Often times the importance of body condition scoring can be overlooked when managing our dairy herd for maximum performance. It has been found that body condition scoring, if done on a regular basis, can be used to troubleshoot potential problems, as well as improve herd health, longevity, milk production, and breeding efficiency. Body condition scoring can be a useful tool in providing an early indication of possible problems within your dairy herd.

Most people realize that body condition scoring is simply a subjective measure of body fat stores. Body condition scores range from 1 to 5. Many people will carry this out to increments of one half to one quarter of a point, although for ration balancing purposes we many times round to the nearest point. A cow with a score of 1 is considered too thin, while a cow with score of 5 is considered very heavy. A body condition score of 3 represents the average, but not necessarily the ideal score. We like to see a dairy herd in which the average score of the herd is a 3, but there are always exceptions. The ideal score will vary, since there will always be milking cows in your herd in various stages of lactation, plus dry cows and heifers.

It is important to understand what a change in a body condition score is telling you! For instance, one unit of change in body condition score is equivalent to approximately 121 pounds of body tissue either gained or lost. Body fat increases approximately 12.7% for every one unit increase in score, while body protein decreases 12.2%. In a recent study done at Cornell University, it was discovered that one unit of body condition score loss was equivalent to 400 mcal cumulative negative energy balance. This represents about 1200 pounds of milk from fat mobilization.

Dry Cows: The dry cow needs sufficient energy reserves to support early lactation milk production and combat the period of negative energy balance that goes along with it. Dry cows must not be overly conditioned, as this may have serious consequences. Years ago, people tried to put more weight on their cows during the last half of lactation in order to achieve a body condition score of 4 to 5, because greater fat reserves were converted to higher milk production. In actual practice today, cows freshening at a body condition score of 4 to 5 tend to have decreased dry matter intake, which, in itself, costs more calories than the additional fat was providing. Also overweight cows have a tendency towards more calving and health problems which again lowers milk production. It has been noted that heavier dry cows lose more body condition after calving and have a lower dry matter intake than those dry cows that are at the ideal body condition. Lower dry matter intake sets the scene for displaced abomasum, ketosis, and other serious metabolic diseases. The fatter the dry cow, the greater the risk. These problems are common in over-conditioned dry cows because they must use more body fat to meet their energy needs. This body fat mobilization produces ketones and fatty acids. Ketones then build up in the blood, if they are not broken down quickly enough, causing ketosis. Fatty acids aggravate the problem because they tend to reduce appetite. A body condition score of 3.00 to 3.75 has been suggested as an ideal score for dry cows to provide enough energy reserves and still not cause a decrease in appetite.

Early lactation cows will have a loss of body condition, but this loss should be kept to less than 1 unit. So, if the early lactation cow was at an ideal body condition of 3.25 as a dry cow, she should be no less than a 2.25 as an early lactation cow. Body condition loss should be greatest by 4 to 6 weeks after calving, and cows in the first 100 to 120 days of lactation should score between a 2.50 and a 3.25. A gain of conditioning (repletion of energy reserves) should begin by 7 to 12 weeks after calving, at a modest rate.

It is interesting to note that milk production and number of lactations do not appear to significantly affect body condition loss. Also, high producing cows should not lose more body conditioning than lower producing cows. The goal of feeding management should be to make sure that cows are fed based on their body condition score and milk production. In group feeding there will always be some thinner and heavier cows.

Body condition scoring is useful for your dairy heifer feed management program as well.Heifers that are too thin may not grow fast enough to reach puberty by 13 to 15 months of age, and heifers that are too fat may produce less milk in their first lactation.

At ANC, we realize how important it is to use body condition scoring on a regular basis. Our cow database is designed to keep track of the body condition scores for each cow in our customer's herds, if they are using an individual cow feeding schedule. Our consultants alsoroutinely check body condition scores for cows when they record milk weights, which allows us to continually update a cow's condition score throughout her lactation and dry period. This information is entered into our cow data base and is taken into consideration when we balance your herd's ration. If the condition code is greater than a 3, the amount of grain that is being fed is lowered, whereas if the condition code is less than 3, the amount of grain fed is increased. We are always very careful about maintaining the correct fiber levels to maintain proper rumen function. Our cow data base also takes into account what lactation each cow is in, her body weight, her appetite, and her breed.

For those customers that are feeding a TMR and top dressing protein, our computer program works slightly different. After the computer balances the ration for the average cow in the herd, it calculates how much we would expect her to eat. The dry matter intake is then calculated based on production level, body weight, and days in milk. Our ration analysts also check every ration to make sure that there is an adequate amount of forage being offered, along with checking feeding sequence, fiber level, palatability, and feeding frequency. The protein, energy, mineral and vitamin levels, and the amounts of bypass and soluble protein in the ration, are also closely watched. Using all of these variables allows our ration department to formulate the best possible ration to achieve maximum health and production for your herd.