Breed for fertility, feed for fertility, manage for fertility – this phrase encapsulates the approach Siebren Jacobi has taken to capture greater herd performance and profitability at Rocking S Dairy in Modesto, California.

Recently, Tom Wegner was named the recipient of the 2023 Boehringer Ingelheim Dairy First Award. “It was pretty cool for Rebecca Gotham, my BI rep, to recognize me, our farm and my employees for all the hard work we do,” Wegner says.

The evolution of production and reproduction over the last 40 years has greatly influenced how we manage today’s dairy herds.

When it comes to the topic of contagious mastitis in dairy cows, the conversation usually revolves around the well-known pathogens Staphylococcus aureus and mycoplasma, with the occasional nod to Streptococcus agalactiae.

There’s not one specific detail that has helped Skyline Dairy maintain a somatic cell count (SCC) of 50,000, but it is rather a team-based focus on cow comfort.

"Every day, I try to target the small deficiencies and see how I can improve it. In this sense, in 2022, both milk value and longevity were affected by the precision of my transition to an owner, complete investigations with my expert robot nutritionist, and small modifications in our forage harvesting process for an optimal quality." —Isabelle Lasalle

The cow and her environment, milking routine and milking equipment are the three legs of the "mastitis triangle" – areas to pay close attention to avoid mastitis outbreaks. Read all about it here.

How can selecting for mastitis resistance benefit your herd? Learn more in our latest article.