An area of milk quality that is at times overlooked is emptied milk tankers that haven’t been cleaned

California, Oregon, and Idaho have set their state maximum somatic cell count standards at 500,000 or less, well below than the national level of 750,000

A new study found that cows fed all grass produced milk with a more desirable balance of omega-6 and omega-3 fatty acids

This is the 25th year that the National Mastitis Council’s National Dairy Quality Awards program has been recognizing the very best milk quality producing herds in the United States

We had a problem with our cows’ tails falling into our manure pan in the parlor, especially in the summer months when it’s warm and flies are present. Looking for a solution, I cut the botto

Every once in awhile we will get a cow that comes into the milking parlor with an uneven udder. No matter how hard you try to position the milking machine properly, it will squawk. My boss simp

While all farms strive to produce quality milk, it appears that mid-sized to larger farms do a better job achieving that goal.

The webinar “Troubleshooting mastitis and milk quality problems” will be held on Monday, December 11

I am a huge fan of chocolate milk. White milk is good too, of course, but if I have a choice, I am going to pick chocolate nearly every time

Linear score and percent of the herd not infected are two additional measures for evaluating udder health and milk quality. Of course, somatic cell counts are key, too.One of the key factors affecting

Getting too low of SCC in the tank is only a look at the entire herd, in response to the item “Can SCCs go too low?” Of great importance is driving down the new mastitis infection rate per...

Selective dry cow therapy targets only cows that have or had infections to receive antibiotics at dry-off. At the same time, cows that do not receive antibiotics get an internal teat seal

I remember arriving at Jack’s farm shortly before 4 p.m. He had called earlier in the day requesting that one of his “really good” cows be examined, as it was struggling to take off...

As “Department of Obvious” dairy questions go, this one ranks pretty high. It’s also one that seems to intrigue dairy scientists tremendously more than it does dairy farmers

Last year, dairy farmers delivered the safest milk supply to consumers in modern U.S. history with a mere 0.011 percent of bulk milk pickup tankers testing positive for antibiotic residues. While perf

Somatic cell count (SCC) has been and remains the golden standard of milk quality. That being said, milk quality can be in question even when SCC is in check

A lot of intramammary infections occur during the dry period even if we don’t see them as clinical mastitis. That situation quickly changes after calving when clinical mastitis reaches its pinn

Quality milk must be a total team effort. That means that dairy farm owners and managers must allow employees to openly share observations and thoughts to improve the milking process

Pay attention to equipment abilities and the milking routine because overmilking means under performing in the parlor. Use this quick test to discover if overmilking is an issue in your barn.

“We scrape wet or dirty bedding back into the gutter and then pull clean bedding to cover the foam mat bed. We apply this practice at each milking (two) and every time feed is pushed up