transition management

The transition period module covers feeding strategies from Springers (close-up cows) through to early lactation (around 20 days in milk). The transition period is a critical one for the cow, with 80% of all disease costs associated with a cow’s performance around calving. There is also increasing data to show that recovery rates post-calving have direct impacts on reproductive performance production.

Getting feeding right during this period is therefore critical, however, getting it “right” is more than just “offering enough feed” – it appears there is a significant psychology component to maximising feed intake to cows during this period. Built on a foundation of nutrition, backed by real-world experience with wearables, this course covers both aspects, as well as monitoring tools (including wearables) that can be used to help track performance.

Expect this to be a practical course – you will be equipped with feed budget tools, monitoring skills, and a wealth of practical tips and tricks that will enable you to immediately get on farm and offer transition management support to your farmers.

This module will:

• Demonstrate optimising nutritional objectives and their implementation over the transition period.
• Establish tools to improve decision-making during the transition period.
• Explore the practical use of wearable technology.

Topics

• Transition – how to monitor it (wearables and non-wearables) + health alerts
• Transition – practical changes you can make (springers, day 0, colostrum, early milkers)
• Transition – putting it into action (the soft skills)