Imagine that you have a 500-cow dairy with a fresh pen that has 50 freestalls and an equal number of lockups. Do you know how to meet your fresh cows’ needs? Can you notice small things that may possibly give you a hint that cow #2882 is having some postpartum concerns? Is your labor set up to handle these issues? We will consider a couple of ways to get organized to handle these concerns by focused observation and assessing risk management.

Pinkeye can negatively impact the production and overall health of dairy animals. Norm Stewart, manager of dairy technical services for Intervet/Schering-Plough Animal health, offers best management practices for preventing pinkeye. “Taking a stand against pinkeye requires a three-pronged approach that includes vaccination, fly control and environmental management,” Stewart says. “Like a three-legged stool, leaving out any of these key elements can bring down your entire control program.”

Successfully navigating the transition period can be difficult on many accounts. Maintaining dry matter intake (DMI), adapting to social challenges and bypassing potential metabolic disorders that loom postpartum can cause cows to struggle in the milking string. Knowing how to identify uterine health problems and understanding the financial implications of uterine health disorders allows for more effective treatment and reduced incidence in the herd.

Hoof trimmer: Brian Begert Location: 500-cow dairy in Wisconsin Case study: Heel ulcer with a hairy hoof wart attack Chute style: Upright

This is the second article discussing transition cow management. In the first article (January 1, 2010), I discussed the importance of tracking the many complex cow issues associated with parturition. In this article, I will discuss a few approaches to manage cows during the transition period to minimize the long-lasting effects of ‘parturition complex’ on cow performance. With milk prices better than last year and cow inventories generally low, now is an excellent time to maximize production per cow by managing the transition period.

The period three weeks before calving through three weeks after calving is, without doubt, the most critical and stressful six weeks in the lactation cycle of the dairy cow. Navigating the potential pitfalls of this transition period will take you 90 percent of the way toward a successful and, hopefully, profitable lactation. Preparation and drying-off Transitioning your dairy cow, however, doesn’t just mean planning her move from the dry cow pen into the lactation string. It involves more long-term planning, which you should begin in the last third of her lactation.

Once is an occurrence, twice could be a fluke, three times is a trend. This was my thought as I headed to a 2,000-cow Jersey dairy for the third time in a week to perform surgery on a cow with a left-displaced abomasum (LDA). I had just recently acquired this herd as a client and had not had the opportunity to acquaint myself with the details of the operation, but this problem was quickly frustrating me.

Calving is not a disease, so why is freshening a significant health risk on some dairy farms? I use the following five keys to unlock bottlenecks in transition cow programs in my practice. 1) Facilities and cow comfort 2) Feeding 3) Vaccination protocols 4) Milk quality 5) Disease prevention and monitoring