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This article was #10 of the Top 25 most well-read articles on www.progressivedairy.com in 2014. It was published in the April 4, 2014 Extra e-newsletter.
Dr. Gary Oetzel at the University of Wisconsin – Madison gave a few pieces of advice for monitoring health in the fresh cow pen. Headlocks are a must among this group, as they allow employees to monitor feed intakes, cow behavior and watch for visual signs of sickness or infection.
Previously, we established that defining dairy cow health status is not always a black and white issue. That’s because while the vast majority of cows on dairies are healthy and a few are easily identified as sick, a certain percentage of cows don’t fit in either category.
These are the cows that fall into the “gray area.” These animals do not stand out. They don’t show visual signs of illness or underperformance, but neither are they functioning at full capacity.
Dry cows are the up-and-coming milk-makers in your herd – yet when it comes to cooling, they are often overlooked. A study conducted by the National Animal Health Monitoring System (NAHMS) revealed that 74.3 percent of all dairy operations provided fans for their lactating herd, while only 36 percent offered fans for dry cows.
The milking herd on 20.3 percent of all operations was also cooled by sprinklers, yet only 4.6 percent of dry cows had access to this cooling method.
Green Valley Dairy’s on-farm testing lab provides timely turnarounds for milk cultures and much more.
Manager John Jacobs Jr. operates the 3,500-cow dairy near Krakow, Wisconsin, with his father, John; uncle Mark; brothers Paul and Joe; and partner, Ken Peters.
How often do you or your dairy employees stop treatment because a cow looks better? If your herd manager or person responsible for administering treatment doesn’t show up to work, do your health records provide enough information for someone to pick up where they left off?
Selenium may be a key ingredient to producing healthier meat and lowering animal cholesterol levels according to researchers at the University of São Paulo (USP) in Brazil. The study aimed to determine the effects of canola oil as a fat source when combined with the antioxidants Vitamin E and selenium, as well as determine the metabolic lipid oxidation and nutritional value of the beef.
The result? Meat enriched with Vitamin E and selenium with lower levels of cholesterol, according to the study.
Data collected from several large dairy herds is being used to benchmark claw lesions that lead to lameness, with digital dermatitis being the most common culprit.
A recent study published in the Journal of Dairy Science details findings from an analysis of foot health records from 17 confinement dairies.
Transitioning dairy cattle from dry cows to healthy high-producing lactating cows is the single-most difficult endeavor undertaken on today’s dairy farms. Many studies on the incidence of metabolic problems in early lactation indicate that on average 20 percent of early lactation cows have had one or more metabolic diseases.
As most producers are aware, sick cows behave differently than healthy cows. However, recent research now shows that certain behaviors may also help us identify cows that will become sick in the future.
This topic has been a focus of researchers working at the University of British Columbia’s Animal Welfare Program, focused primarily on early behavioral indicators of metritis and lameness.
Observation skills and experience are extremely beneficial to managing the health and performance of a dairy herd.
Perceptive practitioners of animal husbandry can often tell you at a glance whether an animal is under the weather or is feeling perfectly fine by walking pens, observing feed intakes and monitoring cow behavior for important hints. And they are investing in technology like rumination monitoring to help with this essential task.
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