In the National Mastitis Council’s February 1997 newsletter, Washington State University researchers concluded one of the following three practices were necessary to successfully clean a dairy’s cloth prep towels. Performing two of the three would add an extra margin of safety to ensure sanitized towels:

Because of costs associated with the construction and maintenance of freestall barns, dairy farmers may limit the number of feeding and resting places available for cows in order to maximize utilization of facilities. Facility design, such as whether there are two or three rows of stalls per feedline, may also influence the number of cows that have to share a particular resource. However, the impact of overcrowding on cow behavior, welfare and productivity should be considered.

Taurus adds a new Powerhouse Taurus Service, Inc., announces the debut of 76HO0437 Windy Knoll View Powerhouse EX-93. This Outside son of Stardust Peggy x Pala exhibits an impressive type profile without a single negative in his proof. He is +2.54PTAT +2.09 UDC +2.02 F&L. Powerhouse is siring daughters with extreme size and strength with a deep, open rib structure. He also scores 2.93 Strong for fore udder attachment and 2.79 High in rear udder height. A breed leader at +3.5 PL and low SCS (2.90), along with having positive values for milk, fat and protein pounds and percent, Powerhouse is the new bull to consider with +1568 TPI.

First celebrated in 2000, World School Milk Day is an international, annual event held on the last Wednesday in September. Established by the Food and Agriculture Organization, the day provides an opportunity for the international community to focus on the importance of school milk and its health benefits for growing children.

The management of feeding and nutrition are the primary areas of interest when attempting to reduce lameness problems. This may or may not be the correct approach, depending upon the specific types of lameness experienced. For example, it would be hard to influence the incidence of infectious foot diseases (foot rot, interdigital dermatitis or digital dermatitis) by manipulation of the diet alone.

Corn distillers grains are becoming more readily available, due primarily to the rapid growth in the number of ethanol plants. Wet milling of corn is designed to produce pure starch and capture the maximum value from each kernel of corn. Each bushel of corn yields on average 31.5 pounds of starch, 12.5 pounds of gluten feed, 2.5 pounds of gluten meal and 1.6 pounds of oil. Four major types of livestock feedstuffs are produced:

Interest in crossbreeding is at perhaps an all-time high among commercial dairy producers internationally. Over the past 50 years, North American Holsteins have steadily increased as a percentage of the national dairy herd in most countries. However, circumstances have changed regarding the historical superiority of pure Holsteins compared to crossbreds.

I travel in military vehicles only. Our Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) has armored Humvees and armored tactical SUVs. But sometimes I must get out of the weeds. So our operations officer schedules a Black Hawk helicopter, and we go up. There are other kinds of tactical and nontactical vehicles here. But these three take me where I need to go.

Dairy farms are thought to emit large amounts of ammonia, therefore contributing to nitrogen (N) fertilization of natural ecosystems and providing precursors for particulates that adversely affect air quality and human health. The 2003 National Research Council report Air Emissions from Animal Agriculture made an urgent call for processed-based research to assist livestock producers and regulatory agencies in developing strategies that reduce the emissions of ammonia and other gasses that impair air quality.

Designing a new manure-handling facility is sometimes easier than improving an existing nutrient management facility, but there are some basic components that need to be included in any good manure-handling system. The operation and maintenance of the system needs to be considered at the time of design.