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Waste-milk pasteurizers are being utilized by a number of dairies and calf ranches across the country. They can be a good tool to help producers capture the value of a waste product for calf feed, while still working to protect the health of their herds.
But successfully feeding pasteurized waste milk comes with its own set of challenges and management considerations. Delivering optimal nutrition to support the most efficient growth and development of a herd’s future replacements takes some fine-tuning.
The seasons are changing. The mornings are much cooler. Summer fans are quiet. As you walk the alley, heads are down; puffs of moisture come from noses buried deep in fresh feed. The aroma of fresh alfalfa silage and the quiet, satisfied sounds of soft bawls and a few sneezes gives you true satisfaction that your lactating cows are happy. They’re eating. They’re resting. Milk production is good. Life is good.
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Summary: APC Inc.'s Jim Quigley explained that feeding colostrum to newborn calves is valuable for the next several days after birth. He recommends supplementing milk replacer with excess colostrum in order to provide calves with functional proteins, including antibodies.
Because this article was so popular, we asked Quigley a follow-up question:
Q: Are you seeing an uptick in producers feeding colostrum after the first 24 hours from birth?
About a year ago, calf raisers were notified that neomycin/oxytetracycline (NT) regulations for calf milk replacers were going to change and manufacturers were required to cease production of feeds complying with the previous regulations six months ago. As of Oct. 2, 2010, milk replacers and supplements containing the previously-approved levels of NT had to be out of the feed distribution channel and no longer be available for purchase.
In response to the proposed changes, many questions came to the surface quickly: What are the new regulations? Why is this change occurring? Most importantly, how are the new regulations going to affect my calf feeding program?
Respiratory problems are the second-most significant disease for youngstock on dairy operations, behind scours band diarrhea, according to the 2007 National Animal Health Monitoring System (NAHMS) survey. The same study found respiratory disease is the single-largest cause of death among U.S. weaned heifers, with 46 percent of all weaned heifer deaths attributed to this cause.
Richard Nelson of Nelson Farm Inc. in Vermont identifies the threat of respiratory disease as his primary concern for raising replacements.
“The only thing I’m really worried about losing a calf to after they are more than 10 days old is a respiratory challenge,” Nelson says.
With the present economic crisis, farmers still need supplies and support, and Fred McGuillvray is no exception. After moving his dairy to three different Pennsylvania locations, McGuillvray has finally settled in Newville, Pennsylvania, and made the life he always wanted – owning a milking herd of 100 Holsteins. He explains who and what keeps his business moving.
1. Smith’s Implements Inc.
For a dairy farmer hauling his own manure, planting and harvesting different crops and taking care of all the other daily duties on the farm, this local John Deere dealership has a very important role in McGuillvray’s farm. “We can’t operate without them,” McGuillvray says when talking about the dealership. “We go to them a lot, especially in the summer because that is when bearings go bad and parts wear out.”
This article was #3 in PDmag's Top 5 most-well read New Technology articles in 2011.
Summary: Cows at Grand View Dairy and D. Kulper Dairy in Arizona were some of the first to experience the FlipFan Dairy Cooling System. The design of the system allows the 36-inch fans to rotate 180 degrees to point outside of a shade structure. It also features control options that allow producers to adjust for time, temperature, humidity, milking and feeding times and, new to the industry, wind speed and direction.
Because this article was so popular, we asked Schaefer Ventilation Equipment President and CEO Neil Crocker some follow-up questions:
Q: What type of interest have you received? How do you quantify that interest? A: We have seen significant interest from dairymen and academics. In 2011, we installed a total of eight FlipFan dairy cooling systems in Texas, Arizona, California and Mexico.
Measuring, benchmarking and improving reproduction is a common goal within the milking herd. While the industry has a wealth of knowledge and information related to lactating animal reproductive performance, much less exists when it comes to heifer reproduction benchmarks.
Heifer reproductive performance is just as important to the dairy, since the sooner heifers can be bred and confirmed pregnant, the sooner they will join the milking herd and begin to generate revenue. Creating benchmarks and goals for your heifer program is critical to ensure replacement heifers join the milking string in a timely fashion.
Heifer raiser Darin Mann of M&M Feedlot in Parma, Idaho, is focused on getting animals bred and back to the dairy producer in a timely manner. Darin provides six tips for how he effectively gets heifers bred on his ranch:
1. Sort animals upon arrival.
Heifers arrive at M&M Feedlot at 400 pounds. At arrival, heifers are sorted into groups based on their weight in 50-pound increments. This allows for animals of the same size to be fed and managed the same and creates consistency across animals within one pen, says Darin.
(Click here to listen to the podcast of this column.)
Since my infancy, I have heard the stories of Jesus and grew up with their messages ringing in my ears, but I never cease to marvel how sometimes deeper meanings leap out at me, and I see the events with different eyes. The story of the nine lepers is one of those stories.
