Heat stress is the driving force behind the dreaded summer milk slump, costing up to $5.60 per cow per day in lost profit.  As your local weather forecast starts to heat up, follow these seven steps to help beat the summer heat. 

With more than 40 years of experience as a veterinarian, Dr. Russ Weston has been involved in improving milk quality issues on a number of farms. He spoke earlier this year at the Illinois Dairy Summit and outlined seven steps to treat and reduce the spread of mastitis.

Adult cow death loss is right around 10 percent for most U.S. dairy herds, but Colorado State University’s Dr. Franklyn Garry believes doing one thing could significantly reduce the number of cows that die on your dairy.

During the past several months, Progressive Dairyman readers have responded to an announcement last fall that tail docking will not be permitted as part of Farmers Assuring Responsible Management, or the FARM program, beginning next year.

As dairy producers can attest, ketosis is a common health challenge. However, without a routine testing program, many producers do not realize how many of their cows are affected. Several large studies indicate that, on average, more than 40 percent of cows experience ketosis at least once during the first two weeks after calving.

Health remains one of the primary reasons for animals leaving the herd. Why do some cows get sick more often than others when they’re living in the same environment, eating the same ration and being exposed to the same pathogens?

The negative effects of heat stress take a big chunk out of dairy farm coffers each season. The amount may be more or less, depending on the year, but estimates often put U.S. dairy industry losses to heat stress around $900 million annually.

Heat stress not only reduces milk production, it causes physiological changes with impacts that can remain long after the actual heat event has passed, such as aborted pregnancies and maternal death, not to mention declines in milk productivity that may never be regained.

What would you do with a few thousand dollars extra in the checkbook at the end of every month? Replace worn-out freestalls; start planning a new transition cow barn; add technology to the parlor? What if just a few small changes to one area of your operation could make that possible?

It’s no secret that warm temperatures cause stress for dairy cows. While some effects are noticed immediately, like a drop in milk production, others rear their heads weeks or months later, like reduced reproductive performance and even lameness.