Farmers were urged to 'look, think and act' on what their cows are telling them at the Mole Valley Farmers Lifetime Performance Dairy Conference at the Haynes Motor Museum in Somerset.

Dutch vet and CowSignals co-founder Joep Driessen said happy, long-lived cows would lead to increased profitability.

“All the cow wants is a place to eat, a place to rest and a place to calve,” said Mr Driessen. He said that no cow should be waiting to lie down or eat and if she was farmers should ask why - were cubicle dimensions correct or feed pushed up regularly enough for example.

He emphasised that by meeting these basic requirements and minimising stress, all farmers could maximise cow longevity and advised farmers to:

• Provide access to a clean, dry, comfortable lying area.

• Clean cubicle beds three times a day - adding an extra clean had the potential to reduce somatic cell counts by 40,000 cells and improve resting time.

• Create a stress-free calving line.

• Put fresh feed on top of calves as soon as they were born - this encouraged the mother to eat her first feed whilst licking the calf and improved intakes.

• Provide 85-90cm of feed space per dry cow and 75cm for milking cows.

• Give heifers a hoof check two months before calving and introduce them to dry cows at the same time to allow them to socialise and adjust.

• Run a separate heifer group post calving.

US dairy business consultant, Matt Lange from Compeer Financial said understanding the return on investment for everything a farmer paid for, rather than being caught up with cost alone, was also essential to ensure long term profitability during milk price volatility.

He identified income over purchased feed as one of the most crucial parameters to understand.

He explained: “That’s the most important metric. Am I getting what I’m paying for? I have a client with the highest milk per cow, but third from dead last on profit. Ask how much does it cost to produce that milk. It may be more profitable to be a 40 litre herd versus a 45 litre herd,” he stressed.

Only by tracking costs of production and return on investment (ROI) for various inputs could farmers cut costs effectively. Understanding ROI was also just as important when making culling decisions. For example, he said it took four lactations or more before a cow would make you any money. Consequently, replacing a third lactation cow with a heifer was “highly inefficient”. As a result, maximising cow longevity by providing the correct environment was key.

Dutch buildings consultant, Bertjan Westerlaan of Vetvice, emphasised that building design is a key part of maximising herd genetic potential and that cow comfort is the number one parameter.

Providing deep bed cubicles - preferably sand - ensures cows are able to lie down for their preferred 12-14 hours a day, which ultimately boosts milk yields and cow longevity.

“You wouldn’t put up building without an architect so don’t do it with a cow shed,” he said. “Make mistakes on paper, rather than in concrete. That’s less expensive than in the building. Make it suitable, variable, expandable and last but not least affordable. And integrate a long term vision.”