Every case of mastitis is costly to the dairy producer. It may be in terms of decreased milk production, treatment expense, lower milk quality premiums and possible culling or death of the affected animal. Indirectly, it takes extra time during milking to properly identify a treated cow and discard her milk, and there is always the risk of antibiotic residues if a treated cow is accidently milked into the tank.

Dairy producers are familiar with taking precautions to reduce mastitis infection. Maintaining cow cleanliness and comfort, utilizing best practices during milking, closely monitoring somatic cell counts, establishing and following protocols for infected cows, and culling judiciously are all tools for decreasing the impact of mastitis in dairy herds.

When I was a dairy herd consultant in the mid-2000s, I worked with many dairy managers who were very excited to reach a 20 percent pregnancy rate. At the time, these herds were top performers. Today, that performance level is considered average.

Paying attention to transition cow management pays obvious dividends through improved health, increased production and lower culling rates.

With an annual cost of more than $900 million in lost production, heat stress takes a serious toll on U.S. dairy production. Despite large capital investments in cooling equipment, milk production and reproductive performance drastically decline on many dairies during periods of heat stress.

“Give me a bull that’s over 1,000 pounds of milk and positive for DPR.” Does this sound like you describing sire selection criteria for your dairy? If so, you are among many dairy producers who are leaving extra pounds of milk and additional pregnancies on the table.

Editor’s note: This article was originally published in April 2005. The author has updated it and written a sequel, which will appear in the next issue.

A major challenge for today’s hay producer has been to identify and deal effectively with variations in moisture and hay quality. For the feeder of the hay, the challenge is to identify hay quality in order to mix accurate and balanced rations. For the producer, the challenge is to maintain consistency in quality for customers.