Imagine watching your cows’ herd health decline while the somatic cell count continued to rise. Now picture bringing in a wide array of dairy industry professionals, only to have them all pointing toward a different solution that never seemed to solve the problem completely. This was a reality for more than 11 years for Joan Hohag and her husband, Dean, on their 175-cow operation in Waverly, Minnesota. The problems started escalating in 1999, when they put in a new facility. Minnesota requires an equipotential plane, which is installed in a concrete floor, connected to the electrical grounding system and supposed to reduce stray voltage.

Representatives of the U.S. dairy industry announced an agreement to work jointly with a national energy research laboratory to advance the science and best management practices of renewable energy, environmental stewardship and life cycle analysis of dairy systems and processes. The Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy, the Dairy Research Institute and Idaho’s Center for Advanced Energy Studies (CAES) are working to develop a national research program focused on enhancing the economic viability of dairy farms and rural communities.

American Farmers for the Advancement and Conservation of Technology (AFACT) has joined the Alliance to Feed the Future to help tell the story of modern farming from the heart of the family farmer. AFACT is comprised of farm families from across the country that seek to help all participants in the food chain to understand the benefits of technology used to produce affordable food with minimal impact on the environment. Misperceptions about how food is produced on modern farms are common, and AFACT farmers want consumers to have access to fact-based information that provides peace of mind about how today’s food is produced.

Holstein Association USA’s Star of the Breed award recognizes a cow that would be many Registered Holstein breeders’ “dream;” a cow that can compete with the best both in the showring and with her milk production. The 2010 Star of the Breed is Scarlet-Summer RB Gwendelyn, bred and owned by Scarlet Summer Holsteins of Muncy, Pennsylvania. Scarlet Summer Holsteins is comprised of Jarrod and Marsha Burleigh, and their two children, Alex, 7, and Madison, 4. Both graduates of Delaware Valley College, Jarrod is a nutritionist with ADM, and Marsha works at the farm full-time.

Genex Cooperative, Inc.’s 1HO07235 Jenny-Lou Mrshl TOYSTORY-ET *TV is now the world’s most prolific bull. He has assumed the honorary title of world leader for semen produced and sold surpassing the official record of 1.767 million units held by the Dutch sire Sunny Boy.

Last year, we wrote about a producer from North Dakota who was constantly changing his inflations (see “Time to change the inflations … again,” Progressive Dairyman, September 22, 2010, pg. 85). You may recall … we associated the old Dunkin’ Donuts commercial “Time to make the doughnuts” with this producer’s tedious task of changing inflations. Here’s an update on that “inflation devastation”: The results are a slam-dunk where time, money and milk quality are concerned.

At the first sign of a new case of mastitis, the last thing the herdsman wants is to be left waiting for a call from the milk quality lab to tell them if treatment is worth the expense. You’ve been taught that prompt attention to the health status of your cows always pays off. Meanwhile, the case of mastitis is getting worse and you’re not sure what treatment route to follow. The call, e-mail or mailed letter you’re waiting for will tell you the results of the mastitic milk sample you sent over a week ago. So, do you treat or do you wait? Or is there a more serious issue on your hands?

The following is the first part of a two-part series of articles regarding freestall design and its impact on the cow’s comfort and health. The dairy expansion era in North America, which gathered pace throughout the 1990’s and continues to this day, has resulted in the migration of dairy cattle from traditional tiestall and stanchion barns to the freestall facility, which has emerged as the dominant form of dairy cattle housing worldwide. The basic premise of milking more efficiently through a parlor, while being able to keep larger groups of cows together in management groups in larger herds, is sound from a management and economic perspective.

Times are changing and treating just to clear up visible mastitis is no longer an acceptable goal. Reaching a complete cure, not just a clinical fix, is critical for producers to meet that demand: improved milk quality, a healthier bottom line and productive cows at maximum performance. In this roundtable, three veterinarians share their focus on quality milk management and their approach to partner with clients to do more than just clear up abnormal milk. Their passion is on eradicating the pathogen for each mastitis case by using an extended mastitis therapy protocol to achieve a bacteriological cure.