Herd Health

Crossbred dairy beef is big news as dairy producers seek to diversify and capture the most value from their bull calves, heifers that aren’t needed for the milking herd or cows which are no longer going to be bred for replacement purposes yet still have a productive milking life.

As the pressure to use fewer antibiotics continues to grow, animal agriculture needs to be inventive and find different solutions to treat animals or keep livestock healthy from the start.

Several factors can affect teat skin condition. These include weather, housing conditions, teat disinfectant chemistry, milking system settings and micro-organisms. Adverse weather conditions (cold, wind, humidity, direct sun, etc.) can negatively affect teat-end and skin integrity.

Mild or moderate clinical mastitis is defined as infection or inflammation of the mammary gland that results in abnormalities in milk consistency or color and/or swelling or redness of the affected gland. These cases differ from severe mastitis, which manifests as a systemically sick cow.

Researchers at Cornell have identified another dietary tool that nutritionists and dairy producers can use to prevent hypocalcemia.

Many dairy producers point to freezing winter weather as a reason to reduce or eliminate footbath use. Before accepting this as fact, let’s review winter footbath research to see “if” there is a benefit “and” recommended winter footbath practices, and then determine “but” what is the most economical and effective winter hoof treatment.