After 30 years of working in the dairy industry, I’ve learned that you’ve got to be smart and efficient in the fresh pen. That almost sounds like Dick Vitale describing a college basketball team’s offense during a game on ESPN.
Yet those two simple words also describe how you should approach your fresh cow pen.
You must know your cows. Know how they walk, how they eat, how they act. You also have to have confidence that if your cows are struggling your workers will know and communicate to you their challenges. I have an experience I’ll share that illustrates what happens when producers don’t listen to their fresh pen workers.
The situation arose one day when I was working as a relief milker for two months on a 300-cow dairy. It was a nice farm with nice cows. I was milking 12 hours a day on this particular farm. So me and the herdsman had observed a lot of cow behavior. We noticed some of the fresh cows were not doing well. We noticed an LDA and two more off feed. We immediately called the vet.
When he arrived he asked us what we thought the problem might be. We both said the TMR was mixed too finely. There were no particles over one-half inch in length in the ration. We knew there was no “scratch factor” even though we didn’t necessarily describe it that way. But here comes the sad part. After relating these factors to the owner, he contacted the nutritionist. The nutritionist came to the farm and proudly pronounced that the herdsman and myself were stupid and that we didn’t know what we were doing.
Two days later the previous two cows who had been off feed now had LDAs too. And so they also needed surgery. We again called the vet, and when he came out he was floored by the response of the nutritionist. People with “initials” behind their names often dismiss the “little people” as insignificant, as peasants, as the “great unwashed” as my favorite radio personality would say.
This farm had this problem several more times. All the while the nutritionist denied that his ration could be causing the problem. In the meantime, the farm owner would tell the herdsman and myself that we weren’t doing our job, in other words not watching the cows closely enough.
Unfortunately, this farm did not have the team concept. The nutritionist did not speak to the vet. They had no coordination. Then fortunately enough one day when the vet was out doing his umpteenth LDA surgery, the nutritionist showed up at the farm. The vet very professionally asked the nutritionist why he didn’t listen to the two of us. His reply, “What do they know anyway?” The vet had come to appreciate that we really cared about these cows. Plus between the two of us employees, we had more than 50 years of dairy experience. He knew how well we milked and did all the small things it takes to make a 29,000-pound average. We treated and cared for the cows like they were our own.
The vet finally convinced the owner that we, the cow people who had no initials behind our names, were right all along. The owner told the nutritionist to change the ration immediately! Well guess what? No more LDAs. So it turns out the less educated help was right; more effective fiber worked like it should.
I think it’s so sad when professionals are not willing to look at the whole picture. They instead are more concerned about looking good instead of being concerned about the cows. Please do not think that I am putting down higher education. It’s very important. But it can’t replace cowside practice. It enhances it. Remember when it comes to cows, especially fresh cows: You’ve got to be smart, and you’ve got to be efficient! PD
Harley Wagenseller is a herdsman at Heijmans Family Dairy, a 600-cow dairy in Lone Rock, Wisconsin.
Harley Wagenseller
Heijmans Family Dairy Lone Rock, Wisconsin
