As a professional hoof trimmer, primarily dealing with dairy cows, the last two decades have afforded me the opportunity to see and work with an extremely wide range of problems relating to mobility and lame conditions in those cattle under a variety of management situations.

As I squatted over the opened carcass and exposed organs of a necropsied calf recently, much like a vulture attracted to roadkill, it struck me that in another way I was also emulating my Roman ancestors. In ancient times, high priests would predict the future by sacrificing a sheep or calf and reading the entrails. Termed “haruspication,” the seer (or haruspex) would examine the liver, intestines and spleen and make a prophecy.

What you don’t know can hurt you, and it could hurt your cows, too. As an associate professor with the University of Wisconsin School of Veterinary Medicine, Dr. Gary Oetzel is training the next generation of food animal veterinarians.

The critical period prior to calving is often considered a time to reduce stress for the ladies in waiting, but at what point do factors like re-grouping and stocking density negatively impact fresh cow health and performance? University of Minnesota’s Dr. Ricardo Chebel shares the results of his research on these two close-up cow questions.