The modern dairy cow is a metabolic athlete. On a per-kilogram bodyweight basis, her daily energy turnover rivals that of a National Hockey League (NHL) athlete on game day. The difference is that she does this day-in, day-out, without recovery until dry-off.

Infectious bovine rhinotracheitis (IBR) is a fast-moving upper respiratory disease that can quietly drain profitability in beef and dairy herds. It spreads quickly through close contact and, like other herpes viruses, it doesn’t leave the herd once it arrives.

Looking at optimizing the entire transition period may seem like a daunting task at first, but it gets easier when we break it down into three key time periods: 60 days pre-fresh, 30 days pre-fresh and 30 days post-fresh.

BRSV is a common cause of respiratory illness in calves. It can have lasting and even deadly effects. Prevention is the only effective measure to control it.

When placed strategically and used consistently, boot wash stations help protect vulnerable animals, reduce cross-contamination and promote a culture of care and responsibility.

Health events are undesirable events in dairy farms and, in my opinion, are one of the biggest challenges the dairy industry has been facing. Although the incidence of some specific diseases – such as milk fever or clinical ketosis – has decreased in the last 20 years or so, the overall percentage of animals experiencing one or more diseases in the first 60 days after calving hasn’t changed.

From pre-fresh to post-fresh, data from automated monitoring technology empowers dairies to act earlier, manage smarter and achieve stronger returns – one transition cow at a time.

Your cows may not have a crystal ball, but monitoring technology used during the dry period may provide valuable information that can be used to predict the risk of potential health disorders that could affect lactation performance post-calving. Considering dry cows often are “out of sight and out of mind,” monitoring technology can fill the gap by keeping tabs on them 24-7.

Bovine leukosis is a persistent and incurable disease affecting the health, productivity and profitability of dairies. It is caused by the bovine leukemia virus (BLV), which primarily infects lymphocytes, the immune cells responsible for antibody production and combatting viral disease. Read about a project to validate different BLV test options and strategies.

Even though millions of cows and hundreds of research trials have demonstrated the positive benefits of feeding a negative DCAD diet, there are always those who look for new and better ways to accomplish the goal of reducing incidence of clinical and subclinical milk fever. While those interventions do exist, it is hard to beat the proven efficacy of feeding a negative DCAD diet.