TCRA

The Transition Cow Risk Assessor provides the user a platform to complete an evaluation of a dairy herd’s transition program using proven metrics that summarize early lactation performance characteristics and risk factors of interest. Other tools are required to evaluate the fed ration as this assessor’s focus is primarily on non-dietary related factors.

The assessor has 7 pages listed at the bottom of the screen; Interview, Outcomes, Facility, Freestall, BCS/LS, Risk Factors and Map. The evaluator should proceed through each of the pages after touring the transition cow areas of the farm.

Interview
This page should be completed in the presence of the herd manager. Questions relate to herd size, target durations of stay in critical pens and pen move strategies. The answers to these questions are used elsewhere to facilitate calculations and assessments. Where appropriate a DairyComp305 command is given in parentheses to facilitate data capture.

Outcomes
The list of outcomes used to assess the transition period comes from network analysis completed by Schultz et al. (Schultz, K.K., T.B. Bennett, K.V. Nordlund, D. Döpfer, and N.B. Cook. (2016). Exploring relationships between dairy herd improvement monitors of performance and the Transition Cow Index in Wisconsin dairy herds. J. Dairy Sci. 99:7506-7516). Outcomes used evaluate early lactation milk production, metabolic indicators, udder health, and calf and cow survival.

Comparison benchmarks are based on the performance of DHIA recorded herds in the Upper Midwest in 2018. Once the data is entered, the benchmark bar is colored red to green based upon the performance of the herd compared to the herds in the industry. Ideally, all the herd’s metrics are green signifying little need for improvement. Yellow, orange or red colors identify areas where the herd is performing at the industry average or worse.

Facility
This page addresses risk factors related to feeding bunk space and type and use of a bedded pack or loose housed bedded area.
Feeding space: Measure and enter the total length of feed bunk accessible for each group; far dry, prefresh, fresh and lactating pen pens if they accommodate cows less than 41 days in milk.
Type of Bunk Divider: Determine what type of feed bunk is available for each group. Preference is given to headlocks provided cows have had training to use them correctly prior to i