Designing Facilities for the Adult Dairy Cow During the Nonlactation and Early Lactation Period.

Improvements during transition, following a blueprint that allows for all cows to eat from the feedbunk simultaneously and have access to a comfortable soft bed, avoiding regrouping stress 2 to 7 days before calving. Approaches to prefresh cow housing have incorporated dedicated pens for cows and heifers, sequential fill approaches in larger herds and all-in-all-out pens to maintain social stability throughout the prefresh or dry period. This blueprint has improved postpartum health and early lactation milk performance.