Over the last 50 years, milk production of dairy cows has essentially doubled in Canada. Even if cows consume an increased amount of dry matter, meeting the early lactation nutrient needs of high-producing dairy cows is a big challenge. The transition period is, more than ever, a critical period.

Be it liquid manure from a hog or dairy farm, solid manure from a cattle feedlot or litter from a poultry operation, there can be dramatic differences in the quality of nutrients in the manure, its beneficial characteristics for soil and crops, and its impact on neighbours and the environment.

In partial response to the energy crisis in the early 1970s, anaerobic digesters were installed at nearly 200 dairy farms across the U.S., only for the vast majority of these systems to shut down or fail after just a few years of operation. However, with improvements in anaerobic digester technology, as well as a better understanding of the anaerobic digestion process, there was a resurgence of anaerobic digesters being installed on large dairy farms beginning in the late 1990s and continuing to this day.

As much of the U.S. is experiencing hotter, dry weather, water quantity and quality can become a major issue.

Mark Herrman Channel Sales Manager Arm & Hammer Animal Nutrition Madison, Wisconsin

Lameness in dairy cattle is a major issue worldwide that affects animal welfare and management. Foot and claw disorders are the predominant cause of lameness, result in reduced milk production and reproductive performance, and rank high among the reasons for involuntary culling of cows, implying considerable impact on farm profitability.

The RFD-TV founder and president, Patrick Gottsch, says of the 2016 presidential election, “I don’t feel the urban media is asking the questions important to the 27 million households who choose to live in rural America.”

Nutritionist Margaret Winsryg, Ph.D., has been a dairy consultant in the western U.S. for the past 25 years. She works for Calibrate Technologies, a decision-making tool providing better insights for starch and fiber digestibility, in a technical support role to dairymen and nutritionists across the country.