Herd Health

This article was #2 in PDmag's Top 25 most-well read articles in 2010.

Summary: Idaho hoof trimmer Hugh Love owns his own business, Rocky Mountain Hoof Care. He says he couldn’t do without an Appleton Steel Hydraulic Elevator Chute, Matabo grinders and chipper wheels, a pressure washer, a membership to the Hoof Trimmers Association and treatments for hooves that includes shaving soap, terramycin powder as well as chewing tobacco dipped in iodine.

This article was #4 in PDmag's Top 25 most-well read articles in 2010.

Summary: About 12 people meet at Mountain View Dairy in Delta, Utah, twice a year. Their goal? To trim the hooves of the farm’s 3,000 dairy cows. The hoof trimmers have participated in this bi-annual working vacation since 2003, and they have seen many herd health benefits.

Because this article was so popular, we asked Richard Weingart of the Hoof Trimmers Association a follow-up question:

Herdsmen and other workers often need to do “veterinary things.” They may treat sick cows, give hormone injections or treat mastitis.

One thing you can do to limit costs and maximize milk production is to carefully examine your current mastitis protocols. From my experience, in the average herd, the mastitis incidence rate runs about 20 percent.

You never know how much a leaky furnace will cost you until a very large utility bill arrives in the mailbox. Even though fixing the furnace would take an investment, the return of efficiency would be worth the cost in the long term.

The measure of somatic cell count (SCC) is critical in determining udder health. According to the National Mastitis Council, a herd with a bulk tank SCC of 200,000 cells/mL or greater is considered to be producing “abnormal” milk.