At the 2013 Great Lakes Regional Dairy Conference in Frankenmuth, Michigan, Dr. Roger Thomson from Team Management Concepts and Dr. Ron Erskine from Michigan State University hosted a talk titled “Treat Them or Eat Them: Prevention and Treatment Critical to Milk Quality and Animal Health.” (Editor’s note: Click here to see a related article from the Thomson/Erskine team in May 21st issue.)

A busy postmortem room is a very exciting, entreating environment. It is also an important diagnostic tool for a practitioner and a dairy farmer.

When your veterinarian asks how your herd is doing, how do you respond? Do you provide a snapshot of how things are that day? Do you share anecdotal stories about calf health and reproductive loss? Do you state morbidity and mortality rates of your herd?

When you think about summer, do the words “heat” and “humidity” instantly come to mind? How about the words “salmonella” and “outbreak”? The truth is the heat and humidity of summer can create the ideal environment on a dairy for a salmonella outbreak.

Dr. Janet Helms knows what it’s like to be a young person with a big dream. Helms dreamed of being a veterinarian ever since she was a 7-year-old girl growing up in Long Island, New York. Although there wasn’t any room in the suburbs to house horses, young Janet Helms longed for a horse of her own.

Earlier this year, Dr. Dave Rhoda, a Wisconsin veterinarian, shared treatment protocol planning with a group of dairy and beef producers at the beef checkoff’s annual Dairy Producer Communications breakfast at the Cattle Industry Convention in Tampa, Florida.

Mastitis is among the most costly diseases of dairy cattle. It is a complex disease with many causes, many presentations and many treatment options. Prevention remains the most effective means of controlling this disease.

“Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.” —Exodus 20:12