Dairy Knowledge
Germain Lehoux, new President of
Holstein Canada
Adapted from the press release circulated by Jane Whaley, Communications, Holstein Canad
at your fingertips
Volume 4 - Issue 2 -May 2009
A resident of Saint-Elzéar-de-Beauce, Québec, Germain is co-owner of Ferme
B. Lehoux and Sons with his wife Claire Ouellet, and his brother Richard and wife
Ginette Lessard. Germain’s nephew, Jonathan, is current herd manager.
Germain and Claire are parents to four children — Audrey, Matthieu, Marie-Ève,
and Pier-Olivier. Living through a life-altering experience with the cancer death of daughter Audrey at 18 years,
the Audrey Lehoux Foundation was established by family and friends. In this upcoming 10th anniversary year, the
Foundation will distribute a total of $ 15,000 in grants among several young graduate students, acknowledging
their excellence in grades, as well as their social and agricultural achievements.
The 2000 Master Breeder herd includes 5 Excellent, 43 Very Good, and 22 Good Plus, averaging 11,644 kg milk.
CHAH-accredited and Leukosis-free, livestock fall within 99% of the highest LPI in Canada. Consistent improvement of the herd stems from using all breed improvement tools, as well as showing.
In addition to all these activities, Germain Lehoux has been a Valacta Dairy Production Advisor since 1980.
He visits and consults regarding nutrition and management with 45 herds in his region. To him, management,
nutrition, and genetics are intertwined and, are equally and proportionally responsible for production and life
expectancy of the dairy cow.
This respected man promotes a positive attitude at all times. He feels this is essential for success.
Germain, the entire Valacta team wishes you an excellent 2009 leading the largest dairy breed association in
Canada.
Have you heard about the
Valacta Effect?
Daniel Lefebvre, Ph.D., agr., Manager, R&D
Have a look at this graph. Some may be surprised to learn
that it is possible to achieve high production levels regardless of herd size. In fact, with the exception of smaller than
average herds, the average production per cow is quite
similar, whether you have 50 cows or more than 100 cows.
Furthermore, it is quite clear that herds using the Valacta services have higher productivity (between 10 to 38%,
depending on herd size). For a farm with a 50 kg quota, a
productivity of 0.85 kg/cow/day rather than 0.70, means
that you need 12 less cows to deliver this quota, with all the
monetary and quality-of-life benefits that this represents.
This is what we might call the “Valacta Effect”: a strong
added-value at the farm, easily noticed, and resulting in
higher revenues. Producers enrolled with Valacta (up to
80%, depending on the Province) are quite aware of this effect. We invite you to read the Valacta-Atlantic Production
Report 2008 (in Quebec, Évolution de la production laitière
2008), both published this month and containing a large
amount of interesting information and statistics.
With or Without Valacta :
production of Quebec cows according to herd size
Production (kg of quota / cow/ day)
Early in April, we had the pleasure and great pride to learn of the nomination
of Germain Lehoux as the 2009 President of Holstein Canada. First elected to
the Holstein Canada Board in 2003, Germain has served on numerous committees
and has acted as Vice-President/Board Chairman for the last year. During his
mandate as President, he expects — with his colleagues — to support genomics,
animal health, traceability, and the development of progressive youth programs.
0.90
0.80
0.70
0.60
0.50
0.40
0.30
0.20
0.10
0.00
< 20
20 to 29 30 to 39 40 to 49 50 to 59 60 to 69
70 to 79 80 to 89 90 to 99
Cows / Farm
> 100
With Valacta
Without Valacta
Source: Quebec agricultural enteprises registration forms
Since March 2008, with the Valued-Advice service, your 2008. Analysis by Rodrigue Martin, agr., Advisor, Direction
Valacta Advisor is committed to delivering results. After a du développement et de l’innovation (DDI), MAPAQ.
thorough assessment of the status of your herd, he or she
identifies the problem, helps you establish an action plan with specific objectives, and monitors progress until
your goals are achieved – or surpassed.
Every producer enrolled with Valacta automatically benefits from the support of a Dairy Production
Technician, specially trained to deliver a wide range of services designed to simply farm life and
increase revenue. Ask for the complete list of our Technical Solution services. You will be
surprised to see all that we can do for you.
Dairy knowledge at your fingertips : Volume 4 - Issue 2 - May 2009
Take full advantage of the « Valacta Effect » and improve
your productivity and revenue.
Published by Valacta, dairy production centre of expertise.
Edited by: Annik Perron, Communication Manager and Michel Pouliot, writer-editor
Phone: 1 800-BON-LAIT, 514 459-3030 • Fax: 514 459-3020 • www.valacta.com
E-mail: Editor: [email protected] • Customer Service: [email protected]
Summary
Body Condition Score
Depot: ISSN 1496-2748 Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec and National Library of Canada, 2009
Germain Lehoux,
President of Holstein Canada
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Body Condition Score evaluation:
just so you know…
Jean Brisson,agr., Dairy Production Expert, R&D Valacta
With an appropriate body condition, the dairy cow has a considerable reserve of energy, which she can use whenever
necessary. In fact, after calving, she cannot fulfil her energy requirements, and loses weight. This is normal, and without
consequence on her health and future ability to get pregnant, as long as this loss is “acceptable”. Later during the lactation, if the ration provides enough energy, she will get back to her proper weight. In order to know if the transition to calving went well, if your feeding strategy was adequate, if the money spent on such and such additive brought the expected
results, the best way is to regularly evaluate body condition score.
The principle is quite simple: if the cow loses weight, her energy requirements are not fulfilled and if she gains weight, she
consumes more energy than she expends. Easy enough, right? Careful! Evaluating body condition score requires consistency and rigorousness, especially when the weight loss or gain is small. Some people criticize this technique as being a
subjective measurement. However, research has proven that, when properly done, body condition score evaluation is a
reliable method, both in terms of accuracy and reproducibility (Ferguson, 2004).
At Valacta, we take this matter seriously. Over the past few years, our personnel went through a standardization process
to make sure that, one, evaluation is done correctly and, two, that evaluations remain comparable over time, especially
if they are performed by two different people. Our reliability evaluation methodology was actually inspired by the quality
control standards used at the Valacta laboratory.
R&D experts and Strategic Advisors preformed the initial standardization exercise, to make sure that they did a consistent evaluation. Then, the Strategic Advisors became the reference for field staff training and performance evaluation.
In either case, the standardization exercise consists in individually conducting a body score evaluation of an entire herd.
Each person’s scores are added up and averaged, then compared to the reference. The result is evaluated according to
two criteria: 1, bias, which is the difference between the average of the person’s scores and the reference average, and
2, accuracy, which is the average of the spans between the score for each cow and the reference. To monitor reliability,
this process is repeated as a team exercise on a regular basis. Individuals whose results are not satisfactory will receive
appropriate coaching to perfect their ability.
In order to know if a cow lacks protein, you look at the milk production and the protein rate. To know if she lacks food energy, you look at her body condition. Do not hesitate to call your Valacta technician for help. We are proud to bring added
value to your dairy farm.
Monitoring Tool
Get better control of the
ration’s energy
The parameters below are linked to body condition score, either as a cause or a consequence
of poor management of the ration’s energy.
Fill in this table and have a chat with your Valacta Advisor.
Transition
Your
herd
Target
At the last test, number of cows with less than 20 days in milk with
butterfat ratio above 5%
0
Number of displaced abomasum cases in the last month
0
Reproduction
Calving - 1st breeding interval (days)
70-80
Days between breedings
28-30
Grain screening (%)
Dry
Moist
Screen #4
0
25%
Screen #8
0
50%
Screnn #16
30%
25%
Screen #30
50%
0
Pan
20%
0
Did your heifers have a pleasant winter?
Mother Nature had quite an effect on forage quality in 2008. Since heifers are generally more
tolerant than lactating cows, it is common practice to feed heifers lesser quality forages. The good
news is, if the forages are well preserved and the ration adjusted accordingly, this is not a problem.
f that is the case your heifers may very well have spent a fine winter.
In order to be certain how your heifers are doing, it would be a really good idea to measure them in
the next few weeks. Measuring the height at the withers and the weight of replacement heifers will
let you know if their growth is as it should be. With this information you may be able to answer a few
other questions: was feeding before weaning adequate? Was the weaning too sudden? Do I serve
enough feed up to 6 months?
We recommend making the measurements before beginning field work. Too much to do? Do not
hesitate to call your Valacta Technician. We can help you with this, and lots of other things.
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