Shrink is hard to define, but committing to best management practices during harvest, ensiling and feedout can reduce its impact. Over the past few years, sustainability has earned its status as a dairy...
A breeding ground for bacteria, bedding is a significant source of mastitis pathogens in a confinement system. The climatic conditions encountered in many regions of the country necessitate cattle housing....
Since pulsation came on-line, machines have taken a lot of flak for causing mastitis. Observations of the entire milking process, though, are needed to unroot the cause of milk quality problems. Since...
For those looking to shed pounds, dodging dairy fat may be bad for your waistline. Fat is having a heyday. For decades, the standard recommendation within the nutrition community has been to avoid fat...
Students holding degrees in agricultural and natural resources are anticipated to earn a starting salary of $51,220, on average. The ultimate goal for most students is to graduate from college employed....
Up just 1,000 cells/mL, SCC reverted to 2012 levels this past year.After trending downward for nearly a decade, the somatic cell count average of herds enrolled in Dairy HerdInformation (DHI) testing rose...
If you have good prep and good milkers, the use of an automatic teat scrubber or more conventional prep routine should have little impact on production. Forestripping serves two purposes in the parlor:...
While forage procurement and feeding play a huge role in the success of high-producing herds, they aren't the only factors. Reproduction and milk quality are critical elements, too. Each winter, 24 of...
A PCR assay can enhance your milk quality diagnostics. The incorporation of a robust diagnostic strategy has been promoted heavily in recent years as a way to identify the predominant pathogens causing...
In difficult economic times, we become better managers. Shrink is one area where we can tighten our belts. Dairy rations are balanced on the cents per cow that an ingredient will add to or cut from a feed...
A classic game, Jenga tests players' ability to strategically remove blocks from a sturdy tower. One by one, blocks are pulled until the stack comes crashing down. The individual with the steadiest hand...
"I'm fine." How many times have family members commented when a loved one looks under the weather and got that response? I venture a lot if you deal with farmers. They are the "no excuses, gotta get work...
Mastitis threatens your young ladies – and your bottom line – long before they reach the milking parlor. Heifer mastitis is real, it is costly, and dairy scientists say it is more common than...
Lameness and hoof health have garnered a great deal of attention in recent years. At the Vita Plus Dairy Summit, veterinarian Gerard Cramer discussed how we can address hoof health globally. An often-mentioned...
You may have heard this saying previously and wondered what it means or how it would apply to your dairy or everyday life. It's one I try to live by daily in all things, big and small, I sum it up with...
Dairymen balance their feed budgets on pennies. Ingredients are often pulled from a ration based on the perceived cents per cow it could save the bottom line
Forage digestibility can be a game changer. For dairymen who were banking on the harvested tons to add some breathing room back in their forage budget, a crop like 2014's provided little relief
Haste makes waste. An idiom that's long been applied to children completing their household chores is just as relevant to our corn silage harvest and storage. Occasionally, in the haste to stay ahead of...
