Looking to fine-tune your corn silage production process? A fermentation analysis can unlock clues. When you open a new bag or bunker, running a fermentation analysis will provide a “report card” on your harvest and storage, identifying potential areas for improvement.

Most independent advisers concur that proven, quality forage inoculants are a key part of the overall management package required to produce high-quality silages. Traditionally inoculants have contained various species of homolactic acid bacteria (e.g., Lactobacillus plantarum, Pediococcus pentosaceus) to get fast, efficient production of lactic acid to shut down plant enzymes and prevent growth of undesirable microorganisms (e.g., clostridia, enterobacteria). However, silage produced this way may heat and spoil during feedout, since lactic acid does not have strong antimicrobial properties.

This article was #2 in PDmag's Top 5 most-well read New Technology articles in 2010. Summary: The Walkease hoof block, created by Shoof International, is made from ethylene vinyl acetate, or EVA foam. The new foam hoof block sticks to a hoof with a one-step “super glue” for anywhere from one week to 14 days. It was designed to give producers and veterinarians an option for an early intervention hoof care treatment. Because this article was so popular, we asked Katie Klessig of ANIMART Inc. some follow-up questions:

Due to the global spread of digital dermatitis (hairy heel wart or strawberry heel) over the last 25 years, the prevention of lameness in dairy herds now ranks alongside fertility and mastitis as one of the top three farm management issues that have the most negative economic impact on a dairy. In the same time period, it has been widely accepted that once digital dermatitis is present on a given farm, it cannot be eradicated and so a regular footbathing regime must be implemented on-farm in order to control the background levels of causative organisms and to stop the spread of infection.

The other day Reg, my husband, and I were traveling across the Navajo Reservation near Many Farms, Arizona. We saw hundreds of motorcyclists in black suits and masks driving towards us. My heart leaped to my throat as we pulled to a stop at the man-made road block.

Ensiling forages – usually cereal, grasses or legume crops – is a very practical and cost-effective way for dairy farms to preserve and store feeds. Even though the process of ensiling has been utilized for many centuries, and modern research abounds on the proper ways to ensile forages, it’s amazing how many dairy farmers carelessly or ignorantly wreck a crop of corn or haylage through an improper ensiling process.

Over the past decade, livestock and poultry farms across the United States have been under siege by animal rights groups who use a certain tactic – the shooting and release of undercover video – to advance their agenda of ending the consumption of meat, milk and eggs. In the early years, they restricted their activities to breaking into farms at night and shooting video in one visit. More recently, these groups have resorted to a modified approach – getting undercover workers hired at local farms, where they then work for extended periods of time, engaging with on-farm workers and shooting undercover video. While there has been much speculation about whether the animal abuse seen on much of the undercover footage is staged or is incited by the cameraman, the end result is still the same. And for animal agriculture, it perpetuates the challenge we face each day – ensuring our consumer believes in how we farm, in how we produce food and that we are firmly committed to responsible care of our animals.

Many people associate farming with fresh air and a healthy, robust environment in which to work and live. However, much of the air that farmers breathe is dirty and sometimes lethal. Farmer’s Lung and Organic Dust Toxicity Syndrome (ODTS) are names given to two farm occupational diseases caused by inhaling airborne mold spores. Mold spores are produced by microorganisms which grow in baled hay, stored grain or silage with a high moisture content (30 percent). They become active when temperatures reach 70°F in poorly ventilated areas. Farmers most often suffer from these diseases in winter and early spring because the molds have had time to develop in closed storage areas.