Ter Horst cannot afford any ‘misses’.

Ter Horst from Hellendroon milks approximately 125 cows on two robots with an average
production of over 33 litres.
In order to achieve our ambitious goals, we really cannot afford any misses. “Every cow that
calves has to be a success”, advises Ter Horst. “ In recent years we have made great strides
in the dry cow period, which means that cows calf quicker and start lactation with much
more vigour.

“Infusions stay in the cupboard”

Infusions are a thing of the past, clinical milk fever wasn’t the biggest problem for the Ter
Horst family. Subclinical milk fever with all the more consequences was more prevalent.
After calving, every cow received an IV, says Gert, cold ears and low activity was the
reasons. Our new dry cow approach ensures that cows have clearly more vigour and vitality
around calving. If the dry period is in order, cows are healthier and naturally give an enormous amount of more milk, advises Ter Horst convincingly.
“Everything has to be “just right” out there.
On the advice of his vet, Ted Horst has been using the unique Animate approach during the
dry cow period for over half a year. With this approach the dry cow ration is targeted and
supplemented with Animate. Allowing the cow to maximise and utilise her Calcium
availability. Which is crucial around calving to ensure a smooth calving process. Having
extra calcium helps the cow start lactating from the moment of calving. I don’t need to feel
their ears anymore, I can see the cows are visibly more active and start lactation without
any issues.