Mayhem in March

Profile Picture of Post's Author Brady Goetz | Posted April 1, 2024

During my time at Iowa State University, the mayhem of basketball in March became one of my favorite times of the year. There’s something about the underdog defeating a higher seed, a buzzer beater to win the game, and most of all the comradery of the fanbases working to help their team gain an advantage. One thing that always stands out to me is how robust the game schedule is for those teams that advance. They have little time to prepare for their next opponent or even know who their next opponent is even going to be. The teams that advance have players that understand if they trust the process, do their job to the best of their ability and are prepared to handle adversity… good things will happen.

While the mayhem of basketball games keep me entertained, I find myself thinking about ways to minimize the potential for mayhem in the digestive tract of our cows. On any given day there are plenty of organisms and opportunistic pathogens waiting for a disruption in the matrix. For example, springtime is accompanied with temperature swings, fermentation changes, variable intakes, weather events (mud, rain, snow, etc.) and much more. Working through these challenges and reducing the potential for mayhem isn’t a one-person job. Instead, the whole team needs to be involved and invested. I find a great place to start is with two of our FeedFIT® modules “Loading and Mixing” and “Clean Feed”.

We know how important Loading and Mixing are, but take a step back and do an assessment. Evaluate not only the feeder but the equipment as well. Is the mixer level? Are the feeders loading in the middle of the mixer? Is feed evenly distributed throughout the bunk? Taking the time to evaluate and adjust can help reduce variation in the mixer, at the bunk and ultimately in each bite a cow takes.

In a recent blog, Jordan touched on Clean Feed with an update on mycotoxins. This certainly is an important step, but don’t forget there are other potential contaminants that we need to consider. Mud is inevitable during spring, and feeding equipment is constantly in areas where it can track that mud into bunks or the feed ingredients. Make sure that the skid loader pushing up feed has clean tires and isn’t throwing mud or other debris into the feed. In addition, rain seems to find its way into the center of the feed alley. Are we pushing that out before we push-up feed or are we just pushing that into the feed?

Just like the team that makes it deep into the tournament, sometimes we may not have the ability to prepare for an event as much as we would like. If we have a high performing team working together toward the same goal, we can make it through any challenges that may arise. While the chaos of March basketball brings a lot of excitement, preventing mayhem in the digestive tract is crucial for high performance in our cows!

You can find a PDF of this blog post here.

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