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Failure. I looked at the big fat F next to organic chemistry and felt every dream, every optimistic thought in my head fade to gray and disappear.
I had just finished the fall semester of my junior year ...
2016 is shaping up to be a challenging year for dairy farmers. With milk production both domestically and internationally on the rise, Cooperatives Working Together’s (CWT) export assistance effort is ...
Fernando, your milking parlor supervisor, had a meeting with you yesterday afternoon. High employee turnover is among the issues he is facing. Almost 100 percent of his milking crew has turned over in ...
As the most exciting part of running a dairy operation, I know you’re dying to hear about how to do more with your monthly and quarterly financial statements. Of course, this may be a small exaggeration. ...
“What a difference a year makes.” It’s a phrase we’ve heard a million times, yet at least in the agriculture industry, those words could not be any more true. Dairy producers have seen a swing in Class ...
You’re about to go through an exercise to help you tackle frustrations you may be experiencing right now with milk prices. With prices low and futures contracts bearish, now is the perfect time for this. ...
In previous articles, we explored the possibility of needing long-term care and the way the large population of aging baby boomers may change the landscape of Medicaid and the nursing industry. Today, ...
On many farms, this isn’t an issue openly discussed in the community, but it’s the white elephant in the room.
It’s not every farm, but within many farms, at some point in the farm’s history, there ...
Imagine being part of a school where the agricultural curriculum offers the opportunity to tour progressive dairy farms that are embracing robotic milking technology, using methane to generate electricity ...
What inflammation can tell you about what’s happening inside the cow
It’s no secret to most dairy producers that the transition period – spanning the three weeks before and after calving – is a challenging ...
Heat stress is a physiological drain on the dairy cow and an economic drain to the dairy industry that has long-term implications to cow health and productivity. Even after the warm season has subsided, ...
Name some of the biggest health problems within a dairy herd. You’re likely saying ketosis, displaced abomasums and milk fever.
Now, think of what all of these problems have in common. The answer is ...
Fresh cow metabolic problems are likely the factor with the most devastating effects on milk production and reproductive performance in dairy cattle because a lot of them go unnoticed.
A cow with a ...
Bovine respiratory disease (BRD) is an important cause of morbidity and mortality in both preweaned and weaned dairy calves. The syndrome is initiated by stress, but calves are more susceptible with partial ...
The Iowa State University Extension and Outreach Dairy Team conducted a survey in 2015 of producers managing a transition cow program – defined as 60 days pre-calving to 30 days post-calving.
Twenty-five ...
“You need to take into account the cow’s natural ability to tell you what she needs, no computer necessary,” said Richard Holliday, DVM. “Put the minerals out, and let the cows choose it, if they need ...
The transition period is a very challenging period for the dairy cow. Her metabolism needs to adapt rapidly from a non-lactating to a lactating stage, and the reproductive system is preparing new ova for ...
There is no doubt that dehorning (also referred to as disbudding) is painful. Given that much of the horn as well as the skin surrounding the horn is highly innervated, dehorning elicits immediate and ...
When you’re raising replacement heifers, your goal is to build animals that will achieve long, healthy, productive lives. The care and nutrition they receive in their first days and weeks of life can have ...
“Calf health is built on colostrum, nutrition, environment and calf health maintenance,” Dr. Sheila M. McGuirk, DVM, University of Wisconsin – Madison School of Veterinary Medicine, said. “Depending on ...
In recent years, a great deal of attention has been focused on the significance of ash in calf milk replacers (CMRs). In order to understand the importance of ash in today’s CMRs, we first need to define ...
A sound nutrition program grounded in research-proven ingredients forms the foundation for success and helps dairies achieve productivity goals.
But there are limits to what nutrition can do when underlying ...
Every dairy producer knows healthy calves require a healthy environment. This includes sound biosecurity measures and standard operating procedures (SOPs) that focus on sanitation and the elimination of ...
Calves – they’re not easy to raise, and we don’t get any payback for at least two years. They get sick easily and take abundant resources, especially time and money, to rear into productive contributors ...
University research continues to show that proper nutrition during the first 60 days of life positively impacts age at first calving, milk production and feed efficiency.
Interest in nutrition that ...
Raising calves has been a challenge for dairy farmers for decades. Most neonatal calves on today’s dairy farms are separated from their mothers at birth and usually fed less milk solids daily than they ...
Labor is an important discussion point when looking at any aspect of your operation. Labor is even more significant when it comes to the manure management system you select.
Different manure management ...
The first consideration about manure is to change the mindset of manure being a waste product to being a resource. With that assumption, there are multiple variables that influence manure transportation ...
The news rattles on with campaign reporting. Gossip, true stories and lies framing the lives of the candidates permeate every facet of the media. You can’t turn on the radio, television, access your email ...
Tristan told me to come to Dublin that weekend and bring my boots. He had gotten the allotment. He had been on the list for more than a year, and it was finally his. Tristan said the word again, as if ...
“I want to be a teacher when I grow up,” I declared after my first day of kindergarten. I began alphabetizing all of my books on my bookshelf and, just like the school library, I included a check-out card ...
The thought of “homemade” usually brings a warm fuzzy feeling combined with magical rainbows; however, not all homes should be manufacturing plants. My dad always said, “Homemade products aren’t always ...
While others breed for bigger cows and push for 2 pounds of average daily gain (ADG) for pre-weaned calves, Rosy-Lane Holsteins is sticking by what they believe in – healthy, productive cows regardless ...
With profit margins squeezed due to lower milk prices, dairy farmers are examining ways to reduce their cost of producing milk. Feed cost is at the top as dairy farmers control this expense compared to ...
This guide is a climate specific extension of the summary article “Dairy Cooling: The Benefits and Strategies” (PDF, 478KB), which describes heat stress, its costs and consequences, and strategies for ...
Land O’Lakes Inc. is establishing a structured base program in the Midwest to help balance burgeoning milk production levels with processing and marketing capabilities.
“This is not a quota program,” ...
U.S. yogurt maker Dannon’s announcement it will move to eliminate milk produced by cows fed with genetically modified (GMO) crops in its flagship brands over the next three years isn’t sitting well with ...
Adult cow death loss is right around 10 percent for most U.S. dairy herds, but Colorado State University’s Dr. Franklyn Garry believes doing one thing could significantly reduce the number of cows that ...
Feeding calves is a serious business to me. It takes up a huge chunk of my day to get them fed, but the end results are worth the effort. When a healthy calf leaves her hutch to join her mates in the barn, ...
The dairy industry is spending less milk money in the political arena, at least during the current election cycle.
With few candidates willing to champion immigration reform and no farm bill or other ...
Northeast U.S. lawmakers introduced legislation calling for modifications to the Margin Protection Program for Dairy (MPP-Dairy), potentially leading to state-level income margin calculations.
The ...
One of the greatest challenges facing a producer of dairy cattle is effective management of change in feed rations. Cows do not make change easy in their reactions to new feed throughout all seasons, as ...
Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), commonly known as drones, are growing in popularity month by month. From general consumer interest to industrial applications, this technology is finding its way into our ...
As the transition cow enters negative energy balance, no longer meeting her nutritional requirements, there is a huge demand on the liver to continue to make glucose to drive milk production.
At the ...
Created on 12 January 2016
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