Feeding of dry cows : a good start on the lactation

Abstract: At parturition, it is a critical period and an increased risk of the cow being affected by metabolic diseases. The dry period is therefore a preparation for both parturition and the coming lactation. Today's feeding recommendations for dry cows are debated and advisors express that a clearer guideline is needed. A large focus is on the lactating cows and the dry cows are at risk of falling into the cloud. This master thesis has compared total mixed ration and separate feeding and studied its effect on body condition score and urine pH during the dry period and the energy balance before calving. Management for dry cows and feed ration composition has also been studied. The thesis is based on a field study in which 20 farms in Sweden have participated. For two months, farmers have documented information related to calving. One visit had been made at each farm where assessment of body condition score, urine sampling and tour with the purpose of documenting has been carried out. Farmers also had to answer a number of questions about the dry cows. In addition, feed analyzes, and water analyzes has been performed on taken samples. The results showed that using total mixed ration or separate feeding had no effect on the parameters studied. The feed rations of the dry cows comply with the recommendations in general, but the parameters energy balance and cation-anion balance showed large deviations from the recommended values. The study also showed that farmers management around dry cows differs in many areas