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There are several things you can do to reduce milk production without culling. In fact, Dr. Mike Lormore, a leading dairy expert with Zoetis, says using the following three tactics, a farm can remove almost 14% of their milk production without culling cows. The first is reducing milk frequency. Moving from 3x to 2x milking will reduce production by 7-8 lb. per cow per day. It also reduces stress on labor and additionally flexibility in staffing needs. The second tactic is to dry off cows early, maybe 3 or 4 months from calving. Similar protocols are used to normal dry off, but moving these cows to a separate group and changing the diet to all forage will be more successful. However, don’t leave cows dry for too long.

The last tactic is to feed calves longer to get rid of excess milk. Lormore says milking fresh cows four or five days longer and feeding that milk to calves can have several benefits. Feeding calves whole milk for up to 90 days provides an opportunity to remove 3-4% of the total milk supply. Click Here to view full article.

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