Allen Marx Case Study

WANT MORE of your cows to get in calf this season?

Duthie Rd farmer Allan Marx suggests using cow covers from the start of June through to mating. That's what he does and says the covers are worth half a condition score point on his Jersey/Friesian cross going into mating - and last season his empty rate was just 5%, about half the average for the district.

Allan sharemilks the farm of his parents, Cliff and Bev Marx, as well as his own adjoining farm, making a 340-cow herd in total. With Mt Taranaki not far away it can get bitterly cold, so through the colder months the whole herd wears jute covers that Allan buys from Waikato suppliers Duncans Canvas.

The jute means they are light enough to be held on with just a single strap front and back and they do not have to be removed for milking. The annual "cover up" day in early June is a bit of a chore, but the cows, even those being fitted with a cover for the first time, adjust to them quickly and apart from the odd one managing to lose a cover from time to time most are happy in them till the weather warms up.

They are not waterproof, but the out side sheds everything except a real downpour and the inside seems to take up the oil from the animal's coat and help keep them dry, Allan says.

  The Marx cows have a reputation for being quiet anyway, but it is noticeable how docile the springer herd is when we go to have a look at them for a photograph. We are able to walk right into the centre of the herd without them becoming concerned and when Allan invites us to put a hand under the cover of a cow to feel how warm the cover keeps them, the cow we choose happily acquiesces.

Everyone who works with the herd says how easy they are to handle when they are wearing covers, Allan says.  The other big benefit he has noticed is how much more settled the cows are when they are grazing, particularly when there is a wind blowing.

They're not continually turning their backsides into the wind or trying to get behind other cows. They just keep their heads down and carrying on eating.

The result is the paddocks are eaten down better, the cows keep weight on over the colder months and thrive when the spring growth arrives, making it easier to achieve the condition score of 5 Allan wants them at for mating.
 
He admits there is a cost involved with the covers, but because he buys in bulk direct from the supplier he has been able to obtain a discount and is satisfied that there is a two for one return from the investment in terms of improved cow condition and better production.

Allan aims to get two seasons' use out of a cover, possibly three at a stretch, providing they are washed thoroughly at the end of the season's use and stored properly.

He recently bought another farm in Rowan Rd and is using covers there as well, giving him a total of 530 cows protected from the elements, a figure that makes him Duncan Canvas' biggest client purchasing direct.

Our biggest areas for sales are the Lower North Island and the South Island, said Georgina Bailey, who with her husband part-owns the Canvas Company. We would sell more in Taranaki and the rest of the Lower North island than Waikato, probably because of the colder winters there.

The Marxes' vet, Alistair McDougall, from Eltham Veterinary Services, said Cliff Marx first raised the idea of putting covers on his cows back in 1996 . He hadn't been happy with the way his cows handled the wet, cold winters and felt they didn't look as good as they could at calving time, with a spin-off seen in production and animal health as a result.

Dr McDougall said he had always been a great fan of cow covers, especially in cold, wet, windy conditions where it stood to reason that a cow with a cover on would use up less metabolic energy keeping warm than one without a cover and the saving in energy could be used for better production and reproduction.

Naturally then I encouraged him to go ahead despite misgivings from his farm adviser and the odd sly comment at farm discussion groups. He elected to put covers on 200 of his 300 cows, choosing younger cows, thinner cows, old cows and any that may have had a problem the year before. This cost him $4000 at $20 a cover.

I didn't see him all spring and only caught up with him when he was pregnancy testing his cows. The reason I hadn't seen him was he hardly had a vet out to the farm all season, had fewer sick cows, didn't use a cidr at mating and had a 4.3% empty rate.

He used 1000 conventional (small) bales of hay less than usual, which at $6 a bale saved him $6000 in feed costs, which more than covered the cost of the covers, not to mention the savings he made in animal feed costs.

Dr McDougall said the covers were just one factor in the continued good results Cliff Marx and now his son Allan had achieved, but with empty rates for the farms covered by the Eltham practice running at 10.3% for herds of 200-250 cows and 10.7% for larger herds was an option for people to consider.

BY TERRY TACON