Research Highlights:Dairy Projects at CEFS
Objective:
The intent of this presentation is to:
1)Highlight recent and current pasture-based dairy research efforts at CEFS
2)Review concepts and challenges associated with pasture-based dairy
systems including implications for organic dairy production.
Steve Washburn, North Carolina State University
Department of Animal Science
Acknowledgement
Our program efforts related to pasturebased dairy farming have been supported
by professional development grants and
research and education grants from the
USDA Southern Region SARE Program
New grant funding: 2009-2012
Research and Educational Support
for Organic Dairying in the South
…in collaboration with the University of Arkansas
You might be a seasonal pasture-based dairy farmer if:
You might be a seasonal pasture-based dairy farmer if:
10. All your cows are bred to calve in one or two compact seasons.
9. Pasture is primary forage with cows and heifers doing most of the harvest.
Typically seasonal dairy graziers try to have 80 to 90 % cows bred to calve
in 9 to 12 weeks by using a combination of AI and natural service
Dr. Steve Washburn
Extension Dairy Specialist
North Carolina St. Univ.
Grazing days/month at two stocking rates: 2.2 vs. 3.2 cows/ha- 3-yr average
AR/SS = annual ryegrass/sorghum-Sudan: AR/BG = annual ryegrass/Bermudagrass
TFWC = tall fescue/white clover
Arriba & Haygrazer alfalfa +/- Lakota & Matua prairie grass
managed organically and conventionally
Higher stocking rate (HSR; 3.2 cows/ha)
Lower stocking rate (LSR; 2.2 cows/ha)
Bathyplectes anurus
(parasitoids of alfalfa weevil)
Observations: Higher Stocking Rate resulted in:
-!Similar milk per cow but more milk per hectare
-!More days on sacrifice areas 85 vs. 61days/yr
-!Higher feed costs per cow and hectare
-!Similar reproduction and udder health
-!Similar income over feed cost per cow
-!Higher income over feed cost per hectare
Eileen Balz - M.S. Thesis Project 2009-2011
Vibart et al.- manuscript in preparation
You might be a seasonal pasture-based dairy farmer if:
8. Crossbreeding is generally the rule rather than the exception.
Christina Williams:
Nancy Pollack NCSU Thesis Award Winner for 2008
North Carolina
Jersey-Holstein crosses most common - data from New Zealand; studies in
US.
Other crossbreed combinations being investigated as well.
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Reproductive measures at 90d of breeding by breed over both
2005 and 2006 calving seasons
Percent
Percent Cycling
Cyclicity by breed at 30d, 60d, and 90d postpartum over 2005
and 2006 calving seasons
a
a
b
a
a
a
a
b
b
b
Superscripts differ at P <0.05
Superscripts differ at P <0.05
C. M. Williams, M.S. Thesis 2007
Dr. Steve Washburn
Extension Dairy Specialist
North Carolina St. Univ.
C. M. Williams, M.S. Thesis 2007
You might be a seasonal pasture-based dairy farmer if:
7. Calves are group fed and started on pasture at an early age.
Katie Jackson- ADSA Undergraduate Research Winner -2008
Alternative strategies for internal parasite control
Alternative strategies for parasite control and weed management
Bianca Thompson – M.S. Thesis 2005
Raising calves without de-worming
Multiple species grazing systems
You might be a seasonal pasture-based dairy farmer if:
6. You think that cows should be milked in no more than 2.5 hours and labor
efficiency is important.
PA organic dairy
C. M. Williams, M.S. Thesis 2007
Dr. Steve Washburn
Extension Dairy Specialist
North Carolina St. Univ.
“Swing 40” for 500-cow herd with 1 manager
and 2 employees - Missouri.
You might be a seasonal pasture-based dairy farmer if:
5. The cows take care of 85% of the manure spreading.
You might be a seasonal pasture-based dairy farmer if:
4. Investing in things that rust is not your thing.
Active dung beetles and other organisms
White et al, 2001
You might be a seasonal pasture-based dairy farmer if:
3. You prefer “tree stalls” to freestalls” for cow comfort and you do not have
the veterinarian on speed dial.
Multiple approaches for controlling horn flies
In pasture-based dairy herds:
Fly vacuum for lactating cows.
Push-pull with repellants and trap animals.
Chickens following cattle to disrupt habitat.
Minimal hoof trimming and no displaced abomasums in over 9 years
Antibiotics (Quartermaster + Orbeseal)
vs.
Herbal preparation (Phyto-Mast) at dry off.
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Milk culture results and SCC were similar
between organic and conventional North
Carolina dairies compared for this study.
No significant differences were observed among treatments in first postpartum test
day milk production or somatic cell count scores.
2
Conventional antibiotic treatment had a higher cure rate and a lower new infection rate
than either no treatment or Phyto-Mast.
However, cows treated with the herbal preparation, Phyto-Mast, at dry off had fewer
new infections than no treatment.
Conventional antibiotic therapy was effective, but not an option for organic dairies.
Although not as effective as antibiotic therapy, Phyto-Mast could be a potentially
useful dry treatment for organically certified dairies currently not using dry therapy.
Keena Mullen, et al. 2010
Dr. Steve Washburn
Extension Dairy Specialist
North Carolina St. Univ.
Bacterial species percentages differed slightly
between conventional and organic dairies,
notably:
1)! coagulase-negative Staphylococci,
2)! Corynebacterium sp. and
3)! Staphylococcus aureus.
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Keena Mullen, et al. 2011
You might be a seasonal pasture-based dairy farmer if:
2. You are routinely in touch with dairy graziers from near and far.
… and the # 1 reason …
You might be a seasonal pasture-based dairy farmer if:
1.! You talk more about lifestyle, return on investment, and net farm profit than
you do about milk production and milk prices.
Do you see what I see?
Larger confinement herds
Pasture-based dairy farms can compete
More Crossbreeding
Niche Markets
Need for more goal-setting, open sharing of ideas and data
Do you see what I see?
Research and educational
needs for:
Pasture-based dairy farms
Organic dairy farms
Long-term holistic, systems
approaches
To be continued …
… until the cows come home
Dr. Steve Washburn
Extension Dairy Specialist
North Carolina St. Univ.
…and with luck the rains will be timely and the pastures will grow
[email protected]
N.C. State University 919-515-7726
www.cefs.ncsu.edu