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Salmonella and Clostridial bacteria can be the cause of serious gastrointestinal diseases of cows and calves. While both types of bacteria can target the intestinal tract, cause death by the systemic effects of toxins and show up clinically as bloody diar...
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Late lactation is an important, yet often overlooked part of the lactation cycle. It’s easy to let cows coast to the finish line, getting fat and lazy along the way.
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The “true type” cow for the progressive dairy producer is the “four-event” cow – a cow that freshens, gets bred, is confirmed pregnant and later is dried off. Cows that only have these four “events” in a given lactation are the cows that gen...
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One afternoon I sat in a stuffy high school classroom and listened to the drone of the teacher’s voice. I was drifting off to sleep when I heard something that piqued my interest.
“If an enemy wanted to destroy our government and freedoms, they would...
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Ayrshire Breeders’ Association report positive year in 2006The Ayrshire Breeders’ Association shared positive reports with its members at the association’s annual meeting on June 22 in Rockford, Illinois. Treasurer Andy Stevens of Ostrander, Ohio, r...
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Bio-Vet introduces new direct-fed microbialBio-Vet Inc. recently introduced Generator-D, a direct-fed microbial product that contains high levels of beneficial microbials at a low inclusion rate.
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Never was my observation “It’s easy to be green when it’s not personal,” more obvious than today. As population increases and suburbanization encroaches on previously rural countryside, each new settler or squatter must face their own deleterious ...
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This month, across the Southwest, there’s not too much to report. Oh, but only if it were true. Like Charles Dudley Warner once said, “Everybody talks about the weather, but nobody does anything about it.”
Southwesterners have recently reported rec...
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GOODING, Idaho (AP) – State officials have told county commissioners from three southern Idaho counties that it’s not up to the state to make laws regarding how feedlots operate but that the commissioners must decide what ordinances are appropriate.
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Current prices for alfalfa hay and many other feeds are causing beef and dairy producers to give fresh consideration to alternative forage sources for cattle. Kentucky bluegrass straw is a little-used feedstuff that can be successfully fed to dairy cattle...
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Forage crops are the staple ingredients of dietary rations fed to ruminant animals. They provide the animal with a large source of dietary fiber, critical for normal rumen function and its associated micro-environment. The preservation of forage crops int...
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Equipment needs for baled silages are quite simple. Mowers do not need to have conditioning rollers, but mower-conditioners are useful because they concentrate the cut forage into a narrow swath. These narrow swaths allow baling without raking. If the mow...
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Forage quality is one of the key driving factors that determine milk production, rumen health and profitability on dairy farms. The benefits of high-quality, highly digestible forages for use in dairy cattle rations is widely accepted by both dairy produc...
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Corn silage continues to be a major component in rations fed to dairy cattle. Because of this, nutritionists utilize feed analysis data of corn silage as the starting point in formulation of rations. More specifically, the quality of corn silage will dict...
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Forages are the foundation for building diets for dairy cattle. The quality of these forages directly impacts forage intake, animal performance and ultimately profitability. As the quality of forages decline, consumption of that forage decreases and the a...
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Recently a Pennsylvania farm worker was killed while collecting a silage sample. He was doing his normal sampling procedure by walking to the face of the silage and getting a sample for the dairy nutritionist and sales representative. The silage face was ...
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Mycoplasmal infection with Mycoplasma spp., usually M. bovis, is an important disease complex of dairy cattle. This unusual organism can only be detected with special culture methods under special laboratory conditions; typical laboratory methods such as ...
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Writing treatment plans for clinical mastitis is hard. There are a variety of bacteria that cause mastitis; each bacterium may cause a gradient of severities of symptoms, and animals vary in age, stage of lactation and past clinical and subclinical histor...
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Although lameness has multifactoral causes, an intense lameness prevention program will minimize losses and save cows. Lameness prevention protocol includes:
•Observe cows daily for lameness.
•Detect lameness early through locomotion scoring.
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Fertilizers still play an important role on dairy farms. While a lot of progress has been made in adopting best management practices (BMPs) for manures, it’s equally important to manage fertilizers well. Applying them at the right rate, at the right tim...
Re: HERd management: You can do it all, but you can’t do it all alone
Posted on Monday, 15 October 2012 by Bruce fike.With the challenges today’s dairy farmers have, I am sure that jugging...
Re: Premature Calf Captures Heart of Many
Posted on Saturday, 13 October 2012 by David Lane.This is the Fan Page for Amos a premature calf born on Martin Farm in...
Re: New Hire Julie Veldhuis Lund
Posted on Thursday, 11 October 2012 by Eddie Schaap.Congratulations Julie! Glad to see your involved on the Dairy Promotion...