The seasons are changing. The mornings are much cooler. Summer fans are quiet. As you walk the alley, heads are down; puffs of moisture come from noses buried deep in fresh feed. The aroma of fresh alfalfa silage and the quiet, satisfied sounds of soft bawls and a few sneezes gives you true satisfaction that your lactating cows are happy. They’re eating. They’re resting. Milk production is good. Life is good.

About a year ago, calf raisers were notified that neomycin/oxytetracycline (NT) regulations for calf milk replacers were going to change and manufacturers were required to cease production of feeds complying with the previous regulations six months ago. As of Oct. 2, 2010, milk replacers and supplements containing the previously-approved levels of NT had to be out of the feed distribution channel and no longer be available for purchase. In response to the proposed changes, many questions came to the surface quickly: What are the new regulations? Why is this change occurring? Most importantly, how are the new regulations going to affect my calf feeding program?

Respiratory problems are the second-most significant disease for youngstock on dairy operations, behind scours band diarrhea, according to the 2007 National Animal Health Monitoring System (NAHMS) survey. The same study found respiratory disease is the single-largest cause of death among U.S. weaned heifers, with 46 percent of all weaned heifer deaths attributed to this cause. Richard Nelson of Nelson Farm Inc. in Vermont identifies the threat of respiratory disease as his primary concern for raising replacements. “The only thing I’m really worried about losing a calf to after they are more than 10 days old is a respiratory challenge,” Nelson says.

This article was #3 in PDmag's Top 5 most-well read New Technology articles in 2011. Summary: Cows at Grand View Dairy and D. Kulper Dairy in Arizona were some of the first to experience the FlipFan Dairy Cooling System. The design of the system allows the 36-inch fans to rotate 180 degrees to point outside of a shade structure. It also features control options that allow producers to adjust for time, temperature, humidity, milking and feeding times and, new to the industry, wind speed and direction. Because this article was so popular, we asked Schaefer Ventilation Equipment President and CEO Neil Crocker some follow-up questions: Q: What type of interest have you received? How do you quantify that interest? A: We have seen significant interest from dairymen and academics. In 2011, we installed a total of eight FlipFan dairy cooling systems in Texas, Arizona, California and Mexico.

Measuring, benchmarking and improving reproduction is a common goal within the milking herd. While the industry has a wealth of knowledge and information related to lactating animal reproductive performance, much less exists when it comes to heifer reproduction benchmarks. Heifer reproductive performance is just as important to the dairy, since the sooner heifers can be bred and confirmed pregnant, the sooner they will join the milking herd and begin to generate revenue. Creating benchmarks and goals for your heifer program is critical to ensure replacement heifers join the milking string in a timely fashion.

Heifer raiser Darin Mann of M&M Feedlot in Parma, Idaho, is focused on getting animals bred and back to the dairy producer in a timely manner. Darin provides six tips for how he effectively gets heifers bred on his ranch: 1. Sort animals upon arrival. Heifers arrive at M&M Feedlot at 400 pounds. At arrival, heifers are sorted into groups based on their weight in 50-pound increments. This allows for animals of the same size to be fed and managed the same and creates consistency across animals within one pen, says Darin.

(Click here to listen to the podcast of this column.) Since my infancy, I have heard the stories of Jesus and grew up with their messages ringing in my ears, but I never cease to marvel how sometimes deeper meanings leap out at me, and I see the events with different eyes. The story of the nine lepers is one of those stories.