Making dry-cow management a priority sets cows up for a successful next lactation. Since mastitis is the most common clinical disease reported on U.S. dairy farms, and one of the top reasons cows are sold, it’s critical to maintain a high level of care throughout the dry period.

The benefits of a healthy transition period are more than simply the convenience of not having to deal with cases of ketosis or twisted stomachs.

Three dairymen who installed rumination and activity monitoring systems over five years ago share their experiences and advice from the East, Midwest and West regions.

Currently, one of the biggest opportunities for increased performance on our dairy farms centers around our fresh cow programs. Fresh cows have a great opportunity for production potential, but if we do not set them up for success properly, they will not be able to achieve an optimal level of production.

The importance of transition cow management is well-known. But until recently, there have been unknowns about early disease indicators which impact the health of transition cows and heifers.

Numerous studies confirm the periparturient period (immediately before and after calving) is when dairy cows are at greatest risk of developing diseases and involuntary culling.

Subclinical ketosis: The quiet milk thief, sickening cows and frustrating farmers nationwide. The bad news: Detecting it effectively and efficiently on-farm can be costly and challenging.

Within fat cells, fatty acids are stored as triglyceride molecules and constitute one of the main energy reserves that are mobilized during times of negative energy balance, such as the transition period. Fat mobilization is the metabolic process that cows use to either release or store fatty acids within fat cells.

Ask any producer who consistently feeds close-up dry cows a negative-DCAD diet if it makes a difference for transition cows, and the answer will be yes. Producers routinely report that when cows are metabolically acidified, they have strong labor and calve quickly with fewer problems.

“Implementation of best management practices for transition cows will plausibly improve metabolic health, immune function and regulation of inflammation,” says Luciano Caixeta, DVM, Ph.D., and associate professor at the University of Minnesota.