Extensive research conducted five decades ago still serves as the basis for milking practices today. Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) is a Gram-positive, facultatively anaerobic, nonmotile, nonsporulating,...
New dairy farm technologies were center stage at the Precision Dairy Conference last week. Just as cellphones are slowly phasing out landlines, some current mechanics and methods of operation on dairy...
Regancrest Farm strives to balance quality genetics and management. In the dairy community, Regancrest is associated with elite Holstein bulls like Regancrest Elton Durham-ET and deep cow families, like...
Annual June event entertains and showcases technology. Dane County is home to Wisconsin's state capital, Madison. But, on June 8, the focus went from the city to the country as the Dane County's 35th annual...
Mastitis occurs in individual cows. Our control programs are designed for the whole herd. "The ideal system for recording clinical mastitis will allow the practitioner to evaluate important cow factors...
With record-low hay stocks, many farms will need to stretch their forage supplies. by Abby Huibregtse, Hoard's Dairyman Associate Editor The USDA recently released estimates for hay in storage, and it's...
Foot health impacts reproduction, production and early culling. Nigel Cook presented theHoard's Dairyman monthly webinar on Monday, May 13, 2013, entitled "No more lame excuses." Lameness prevalence has...
Delegates to the National Conference on Interstate Milk Shipments (NCIMS) veto a reduction to a 400,000 SCC. Once again, a National Milk Producers Federation proposal to bring the U.S. somatic cell count...
The dairy industry is a global industry, and the U.S. is a key player. India actually produces more Energy Corrected Milk (ECM) than the U.S, but for countries that only count cows milk, U.S. is the top...
Mastitis has severe economic consequences costing, on average, $200 or more per case. The disease also impairs cattle well being. While prevention is preferred, there are a number of technologies that...
Focusing on "the other bacteria," or emerging mastitis pathogens, Pam Ruegg, University of Wisconsin-Madison, addressed those gathered at the Wisconsin Dairy Field Representative Conference
"You can't just go out there, feed them and squeeze them," was one of the many great financial one-liners Gary Sipiorski shared with a packed audience at the Great Lakes Regional Dairy Conference in Frankenmuth,...
Excellence in what is not only possible for the production of superb quality milk, but what is already taking place on U.S. dairy farms, was celebrated January 29 at the 52nd annual National Mastitis Council...
For some time, dairy producers and other industry specialists who closely follow genetic evaluations have agreed that productive life estimates - a measure of how long a cow lives - have been somewhat...
Per case, mastitis and metritis rank as the most costly transition disorders. On every dairy, the transition period, the three weeks before to the three weeks after calving, is a critical time for our...
Compared with the most recent August genetic evaluations, and even last December for that matter, the dizzying pace of escalating breeding values has seemed to slow to a more traditional pace as the top...
"Rethinking your feeding options for 2013" was the topic of discussion on yesterday's (October) Hoard's Dairyman webinar presented by Mike Hutjens, University of Illinois. Drought-stressed feed, low yields...
On the farm, the need for a smartphone depends on the user. But I could make the case that each farm could have one if they wanted. Your extra costs are about $100 initially (over two years) for the phone,...
Sire summaries are calculated by the United States Department of Agriculture three times each year in April, August and December. Hoard's Dairyman compiled the August data on the seven dairy breeds and...