Transition management practices on Wisconsin dairies stratified by Transition Cow Index™

Authors

  • B. P. Schnell University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Veterinary Medicine, Dept. of Medical Sciences, Madison, WI 53706
  • J. C. Simons University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Veterinary Medicine, Dept. of Medical Sciences, Madison, WI 53706
  • N. B. Cook University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Veterinary Medicine, Dept. of Medical Sciences, Madison, WI 53706
  • T. L. Ollivett University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Veterinary Medicine, Dept. of Medical Sciences, Madison, WI 53706

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.21423/aabppro20163451

Keywords:

transition management, dairy cattle, predicted yield, TCI, Transition Cow Index

Abstract

The Transition Cow IndexTM (TCI) is intended to provide an objective measure of transition cow management in a dairy herd. TCI represents the difference between the actual first-test 305-day projected milk produced by a cow and a predicted yield, which is calculated using historical information from each cow. A negative TCI indicates underperformance, whereas a positive TCI indicates that an individual cow's performance has surpassed her predicted level of production. The objective of this study is to describe herd size, rolling herd average, prefresh and fresh pen duration of stay, as well as prefresh and fresh pen bunk space per cow on Wisconsin dairies after stratification by TCI.

Cover image of the 49th Conference Proceedings: An image of a herd of Angus cattle grazing in a field at dusk. Yellow background.

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Published

2016-09-15

Issue

2016

Section

Research Summaries 1

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