The Pihama Trial — What Happened When We Tested Cow Start Complete on a TARANAKI Farm

INTRO:

In spring 2025 we ran a trial on Pihama farm. Not a research station. Not a controlled university environment. A real pasture-based OAD dairy farm, run by a real farmer, with good old fashioned crossbreds doing what NZ cows do (~450kgMs).

We wanted to know: does Cow Start Complete actually make a difference on the kind of farm most of our customers run?

Here's what we found.

THE FARM

Pihama, Taranaki. 380 cows. Friesian-Jersey crossbreds. Once-a-day milking first 3 weeks post calving. Pasture-based. Idea BCS going into calving. Well-managed. The kind of herd where you'd expect things to be pretty dialed in already.

That's important. This wasn't a trial stacked in our favour with sick cows and poor management. These were healthy, well-condition cows on a well-run farm.

HOW IT WORKED

71 cows were split into two groups at calving. Both groups were managed identically for the rest of the season.

We tracked rumination, milk production, and reproductive performance.

WHAT WE MEASURED FIRST: RUMINATION

In the first week after calving, control cows lost an average of 33 minutes of rumination per day. The CSC-treated cows lost just 1 minute.

That's a 32-minute difference — every day — in the most critical week of the lactation.

Why does this matter? A cow that's ruminating is a cow that's eating. Rumination drives dry matter intake. Dry matter intake drives energy balance. Energy balance drives everything else — milk, immunity, cycling, conception. That 32-minute gap in week one is the domino that explains what happened next.

WHAT WE MEASURED NEXT: MILK

CSC cows (on average) produced 1.3 litres more milk per day — a 4.4% gain across the measured period.

On its own that's a solid result. But it becomes more interesting when you understand the mechanism. These cows didn't get some magic production boost. As a whole, they simply ate more, maintained better energy balance, and got back on track faster. The CSC cows performed closer to their potential. Many of the control cows though were playing catch-up.

WHERE IT REALLY SHOWED UP: REPRODUCTION

This is the result that stopped us in our tracks.

WHAT THIS TELLS US — AND WHAT IT DOESN'T

We're not saying Cow Start Complete will make a healthy cow perform above her genetic ceiling. The best untreated cows in this trial performed just as well as the best treated cows. However, what we're seeing is that a subset of treated cows — the ones who might have run a calcium deficit in those first 48 hours — stayed on track when they were supported. The calcium gap was not holding them back. CSC closed that gap.

Restoration of nutritional deficit set her trajectory.

THE BOTTOM LINE FOR YOUR FARM

If you're hitting good submission rates and conception rates already, you might not see the same magnitude of difference. But some signs to think about… if your empties have been frustrating you — and your vet hasn't been able to put a finger on why — it might be worth asking what's happening at calving. If you have a lot of cows positive at Metricheck, or have cows that are slow to begin cycling, or are not conceiving well at first service… talk to your vet. Low calcium could be in the mix.

It’s the first 48 hours that can set the trajectory for the whole season. That's what Pihama showed us.

TALK TO YOUR VET

We've worked through all of this data with vets across NZ. They understand the nuances and how it relates to your farm specifically. If you want to know whether Cow Start Complete makes sense for your herd, start there, that’s our recommendation.

Froger et al. 2026 — manuscript submitted for peer review. Trial conducted in collaboration with Coastal Vets Ltd, Taranaki.

These outcomes likely reflect restoration of normal physiological function in calcium-deficient cows, not performance enhancement beyond expected potential. Cow Start Complete is an oral nutritional compound exempt from registration under the ACVM Act 1997.