Herd Health

Rules, rules, rules. Use only low-potassium forages, don’t feed buffers, feed lots of wheat straw, chop straw to 1-inch particle size, thoroughly blend all ration ingredients into a TMR, move cows onto the pre-fresh diet 21 days before calving, check urine pH for a minimum of eight cows, at four to six hours after feeding, every week.

Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn — Xun Kuang

Establishing and teaching protocols for crucial farm tasks forms the foundation of training farm employees.

The economic impact of Johne’s disease on the dairy industry rivals that of clinical mastitis. In the U.S., well over $250 million each year is lost due to reduced milk production, premature culling and reduced reproductive efficiency.

Mastitis can spell disaster for dairy farmers. This potentially fatal mammary gland infection is the most common disease in dairy cattle in the U.S. and worldwide.

But a treatment – dry cow therapy – has proven to be effective.

I grew up not too far from Six Flags Great America. The American Eagle is the tallest and fastest racing wooden roller coaster in the world. Its first drop gives me the feeling most dairy farmers must have felt this spring, not exhilarating, but gut-wrenching. Mandates to dump milk and cut production combined with plummeting milk prices and uncertainty as far as the eye could see were enough to give anyone that nauseous feeling.