Herd Health

How costly are pest birds on dairies? Would you be surprised to know some dairy farmers estimate the cost of feed loss from pest birds to be $55 per cow?

When reproduction rates drop, it’s easy to point the finger at your breeder. Naturally, we want to assign blame; finding the source of the issue means we can work toward a solution that much faster.

Moisture is one of the primary life-sustaining requirements for bacteria. Take it away and you’ll greatly reduce the opportunity for bacteria to survive.

With most animal welfare audits currently assessing bodily injuries to our dairy cows, there is growing interest into their causation and significance.

No one likes to see a lame cow – not the farmer, vet, employee, hoof trimmer, consumer and especially not the cow itself.

I have been a dairy nutritionist for over 33 years, and I am usually the first to know when one of my dairies is having hoof health problems. While many issues with cow health point back to nutrition, I have found that hoof problems, more often than not, stem from environmental causes rather than nutrition.