Owl Farm case study - BCS profile

This page explains how Owl Farm scores body condition across its herd through the season to protect cow health and reproductive performance. A certified scorer works through the herd five times a year on the 1 to 10 New Zealand scale, timed around calving and mating and again in the months that follow.

Targets are BCS 5.0 for mixed-age cows and 5.5 for first and second calvers at calving, with no more than 15% of the herd outside that range. Any cow scoring under 4.0 is drafted out for a health check and preferentially fed. The farm reads recent seasons, including 5.7 in 2020 and 5.0 in 2021 at calving, against MINDA data and a DairyNZ dry-off calculator to plan feeding and dry-off dates.