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The doors just opened on the newly built, multi-use New Holland cattle housing pavilions at the Alliant Energy Center in Madison, Wisconsin. The pavilions, under construction since breaking ground in April, will serve as home to the annual World Dairy Expo for at least the next 10 years, according to the show’s officials.
Golden Oaks, Ransom Rail and Exels Holsteins and Jerseys are names familiar to the winner’s circle at World Dairy Expo, but these three herds have another common chord. They all operate commercial dairies.
Progressive Dairyman caught up with five industry professionals who step away from their main livelihoods for one week of the year to pursue passions close to their hearts.
They make their livings doing such things as balancing rations, planning manure pits or selling semen, yet when World Dairy Expo rolls around, they take on a different set of tasks.
The National Mastitis Council, a not-for-profit organization devoted to reducing mastitis and enhancing milk quality, holds an annual and regional meeting each year. While typically held in the U.S., NMC regional meetings have also included locations in Canada and Mexico.
Winter brings cold, harsh weather with low humidity – the perfect conditions for teat-skin chapping, damage and hyperkeratosis, the most common teat-skin and teat-end problems.
Even when temperatures are in the 30s, combined with wind speed around 20 to 25 mph, frozen teats are likely to occur if preventative measures aren’t in place. During these cold months, teat-skin damage is a major factor predisposing cows to mastitis.
While antimicrobials are essential and effective tools for use in humans and animals, antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a growing global concern which puts at risk the prevention and treatments of bacterial infections.
Increasingly, consumers are concerned about the transmission of resistant bacteria from animals and food that is derived from those animals.
Balancing for amino acids has become a new standard in dairy nutrition. Gone are the days when we created lactating rations with protein ingredients based on crude protein. Today, we know that balancing for metabolizable protein is a more precise, economical and beneficial way to maximize dairy ration effectiveness.
As is the case so often, a new farming generation, more than likely, is born into the business as opposed to finding their way there with no previous experience. That is the case for Tony Compton and his son, Benjamin.
Dr. Michaela Kristula, of the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine, began her presentation on mastitis management by telling dairy farmers that they are the most important factor in controlling mastitis in their dairy herds.
High-quality milk is within your reach, she said, if you simply establish a protocol for managing mastitis and make sure it is routinely and consistently followed.
Heifer mastitis is a disease that threatens production and udder health in the first and subsequent lactations. An integrated strategy to prevent and control heifer mastitis should include goal setting, assessment of the current farm systems, application of appropriate farm-specific interventions and monitoring of outcomes.
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