Herd Health

During the Fifth Annual Southeast Quality Milk Initiative Meeting held in Nashville, Tennessee, in November 2017, three representatives from two milk cooperatives sat down in an open panel to discuss current trends of the U.S. milk market.

Winter is upon us. Many areas of the dairy need extra attention during the winter months to prevent broken pipes, sick calves, frozen water and, of course, mastitis.

Since the introduction of the Babcock butterfat tester almost 130 years ago, dairy producers and milk processors have been analyzing the content of milk to improve quality and profitability.

More recently, tools have been developed to monitor pregnancy-associated glycoproteins (PAGs), beta-hydroxybutyrate (BHB) and milk urea nitrogen (MUN) to better manage the health status and nutrition of dairy cows.

There have been many different programs developed over the years targeting improved udder health and the production of high-quality milk. Some of the programs have been around for a while and others, which had soft funding sources (e.g., state budgets), have come and gone.

Although somatic cell counts (SCC) have long been used as an indicator of udder health and milk quality, several common myths and misunderstandings remain. Dr. David Kelton, veterinary epidemiologist and professor at the University of Guelph, dispelled some of those myths at the American Association of Bovine Practitioners 50th Annual Conference, Sept. 14-16, 2017.

Monthly test-day somatic cell count (SCC) reports from the Dairy Herd Improvement system have been used for decades to manage bulk tank SCC or decide which cows to cull from the herd.