2012 WORLD HOLSTEIN CONFERENCE - Dansk Holstein

SESSION 3: IMPROVING REPRODUCTIONUSING NEW TECHNOLOGIESTransition Cow Index TM (TCI TM )KEN NORDLUND (USA)Ken Nordlund is a Clinical Professor in the Food Animal ProductionMedicine group in the School of Veterinary Medicine at the Universityof Wisconsin-Madison. He received his veterinary degree from theUniversity of Minnesota in 1977 and was a private practitioner andpractice owner in Fergus Falls, Minnesota from 1977 to 1989. He is aboard-certified Dairy Specialist in the American Board of VeterinaryPractitioners. In 1989, he joined the University of Wisconsin andhelped to found the Food Animal Production Medicine program.His research interests include dairy record systems includingdevelopment of the Transition Cow Index TM and interactions betweendairy cattle housing and health.Approximately 75% of dairy cow disease events occur in the month during the transition period of 3 weeks beforethrough the month after calving. Because these disease events early during the lactation have a huge impact onfuture survival and milk yield, a system to objectively evaluate and monitor management of the transition period isimportant for improving dairy herd productivity. On-farm records of disease events are too variable between farmsfor this purpose. A method called Transition Cow Index TM has been developed where the actual 1st test milk yieldcollected between 5-40 DIM is compared to a prediction of 1st test milk yield. The prediction equations weredeveloped using mixed models and the AgSource DHIA cow data from a two-year period representing 4,025 herdsand approximately a half-million cows.Studies have shown TCI TM to be negatively associated with fresh cow disease events. Using a stratified randomselection of Wisconsin freestall herds, transition management practices and facilities were evaluated in 50 herds thataveraged 699 cows in size. Herd average TCI® scores ranged from -4,404 to +2,413 lbs. Risk factors associated withherd average TCI scores were prefresh bunk space per cow, freestall base, size of freestalls, days in calving pens, anddisease screening methods.TCI TM offers a method to benchmark individual herd transition management programs, provides economicinformation about the value of programs, and offers a tool for ongoing monitoring of herd transition managementprograms.17