Herd Health

“How can I recover more of my lame cows?”

That is a question posed to hoof care professionals by dairy producers frequently.

A lame cow is a drag on the morale and fiscal economy of any dairy farm. Neither management nor employees are happy to see cows that shuffle about the dairy.

Reproductive performance is an important driver of dairy farm profitability and can be impacted by several diseases that occur during the dry period, including mastitis. Mastitis is associated with lost milk production, added treatment costs, inferior milk quality, decreases in reproductive efficiency, early herd removal and/or death.

If there was a way to review your dairy’s results last summer in the areas of pregnancy rates, milk production, feed intakes and lying time, then make proactive changes to your heat abatement program before the dog days of summer arrive, would you do it?

As we entered a new year, with high commodity prices and a recent longer cold stretch, we have begun to see some cow issues. This is not all too uncommon from January to April, as we usually see cowside issues arise.