We keep a whole lot of records here on the farm. In order to take good care of our animals you need to pay attention to them. Feed rations are changed weekly and feed in the silos are sampled regularly to determine what is needed to be added to give the cows the best feed. When I say added, I'm talking about protein, minerals and etc., not chemicals or other things like that.
Here is how things shaped up here during February this year.
During that period we had an average of 791 cows with 694 of them milking. The 97 cows difference were dried off cows. That means they were pregnant cows that were in about the last two months of pregnancy. We stop milking them so all their energy goes towards the calves they are carrying and regenerating their mammary systems.
We dried off 48 cows. That sounds a bit confusing considering I just stated we had 97 dried off. During the four week period I am compiling information about, 48 of the 97 were dried off. The others were already in the dry pen.
There were 17 new cows that were milked for the first time. They were all first time mamas.
11 cows left our dairy. 10 were sold and one died.
51 cows gave birth to 55 calves which included 4 sets of twins with one calf dead at birth.
This is just a little bit of the records we keep and what went on here in the month of February. Do you remember what you were doing?
