HOT weather was not only causing Mark Bottcher's dairy herd to produce less milk, but the stress was also causing havoc keeping cows pregnant.
With his cousin Stephen, Mark owns and runs Bottcher Brothers, a two-herd operation of up to 1000 cows at Gannawarra, near Cohuna in Victoria.
The farm cops the full brunt of a dry, hot summer.
Paddocks are shaded by huge gum trees. The feed pad, where the milkers spend most of their summer days, is only a short walk from the dairy.
Sprinklers are left on at the dairy yard for cows to return to cool off.
But even with these cooling measures, the cows were still dropping production and losing un-born calves and it was proving a huge cost to the business.
Willing to try anything to fix the problem last year, Mark added Betaine to the milkers' total mix ration over summer.
Betaine comes in a powder form and is added to the syrup fed daily to the cows from a mixer wagon.
Each cow receives 15 grams a day.
Mark said the additive worked well for his herd last year but this year "it hasn't been hot enough" to put it to the test.
"Last year, we had a week of nearly 40-degree (celcius) heat (during the day) and the cows didn't go down (in production) at all," he said.
"The temperature never came down at night."
Mark said the cows' ability to hold production was a great relief but the way they bounced back from long periods of hot weather was most valuable.
"The big benefit is when it cools down. Production went straight back up to where we were," Mark said.
"At 12c a day per cow we only need another 2 to 3 per cent of cows getting in calf and it's paid for itself.
"Or (an extra) half a litre of milk. Everything else is a bonus."
