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“Well Em, today is the first day in 48 years that I haven’t owned a dairy cow,” Dad said to me as we wrapped up our annual New Year’s Day dinner with the family.
Reuters, an international news agency headquartered in London, recently investigated the use of the antibiotic ceftiofur in the U.S. dairy industry, stating that “the frequency at which it’s used improperly in cattle poses a threat to public health.” The article is part of a series investigating superbugs and their connection to antibiotic use in the animal food industry.
Hugh Byron, a retired dairy farmer from Kentucky, was recently interviewed by Reuters as part of a series investigating the use of antibiotics in the food supply.
The article included a section about the practice of using some antibiotics to boost the health of a sick dairy animal long enough to take the animal to slaughter.
Two global trade analyses published in December foretell continued downward pressure on international commodity pricing through at least the first half of 2015. Supply and demand relief will come – but slowly.
On the supply side, processors in New Zealand and Europe have cut farmgate milk prices, but in dairy it always takes time for the signals to translate into lower production at the farm.
Dec. 9-11, 2014, marked the 20th annual Vita Plus Dairy Summit. More than 200 producers and industry professionals were in attendance.
The event, held in Red Wing, Minnesota, kicked off with farm tours to Clay View Dairy, Fetzer Farms and Son-Bow Inc. At each stop, attendees were able to tour the operation, ask questions and learn about practices and innovations the owners of each dairy used on their operation and why.
I’m sure you may have heard a farmer say, “Someday this farm will be his,” or “Someday we will get to the lawyer’s office, but we have work to do.”
My sister, Barbara Edie, wrote the headline, “Someday is not a day on my calendar,” when she relayed the memories of an active 1988 spent with my other sister, Grace, who died tragically that year. Barb’s resolve was to never put things off and not let “someday” creep into her thinking.
To get calves off to a fast start and achieve early growth goals, calf and heifer raisers invest in newborn and pre-weaned calf nutrition. Despite the extra attention on pre-weaned calf performance, it is not uncommon for the level of calf nutrition to slough off once calves are weaned.
It’s always exciting when new calves arrive. You want to do everything you can to help your newborns thrive and grow.
One of the critical first steps in ensuring overall health is to feed enough high-quality colostrum in the first 24 hours of life, as calves are born with no antibodies to fight dangerous organisms.
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