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The economic consequences of heat stress to the dairy industry have been calculated to be approximately $900 million annually. This sum reflects not only milk production decline, but reproductive losses, increased lameness, prematurely replacing animals in the herd, rumen acidosis, a decrease in milk fat, premature calving, retained placenta and many other health implications. While many producers consider only the decline in milk production in the economics of heat stress, the losses are indeed greater.
Two main responses cows usually have to heat and humidity are to eat less feed and produce less milk. Another problem that often occurs with heat and humidity stress is an elevation in the somatic cell count of the herd. Below are some suggestions for reducing these summer stress responses of your cows.
1. Ask your nutritionist to check your rations for changes that will help maintain intake and milk production.
Also check to be sure your cows are receiving adequate levels of vitamins A and E, and selenium.
Historically, dairy barns were constructed like houses, striving to keep barns closed-in to protect cows from winter weather. But building them that way ignored the fact that cows have a different temperature comfort range than people.
“Cows are much more cold- tolerant than we are and much less heat-tolerant than we are,” said Jeffrey Bewley, University of Kentucky College of Agriculture assistant extension professor in the Department of Animal and Food Sciences. “Of course, even in the Southeast, we experience winter days where cold stress is a concern.”
Dana Cook, owner of Cook’s Countryside Trucking LLC in North Freedom, Wisconsin, and president of the Professional Nutrient Applicators Association of Wisconsin (PNAAW), knows the importance of sharing the road with all types of vehicles. His manure application business covers most of Wisconsin, northern Illinois, northeast Iowa and southeast Minnesota, passing over thousands of miles of highway each year.
The business hauls for 210 farmers annually and applies manure, or a portion of it, from farms of 40 to 2,000 acres.
Regulations are a commonplace way of managing manure. To keep them from piling up, Dr. Doug Beegle says it’s as simple as a little common sense.
A distinguished professor of agronomy at Penn State University, Beegle provides some things to think about when handling manure, as well as what to do if regulations are afoot in your area.
I will support any action, measure or legislation that will aid and/or comfort U.S. dairy farm families. In a recent e-mail, I was asked my view on the prospects of a specific measure, U.S. Senate Bill S 1645, The Milk Marketing Improvement Act of 2009.
Just like a doctor that works on patients all the time, your mechanic knows your machine, and the machines like it, best. They get a lot of the same problems and usually can give you ways to avoid the major problems with minor improvements or maintenance tips.
Gunner Kyser, a former student of mine and a service foreman at a local dealership, told me about some of the common problems and quick adjustments that will save owners a lot of money.
Back before the collapse of the United Soviet Socialist Republic, we had visitors from Romania tour our feedlot. We explained the program including cost of cattle, feed, maintenance and cost of gain. “How much will they pay you for your cattle?” they asked.
In very simple terms, dairy profitability can be defined as the difference between milk prices and the cost of production, multiplied by the pounds of milk produced. Thus, milk prices, cost of production, and pounds of milk produced are the three critical components for dairy profitability. Therefore, it is very important for producers to have a firm grasp on the three components (price, cost, and volume) of this equation and attempt to modify them in their favor.
When milk prices are high and input costs low, producers should use all possible means to improve production and increase gross returns. When the milk price/input relationship is not that favorable, the approach is usually to cut costs, but this short-term, saving approach oftentimes affects medium- to long-term cow productivity and the milk, overall, shipped from the farm. It is critical for producers to identify those areas where they can reduce costs without having an impact on the cows both in the short and in the long term.
Who is responsible for the safety and quality of dairy products? Dairy producers? Processors? Retailers? Consumers? In fact, all of these parties – from farm to fork – share in this responsibility.
What starts as a high-quality product on the farm can be ruined somewhere along this chain. However, a poor-quality, inferior raw product leaving the farm cannot be transformed into a safe and high-quality product for the consumer.
