Monitor Transition Cows, Improve Profits with TCI^TM

In addition, it is an indirect but quantitative measure of early lactation health. Since it looks at the cow's performance immediately after freshening, it has a limited lag time and can be used for making timely management decisions

The transition period, characterized by the termination of pregnancy and the initiation of lactation, is the most important part of the cow's life and determines the cow's lactation production. This period is associated with tremendous hormonal and metabolic changes. As a result, approximately 80 percent of dairy cow disease events occur in the first three weeks after a cow delivers a calf. It is very difficult for a herd having many poor starts to have their cows reach their genetic potential - regardless of subsequent management.

Until TCI, there has not been an effective tool to evaluate transition management and determine whether or not these practices are resulting in healthier, more productive fresh cows. In the past, peak milk production was used as a measure of fresh cow performance. However, if you have a group of genetically superior animals freshening in one month, this gives a biased view of the effect your dry and fresh cow management had on production. The Transition Cow Index eliminates this issue because each cow serves as her own control.

In addition, cows may take three months or more to reach peak production. In contrast, TCI looks at the cow's performance immediately after freshening. Its limited lag time also makes it a faster indicator than rolling herd average for determining the future production level of the herd.

How TCI works

TCI was developed by Ken Nordlund, DVM, from the University of Wisconsin School of Veterinary Medicine Food Animal Production Medicine faculty using two years of AgSource records from half a million cows. From this immense volume of data, Nordlund developed an equation to predict what a cow should produce in her next lactation based on her last lactation's milk production and thirteen other significant factors.

TCI calculates an expected 305-day production in the next lactation for each cow in your herd. After the cow's first test day, a projected 305-day production for this lactation is generated. In simple terms, the difference between a cow's actual projection and how she is expected to perform is her Transition Cow Index.

For example, a cow that completed her last 305-day lactation at 30,000 pounds of milk might be expected to produce 31,000 in her next lactation. If she starts her lactation very well with a first projection of 32,000 pounds, her TCI is +1,000 pounds.

Excellent TCI scores do not reflect the best cows, but rather the best transition programs and the healthiest cows. Dairy operators with average producing cows can achieve excellent TCI scores if they do a great job with fresh cow management. High producing herds with low TCIs do a great job of "recovering" cows from problems during the transition period.

TCI - an early lactation health monitor

"TCI is an objective way to rate over-all cow health," states Dr. Nordlund. TCI is an indirect but quantitative measure of early lactation health that measures fresh cow performance by summarizing the net effects of preventative programs and disease management at the herd level.

Individual herd health records may be useful for analyzing fresh cow health; however, these records can be highly variable. For example, herd managers have different criteria for identifying and diagnosing ketotic cows, causing variation between and within dairies. In addition, health events are not always recorded, resulting in incomplete records, so comparing fresh cow programs between farms using on-farm health records is impossible. Therefore, TCI is the most effective and unbiased method of measuring and comparing your herd's fresh cow health and performance.

"TCI gives us an objective score to evaluate and compare health management records without having to rely on extremely inconsistent farm-generated health records," Dr. Nordlund states.

Other uses for the Transition Cow Index

Besides monitoring fresh cow performance, the transition cow index also allows herds to benchmark their own performance and compare it to an industry standard. Without objective benchmarks, producers don't know how good their transition programs actually are. And, without objective benchmarks, many accept poor results because it's what they are "used to."

TCI compares your herd's fresh cow performance to an industry standard and also allows you to make month-to- month comparisons. The added benefit of monitoring is that you can evaluate management practices immediately to determine how it affected your transition cow program.

The average TCI in the AgSource database is -489 pounds. Herds that are at or above the 90th percentile achieve TCI levels above 1,124 pounds. Herds with TCI levels at or above this level reflect excellent dry cow management where fresh cow diseases are prevented and those cows that do get sick are identified early and treated correctly.

If a herd has average or below average TCI levels, the herd probably has transition management problems with a high proportion of fresh cow health problems, difficulty in identifying sick cows or trouble treating them appropriately. These herds have profit opportunities available if changes are made to the dry cow, calving or fresh cow management. This could be as simple as a ration adjustment or as complex as building a transition cow facility. Identifying causes and preventing problems during the transition period will result in healthier cows, less labor, more effective use of treatments and increased profits.

The increased profits are mostly due to increased production. Raising a herd's TCI 1,000 pounds will on average raise end of lactation production 780 pounds per cow. If milk is priced at $13.50 per hundred-weight, this means an extra $105 per cow extra milk income. Other benefits of raising a herd's TCI are lower culling rates and decreased mastitis. In addition, the Transition Cow Index is the fastest and most responsive indicator of future production levels of a herd. A TCI change will be reflected in daily milk production in a month or two and in rolling herd average several months later.

TCI is a fresh cow monitor. No other measure is as accurate a barometer of early lactation performance. Herds with healthy cows before, during and after calving will have higher TCIs than herds with problems in these areas. TCI does not indicate what is needed to improve your transition cow management or identify your program's bottlenecks to increased profitability. It simply indicates there are opportunities for you to pursue in this area.

Since each cow serves as her own control, TCI is both management type and size neutral. With TCI, you simply are comparing each fresh cow's actual performance against her prediction. Regardless of herd size, TCI is an essential tool for measuring the effectiveness of your transition cow program.

The Transition Cow Index is patented by the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation and licensed to AgSource. TCI will be offered nationally in 2007.