Dairy NZ explains
Body Condition Score (BCS) as an accurate measure of a cow's energy reserves. BCS targets at different stages of the lactation season helps optimise dairy production. You can record BCS in MiHub and this will allow you to draft and check low BCS cows, preferentially feed your herd and target cows for strategic drying off.
You can access detailed information on BCS and how to assess your cows on the
Dairy NZ website.
Condition Score Targets
A BCS of 5.0 for mixed age cows, and 5.5 for first and second calvers, is a target for each cow.
BCS at Calving
The challenge is to get the spread of BCS at calving as small as possible around the targets. 90% of mixed age cows should be around BCS 4.5-5.5.
Mature cows: BCS of 5.0
Heifers & rising 3 year olds: BCS of 5.5
No more than 15% of herd below BCS 5.0
No more than 15% of cows are above BCS 5.5.
BCS at Mating
The average decrease in BCS for the herd after calving is no more than 1.0
No more than 15% of cows below BCS 4.0 and cows gaining BCS
Entering BCS
On MiHub
You can enter these via the
Enter Quick Events page,
Enter Data -> Enter Quick Events, or by importing a file with body condition scores and date of scoring through the
Import Non-Minda Files utility. To import your BCS go
Administration -> Import Non-Minda Files. (If you want your BCS to be loaded against a historical date, you will need to ensure that your imported file has that date specified.)
On the Keypad
Press the
Ear Tag key
Enter the
Ear Tag Number
Press the
Other key
Scroll to the
BCS Quick Event
Enter the BCS
Press the
Enter key
In-Shed Screen View
Quick BCS Report
The Quick BCS Report will show the spread of your chosen group. It lists all cows with the lowest BCS first. The histogram is a graphical representation of the BCS of your chosen group. This will allow you to select cows for alerting, drafting and grouping. You can access the Quick BCS Report by clicking Herd Management -> Quick BCS Report.
BCS Dry-Off Date
The
BCS Dry-Off Date report provides suggested dry-off dates calculated on cows having a BCS of 5.0 at calving and 2 and 3 years olds having a BCS of 5.5 at calving. It is assumed that pasture and supplement is being fed allowing 0.5 of a BCS to be added every 30 days, with no weight gain being achieved in the last 30 days before calving and the first 10 days of being dried off. This will allow you to select cows for alerting, drafting and grouping for dry-off. Click through
Summary Reports -> More Reports -> BCS Dry-off Date to access this report.