Stray voltage can be an unseen enemy to the dairy farmer. The fact that it is unseen is partly what can make it so devastating.

Dairy Challenge is a unique event that gives students the opportunity to be a consultant for the day. And in the regional dairy challenge competitions, teams are made up of students from a variety of schools in that area. Students are asked to evaluate and collaborate with complete strangers to come up with viable, profitable recommendations for the dairy farm they visit. They present their findings to a panel of judges and are evaluated, with the top teams for each farm receiving the platinum award.

High costs and low milk prices have dairy producers examining the efficiency of their operations. By increasing the emphasis on an individual cow’s production rather than the herd as a whole, producers can cut wasteful spending and make better-informed management decisions, including whether a cow should be culled.

In recent years, cow comfort has become a topic of great interest in the dairy industry with many articles appearing in the popular and scientific press. This is no surprise since comfortable and contented cows are more productive. We continue to learn more regarding the best ways to keep cows happy. A cow time budget has been developed to help measure and manage the various parts of her day. This budget recommends about three hours for milking. Yet, this time budget does not specifically address the minutes when the cow is actually being milked. This is problematic because this is arguably the most important time of the day for the cow and her owner.

Amino acids are the building blocks of protein, a fundamental nutrient required for optimal cow performance and health. While they are the simplest elements of protein, balancing diets for these amino acids is a very complex concept.

On average, a person uses 18 gallons of water to take a shower. The average shower length is about 9 minutes with an average temperature of 107.5°F. That’s a lot of hot water for taking a shower. Now throw in laundry, washing dishes, etc., and you can see why a family needs a good hot water heater. It also makes sense that a larger family requires a water heater with more capacity. Right? As a dairy producer, do you know how much water you’re using in the parlor and milk house and at what temperatures?

Six dairy industry experts answer questions about the causes and ramifications of dairy lameness.

In the Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine at Virginia Tech, Dr. Ondrej Becvar, a clinical instructor in the Department of Large Animal Clinical Sciences, is working to provide proper hoof care to cattle locally and around the world.

Just like it is for us humans, everything requires more effort when the body isn’t functioning at 100 percent. Therefore, it is only logical that we make some extra effort to provide additional creature comforts on dairies in the hospital and foot care areas.