Heifer Pen Walks

Tom Peterson

 Cargill Animal Nutrition

Alexandria, MN

1-320-763-4891

tom_Peterson@cargill.com

 

The development of Best Management Practices (BMPs) has been a great asset to the PDHGA.  It has allowed heifer raisers to take a step back and look at their operations and how they raise heifers. 

The process of Heifer Pen Walks began as an offshoot of the BMPs.  Working with a custom heifer raiser, we asked ourselves what does it mean to be Five Star Quality Rated?  Just because they have received this rating, does that mean they are continually following the BMPs? 

To complicate the matter further, frequently heifers are raised on multiple sites with multiple growers, which can make communication difficult.

Realizing these factors, we decided we needed a way to make sure that BMPs are being followed on a daily basis and needed a better way to communicate between the owner, the grower and the consultant.  The result was Heifer Pen Walks.

Walking heifers is not a new concept.  We have always spent considerable time evaluating heifers and the conditions they are raised in, attempting to be a second set of eyes.  What we wanted was a way to turn a qualitative observation into a quantitative measurement.  This process has allowed us to look at five key areas in raising a heifer and give them a score.  Scores are given to each pen of heifers on a farm, and the average of all the scores is then generated.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Every three weeks the consultant is on farm and evaluates the areas of bedding, feed bunk management, animal health, feed quality and body condition.  It is a simple form from which the information can be easily reported to the growers and the owner.  After each walk the grower receives a copy of his or her report.  The owner receives a copy of all reports.  Performance over time is tracked for each grower and for the business as a whole.  From this information, we have been able to monitor how well we are following the BMPs, track performance over time, Evaluate how well we are doing, and communicate where things are going well, and where changes may need to be made.

 

Management tips have been sponsored at the 2003 Dairy Calf and Heifer Conference by: .  Special thanks to Dr. Wayne Cole, Dr. Phil Widel and Dr. Craig Jones for their support

 

Assistance in promoting the Management tips  by Tom Quaife and Stan Erwine of Dairy Herd Management is gratefully acknowledged.

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