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Scouring is one of the common diseases that will affect a calf. It is well-known that keeping calves healthy can have a major impact on their future production.
Stellar calf-care protocols can help to reduce the number of sick calves, but the reality is, no matter how well the calves are cared for, some of them will always scour.
When walking through calf barns and hutches during the winter, it is somewhat difficult to differentiate sickness behavior from cold-stress behavior.
Interestingly, calf behaviors are quite similar when they are struggling with a disease challenge and when they are battling cold weather. In young calves, both stressors decrease activity and reduce thriftiness of appearance.
As any producer knows, a healthy calf grows into a healthy heifer. Healthy heifers will have fewer problems and are more likely to reach their genetic potential. Every little bit counts when it comes to keeping calves healthy. One way some producers are giving their calves an extra edge is by feeding them whole-egg antibodies for the first three weeks of their life.
So which came first, the chicken or the egg? In her presentation at the Professional Dairy Producers of Wisconsin’s Calf Care Connection event last October, Dr. Sandra Godden, a professor at the University of Minnesota’s College of Veterinary Medicine, likened the question of calf-feeding systems versus housing systems to this age-old quandary.
Iodine-based teat dips containing nonylphenol ethoxylates, or NPEs, were once the standard throughout the dairy industry. As possible side effects of NPEs have become known, use has gradually decreased in the U.S. and worldwide. Now a ban by China on the use of this material in milk production products is prompting the component’s final days.
Highly contagious, both Staphylococcus aureus and Streptococcus agalactiae are considered major mastitis pathogens that can significantly impact dairy producers economically.
For the most part, these pathogens cause subclinical intramammary infections that quite often become chronic, John Middleton of the University of Missouri told attendees at the National Mastitis Council regional meeting in Ghent, Belgium, held Aug. 4-6, 2014. Sometimes, though, they can be associated with a high incidence of clinical disease.
In 2013, researchers from Michigan State University, Penn State, Mississippi State University and Florida A&M set out to formulate a quality milk assessment for the prevention of mastitis and reduction of antibiotic use on dairy farms.
Mastitis remains the most costly problem in the dairy industry after decades of research with intense focus on management practices and the introduction of modern equipment. Published research reveals that one-third of all dairy cows are estimated to have mastitis and that 50 percent of cows in Canada and the U.S. have one or more infected quarters.
Memphis, Tennessee, will host the 54th annual National Mastitis Council meeting Feb. 1-3, 2015. Attendees will have the opportunity to see the famous Peabody ducks, as the meeting is being held at Memphis’s popular downtown hotel.
When talking to Brett Feldpausch, manager and partner of his family’s dairy farms, Rich-Ro Dairy Farms in central Michigan, you can tell he takes his job seriously. “We have good employees, but we want to make sure they have the tools to do their jobs well,” Feldpausch says. That is why he installed his version of a parlor timer.
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