We have been talking a lot about teat dip lately. Recently, I have covered the basic chemistry behind it, the types of germicides, and the other ingredients and what they do. What we haven’t spoken about is who is making the dip and how it is being made. Why are we paying so much attention to this aspect? Because it is just as important as what is in the dip. Manufacturing facilities and standard operating procedures can make all the difference when we are making teat dip.

There is no one-size-fits-all approach to mastitis treatment. With numerous mastitis-causing pathogens lurking on dairies, producers and veterinarians need flexible mastitis treatment options to effectively treat mastitis. Extended therapy is a relatively new treatment option in the last decade that offers flexibility.

With your 2013 harvest safely packed away, now would be a good time to think back and see if you can do anything better this year. With forage representing 50 to 70 percent of most diets, the need for consistency and quality is paramount, especially as we move to even higher-forage rations, as was pointed out by all three presenters on a recent webinar, “Capture the Benefits of a High-Forage Ration.”

Join the club. You are not alone in your disdain for alfalfa diseases and insects. Invisible disease organisms sit in waiting until the perfect environment exists to indiscriminately infect your alfalfa plants. Insects seem to appear out of nowhere and then reproduce faster than the speed of light to aggressively feed on your crop. Both disease and insect damage can lead to significant loss of production, reduced forage quality and early stand loss.

A thick, healthy stand is every alfalfa grower’s goal. Mother Nature throws plenty of curve balls, but using good management practices can help you come out the winner. To successfully establish a crop of alfalfa, you must optimize seed-to-soil contact; it is the key to optimal yield. But how do we optimize that?

Recycling is a major theme of the dairy industry, and we should hold our heads high because of the extent we are a “green” industry (Figure 1). Just like many of the byproducts we use in today’s rations, so too is the use of manure part of that case of extreme recycling. We are recycling what has already been recycled once.