Herd Health

One of the most common questions dairy farmers ask is how to create an effective program to control digital dermatitis (DD), which is often followed up with the statement that despite their best efforts to run frequent footbaths, they still seem to struggle with too many cases of DD.

From growing up on a dairy farm to leading research efforts around hoof health and lameness, Dr. Gerard Cramer has devoted his life to improving the quality of life for dairy cows.

Lameness affects nearly 25% of dairy cows worldwide. Data from the last five years suggests that when lesions occur in first lactation or before, there is a high probability the same lesion will occur again in consecutive lactations.

In the first 72 hours, her body is transforming from maintenance to high performance. Her body is being transformed like a caterpillar into a butterfly.

We’ve been trying a different protocol on dairy heifers for the final month pre-calving. Here is a personal rendition of why we tried this new approach, how social media responded and what we’ve been learning.

The “transition period” is the point in time when a dairy cow transitions from pregnant and not milking to milking and not pregnant. It is somewhat akin to launching a rocket from a standstill to orbit in a matter of weeks.