Collecting and analyzing critical data points, from activity to rumination, for every individual cow can be a struggle for many dairy farms. But this type of information is paramount in maintaining the health and well-being of an entire herd.

Numerous studies confirm the periparturient period (immediately before and after calving) is when dairy cows are at greatest risk of developing diseases and involuntary culling.

The changing animal health field presents both challenges and opportunities for producers and those who serve them. While companies are in the process of bringing new technologies forward to improve dairy herd health, they are also thoroughly researching and monitoring potential health threats. 

Prevention and treatment of oxidative stress (OS) could be the solution to many of the dairy health, production and welfare issues of our time. Dr. Melissa Behr of the South Dakota State Diagnostic Lab believes “oxidative stress is the backbone of all diseases and cancer in mammals.”

Many dairy farmers have seen animals suffering from multiple tumors in the lymph nodes; this is just the tip of the iceberg. Many infected animals will not be clearly ill but are not producing to the best of their capabilities.

Anyone involved in dairy farming knows the frustration of a mastitis infection. It’s costly – maybe your favorite cow was culled too soon or your milk premiums took a hit. One clinical mastitis case alone is shown to cost $444 during the first 30 days in milk.

A contagious disease once seen as a “California problem” has now crept into every major dairy-producing state in the U.S., and it’s wreaking havoc on infected young calves and adult cows.

Subclinical ketosis: The quiet milk thief, sickening cows and frustrating farmers nationwide. The bad news: Detecting it effectively and efficiently on-farm can be costly and challenging.

Ensuring your cows are healthy will improve their productivity, longevity, fertility and resistance to disease, along with reducing the costs of upkeep. A key to this well-being is controlling and limiting their stress.

Within fat cells, fatty acids are stored as triglyceride molecules and constitute one of the main energy reserves that are mobilized during times of negative energy balance, such as the transition period. Fat mobilization is the metabolic process that cows use to either release or store fatty acids within fat cells.