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Reproductive performance starts long before the cow is confirmed pregnant. While producers rely on metrics to evaluate their reproduction program, many factors – like nutrition, environment and health – directly contribute to an animal’s ability to conceive and maintain the pregnancy.
One factor that continues to have direct impact on herd performance and profitability is uterine health.
The most profitable cow on the dairy is the fresh cow. The most productive cow on the dairy is the fresh cow. The more fresh cows a dairy has at any given time, the higher the herd’s milk average will be.
On many dairies, however, preparing the close-up cow for her subsequent lactation is often an area that is overlooked. Poorly functioning rumens and metabolic diseases will rob the cow and the dairy farmer of the most efficiently produced milk of the lactation.
Mortality rates in the dairy industry are much higher than those in the cow/calf or feedlot industries. Death losses have not been studied very intensively in the dairy industry. Estimates of these death losses are quite variable.
Unless they are focused on monitoring cow deaths, dairy producers may underestimate the amount of adult cow death loss on their operations.
Texas A&M's Ralph Bruno explained the causes and symptoms of the metabolic disease ketosis in this 2011 article. to jump to the article.
Because this Herd Health article has been so popular, we asked Bruno a follow-up question:
Q: What is the most often overlooked way of preventing or reducing the risk of ketosis?
Ketosis is a metabolic disease very often observed in high producing herds. It is associated with poor management of the transition period resulting in decreased dry matter intake and increased BCS loss (fat mobilization) therefore, increasing blood circulating levels of ketone bodies.
Even though the number of antibiotic residue violations in meat is very small, market dairy animals represent the bulk of violations among all classes of cattle.
Responsible therapeutic use of antibiotics in dairy replacement heifers is a top priority for avoiding drug residues in market cattle and ensuring consumer confidence in food safety.
The U.S. ag industry produces the safest food in the world. However, drug residues in beef are drawing increased scrutiny from the Food & Drug Administration (FDA). Unfortunately, dairy cows are 20 times more likely than beef cows and more than 400 times more likely than feedlot cattle to be flagged for carcass residue. Contaminated meat or milk from a dairy operation can result in significant expense, unfavorable publicity and even loss of market access.
Recent advances in laboratory analytical techniques now allow scientists to detect organic compounds at very low concentrations, in the parts-per-billion to parts-per-trillion range.
As detection limits have dropped and as scientists have begun to test for more and more chemicals, previously undetected organic chemicals are increasingly being found in streams, lakes and groundwater.
These previously undetected chemicals, typically synthetic chemicals released from human activities on the land surface, are now popularly referred to as “emcons” or “emerging contaminants.”
Imagine if your tank average dropped by 15 percent one month. Or you had to dump 15 percent of your milk each pick-up. Think of that impact on your bottom line.
Dairy producers may find themselves in a similar situation if they don’t practice food safety as actively with cull cows as they are with milk. Cull cows and bull calves can represent between 10 to 15 percent of gross farm income, according to most industry statistics.
So while not as significant as the milk check, revenue from cull cows is an important income stream, and steps should be taken to protect it.
Click here to read an update to this article.
I have been in the hoof care business for more than 16 years and have seen my herds expand in size over and over again.
The industry has integrated from mid-size herds in tiestalls and cows spending much of their time on pasture to larger freestall operations with cows spending most or all of their time walking on concrete.
TRENDING TOPIC ARTICLE: HERD HEALTH
Published: March 22, 2011 print issue
In this past article, IntraCare’s Koos Vis discussed the cause and symptoms of foot rot as well as the treatment and preventative steps to take.
He also provided information about how to distinguish foot rot from other hoof health problems. to jump to the article.
He wrote, “If your cow is lame for a long period of time, the cause most likely is not foot rot. The foot may smell and look ‘rotten,’ but the inflammation is quite probably not caused by foot rot and we’re dealing with another cause of lameness.”
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