Discover how to use herd health visits as an opportunity to optimize health, welfare and production, leading to more informed, timely decisions to improve herd management over time.

Western Canadian Dairy Seminar selected “Empowered for the Future” as the theme for the March 2024 conference held in Red Deer, Alberta, and placed a heavy emphasis on sustainability throughout the event. Attendees heard from three experts on the pillars of sustainability: economic, environmental and social.

Transition planning is never easy or simple, but some cases are much harder than others. If you are at an impasse, it may be time to evaluate the consequences of continuing with a transition plan so you can make the hard decision sooner rather than later.

The repercussions on the well-being and productivity of your animals can be caused by a multitude of elements.

When an antibiotic is administered, susceptible bacteria may be eliminated, allowing resistant bacteria to thrive and become dominant. This can make the antibiotic ineffective for future treatments and can therefore increase the risk of infections persisting in the afflicted animal and spreading to other animals in the herd, or to humans. 

Since their father began dairy farming in 1974 with only four cows, the Brophy brothers have grown their herd to 200 milking cows, expanded their forage acreage sixfold, overcome a barn fire in 2002, which decimated their milking herd and main facility, and most recently, sprung back from a severe disease outbreak, which resulted in the death of 42 cows over nine days.

In Ontario, the Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHSA) mandates that every workplace have a health and safety communication board which includes mandatory components, based on the number of employees within the employer's operation.