The postmortem examination technique, also called necropsy, is not complicated. I like to start by placing the carcass on its left side, cutting the dead animal in the right axilla, and proceeding to open the skin from the mandible to the inguinal region.

Respiratory disease is responsible for nearly half of all weaned heifer deaths on U.S. dairy farms. New benchmarks for pneumonia treatment and mortality rates take aggressive aim at this troubling statistic from the National Animal Health Monitoring System’s Dairy 2007 study. The benchmarks, established last year in the Dairy Calf and Heifer Association’s Gold Standards II, urge heifer growers nationwide to keep pneumonia treatment rates under 3% for heifers between 6 months old and 12 months old and less than 1% for heifers 12 months old to freshening.