Heat stress is a subject which is often talked about but not always taken as seriously as it should be as a predictor of cow performance.To see the effect of summer temperatures, Ashley Morris, senior transition managementsystem (TMS) assessor for Premier Nutrition, has analysed data from about 1,600 transition cows and compared winter versus summer figures to tell us what the real impact is.Only 15% of dry cows from Premier Nutrition's TMS survey achieved an aver-age rumen fill score of 4 in August 2020. This was around a third of the number in January (46%) and February (55%).This performance hit was further compounded as fresh cows recorded with a rumen score of 4 in summer were only a quarter of those in the winter months.
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