In the dairy industry, more often than not, we try to shorten the duration of mastitis treatment due to the humbling economics of milk “going down the drain.” A study from the University of Pennsylvania found that only 24 percent of dairy producers follow the veterinarian-prescribed protocol every single time. The temptation to stop treatment once a clinical cure is achieved is great.

Four dairy veterinarians answered this question: Of herd health challenges that you face with clients, which are the most difficult to address?

Few dairy farmers complain about having too many female calves. It is now possible to purchase semen that will produce about 85 percent female calves. This technology has changed both the dairy and the dairy industry. Like most new technologies, there are advantages and disadvantages, multiple applications and different approaches as we gain experience.

The A.I. industry has been immersed in an exciting time with the introduction and refinement of some of the industry’s greatest technological advancements over the past several years. Let’s take a look at where we stand with sexed semen and DNA marker technology, possibly two of the most impactful advancements in the industry – and what is to come as we enter 2010.

Editor Walter Cooley interviewed Doug Maddox, owner of Maddox Farms in Riverdale, California, and asked about the operation's embryo transfer strategies.

Every year, organizers of the Vita Plus Corporation Dairy Summit use a mountain theme to encourage the dairy producers in attendance to set goals and place their operations in a position to obtain those goals. However, from the time producers left the previous Dairy Summit in early December 2008 until this year’s summit, December 2 and 3, the dairy industry shifted so much that in 2009 Vita Plus begged the question “Who moved my mountain?” to set the stage for its event.

Desire in early November for another wave of dairy farmer action morphed into strategizing among dairy farmers from all regions of the nation for a “Dairy Does D.C.” day.

In Denmark, Sweden and the Netherlands, several dairy producers get up in the morning with full confidence that they know who is pregnant, who is cystic and who is in heat without consulting a veterinarian, or conducting any kind of invasive examination. They will consult their computer for this information, and at the same time they will receive flags of likely new clinical mastitis cases and cows with subclinical ketosis.

Since the dramatic drop in milk prices in 2009, many groups have come up with proposed programs that would control the speed of expansion and possibly limit the amount of milk produced in the U.S. dairy industry. One plan that has been widely discussed would assess a fee to a dairy if its milk production exceeds 2 to 3 percent growth. The real debate is over how much of the milk should be “taxed” – all the milk produced on the dairy or just the milk that exceeds the 2 to 3 percent of allowable growth – and how much that fee should be.

After establishing a transportation company this year, I had the opportunity to survey retail prices in a large portion of the central U.S. It started or was prompted by a Toledo, Ohio store offering 1-gallon jugs for $1.75, regardless of fat content.