month’s DHI Notes on a record-hot day in early summer in Blacksburg. The inspiration was concern for dairy animal comfort in these conditions. How should managers respond? One way is to provide ample, clean drinking water for all animals from the calf hutches through heifer and dry cow lots to the milking herd. Water is one of the blessings of living is this state, even when too little of it falls out of the sky. The challenge is to make that resource available at all times to every dairy animal on the farm. A key is to be sensitive to the needs of cows and heifers at all times. I have a fond memory from a childhood visit to Leonard Crowgey’s Richdale herd near Wytheville with my dad. Mr. Crowgey was among the very best cow men in Virginia. The herd has since provided a good living for two more generations. On that summer’s afternoon, a farm employee was driving Mr. Crowgey’s registered Holsteins in from the pasture and they had to cross a nice creek to get to the milking barn. Dairy farmers might not get by with that today, but this was the 1950’s. The man was anxious to get to the barn and start milking, but the cows wanted – and needed – to stop at that creek for a drink and probably a little cow recreation as well. Mr. Crowgey called to his employee to “let ‘em drink”. He knew that a little patience at that point would make him a lot more money than starting milking a couple of minutes early. Many of you never had a chance to know Leonard Crowgey, but you know other dairy farmers like him, and hopefully are one yourself. The common characteristic is a passion to provide what cows need to be healthy and perform at their best. Plenty of clean, palatable water, always readily available, is essential. And so, on this warm day, Mr. Crowgey’s instructions from 50 years ago still ring true – “Let ‘em drink!”

Bennet Cassell
Genetics and Management