What causes calf scours? As new calves arrive, so does the threat of the common condition known as calf scours or neonatal calf diarrhea.

The goal for management when feeding dairy replacement heifers is to produce high-quality replacement heifers at a low cost. It is difficult to detail all of the business and biological aspects of developing information-based quality control management programs for dairy replacements in this article; therefore, the following key control points will be offered.

Cow comfort has a direct impact on daily health and milk production. Rick Grant and other scientists at the Miner Institute in New York have studied the daily routine of high-producing dairy cows housed in a freestall barn. By combining this information with what we know about improving cow comfort, we can better manage our herds to improve profitability.

It is always easier to achieve a goal when working with biology, rather than against it. By taking advantage of important characteristics of bacterial growth, we can better achieve our goal of feeding clean colostrum.

Diseases caused by mycoplasma continue to emerge and remain frustrating to all segments of the dairy industry. In cows, several species of mycoplasma can cause mastitis, pneumonia, arthritis, abortion, and other disease syndromes. Mycoplasma bovis is the most common cause of mycoplasma mastitis and is one of the leading causes of contagious mastitis. In young stock, mycoplasma may cause a variety of disease syndromes as early as two to three weeks after birth.

We were sitting in the Los Angeles airport waiting for a flight, just watching the local fauna when Will observed the striking similarities between airports and feedlots. We were in a seating area, confined in a controllable number; penned, one might say.

Treatments for diarrhea caused by disease-causing organisms is a big deal to all calf raisers. It seems that we spend a tremendous amount of our time dealing with baby calves, working to feed them appropriate amounts of colostrum, keeping them isolated from organisms that may cause scours and, occasionally, treating those that do develop disease.

Reporting from Bagram, Afghanistan . . .

Editor’s Note: The following is an interview with Larry Matlack of Matlack Farms. Matlack discusses how wrapping bales has benefitted his business.

Droughts occur due to large-scale phenomenas that alter the normal weather patterns in a region and result in less precipitation and, often, higher temperatures than normal. When rain or snow is scarce, there is less water to recharge groundwater, feed streams, fill reservoirs and lakes and grow crops, among other things. The impact of drought on people and all living things can be devastating.