One key to efficient dairy herd management is understanding the concept of invisible cows — cows that don’t get sick, get pregnant again easily, and require little attention. These cows quietly contribute to the success of the herd without causing problems or extra work. A whole herd of invisible cows would mean fewer health events, higher dairy milk production, and smoother daily operations.
On the other hand, there are what we call welfare cows. These are the cows that struggle with health issues, require frequent treatments, or have trouble getting pregnant again. Welfare cows create extra work and can drag down overall herd efficiency. Identifying these cows is crucial so you can make informed decisions about whether to treat them, stop milking them, or cull them from the herd.
Why Health Records Matter
If you have been keeping cow records for a long time, chances are you’ve seen the benefits of keeping careful records. In the last several years there has been a big push to keep detailed health data and treatment records for cows, the reason being this information has been incorporated into genetics tracked by the CDCB. But as you may have already seen, there are huge benefits to adding detailed health records to your normal data recording routines.
DHI-Plus includes a powerful feature called Health Counts that enhances the reporting of health records. Health Counts allows you to easily see the number of health and disease-related items in your herd. If you are looking for welfare cows (or even the invisible cows), this is a great way to approach it.
Using Health Count Reports to Improve Herd Health
Do you want to know how many cases of mastitis in dairy cows there are in the herd or how many cows have been treated for transition diseases? Health Counts, part of the DHI-Plus herd management software, provides this data in a custom report. This helps you make better decisions about cow treatment and herd health.
If you'd like help creating a custom report to identify invisible cows or welfare cows, please reach out to customer support, they’d be happy to walk you through the process. You may also want to download the DHI-Plus Health Counts guide for step-by-step instructions.
In addition, you can watch a video below that demonstrates the Health Count reports tool in DHI-Plus herd management software.
How Tracking String Changes Improves Reporting
Another valuable feature within DHI-Plus is string change tracking. Logging string changes — like when moving to the cow hospital or from one cow pen to another — helps you identify patterns that could affect herd health and management. For example, you can track how long cows stay in the hospital pen or spot issues with cows frequently changing strings. Understanding these patterns allows you to make better decisions about cow health and overall herd efficiency.
See Health Counts in Action
In the following video, I recorded a quick video to demonstrate Health Count reports in action:
Of course, all of this is made possible because of good health records. The health and care of your animals is a priority, so I’ll leave you with these words of wisdom: If it’s not recorded, it didn’t happen!