Herd Health

According to the American Institute of Stress, a popular definition of stress is “a condition or feeling experienced when a person perceives that demands exceed the personal and social resources the individual is able to mobilize”.

For many, summer weather is here, and along with it are high temperatures, high humidity and heat stress.

As dairy producers continue to look for ways to cut expenses, animal health programs often come under intense scrutiny. Is this vaccine necessary? Are there cheaper alternatives? How can we reduce the vet bill?

As a dairy producer, you often focus on areas widely known to impact your herd’s health and overall profitability, such as genetics and nutrition. However, there are countless other underlying factors.

Bovine tuberculosis (bTB) is a serious chronic disease that primarily affects cattle. Other mammals, like deer and elk, can also be affected by bTB.

We all know infectious diseases exist on dairies. They can present as an outbreak, be endemic in the herd or potentially both, and some cattle diseases may even pose a health risk to farm employees.