Key takeaways for improving milk quality Let’s think about what makes for a profitable cow on your dairy. Yes, the cow is productive – strong milk production, the right balance of fluid and solids, and breeds back in a timely manner to tackle the next lactation – but, also, the cow is healthy.

Inventory should be updated every time semen enters or exits the tank. Always ensure hands, gun and all equipment are kept clean and themometer is working properly.

As concerns over falling reproductive performance escalated around the turn of the century, dairy cattle breeders and advisers decided to take on this trend by putting more emphasis on reproduction-related genetic traits (e.g., Daughter Pregnancy Rate [DPR] and Sire Conception Rate [SCR]) and seeking out effective heat detection tools.

Nutrition is one element of dairy management that can have a profound effect on the cow’s ability to conceive. Many key components of the ration – like energy levels – directly impact the dairy cow’s ability to become pregnant.

A decade ago, the National Animal Health Monitoring System (NAHMS) Dairy 2007 study showed the average voluntary waiting period (VWP) on U.S. dairy farms was 54.8 days in milk and did not differ by herd size.

Your replacement heifers are your next generation of milking cows. Take care of them. With the intense focus on cow comfort, we all know that milking cows need comfortable barns, adequate space, appropriate nutrition and a watchful, attentive eye to ensure consistency and identify issues before they cause problems.

Each day, multiple times a day, you carefully calculate the amount of milk replacer and calf starter you feed each calf. But what about after weaning? What if you place the same level of focus on heifers 24 weeks and older?

You’ve probably heard or read it 100 times or more – cows love consistency. Numerous research studies and on-farm experiences show dairy cows perform better with day-to-day sameness in their care and routines – the way they are milked, the stalls they lie in, the number of hours they rest and even the number of times they drink water.

Every day, we make hundreds of decisions. Some are big, while some appear minor and without a significant future impact. Colostrum handling is one of those processes that falsely appears to only have short-term consequences.

The crude protein (CP) concentrations and sources used in calf starters and growers are frequently questioned and debated today. Thirty-five (or more) years ago when the understanding of rumen-degradable and undegradable protein was developing, many nutritionists started adding sources of undegradable protein to calf starters and growers, beginning this discussion.