The monthly reported milk protein and butter fat content are plotted. This shows longer term trends and also helps identify any issues induced by 'factoring' (sampling in morning one month then in the evening the next month).
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The monthly production data also gives some initial information about herd performance over time. These include the numbers of cows in milk and their average production and the average days in milk. The latter figure gives some initial and valid indication of the calving interval.
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| The average days in milk over the past year can be used along with length of the dry period to estimate the calving interval. If the butter fats plot show a 'saw tooth' pattern high one month and then low the next month this suggests that factoring is influencing butter fat measurements. A correction factor is calculated that can be used to reduce this effect when looking at milk composition by cow within a single months results. | ||||
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©2010 Chalcombe Publications
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