I suspect that you often go to work, do your job, return home and not think much about the importance of your job. I work with and train a lot of Hispanic dairy farm workers. I recognize and understand that:

1. Work is necessary and important.

If someone asked you to define “teamwork,” what would you say?

I’ve been asking that question of a lot of the dairy teams I work with lately.

I thought it was a pretty simple question and figured everyone would have a fairly similar answer – but that’s not what happened.

Mastitis is generally classified as clinical or subclinical depending on the degree of inflammation in the mammary gland.

Bacterial infections are the most common causes of inflammation of the mammary gland.

Clinical mastitis is characterized by visible abnormalities in the milk or the udder.

As the demand for milk increases, so does the demand to be more efficient. Today’s market volatility requires dairies to pay attention to the details – and most importantly – their costs.

Simply put, milk is what pays the bills and if you aren’t paying attention to your source of income, then you might be missing some profitable opportunities.

Many producers have milk testing done monthly, but not much can be decided with information received once a month.

Each stage of a calf’s nutritional program is important to ensuring a healthy and profitable calf crop.

A sound and well-managed feeding program is critical after birth to allow a good foundation for calves.

In addition to water, colostrum and milk replacer, a calf starter should be fed after birth.