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Dairy cattle - Management practices
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As we slowly move toward spring (the winter really hasn’t lasted 6 months, it just seems that way!) most farmers’ thoughts turn toward planting. It is a natural, seasonal process of renewal on the farm. Before planting, though, there needs to be ‘planning’. Crop farmers have pretty well developed the habit of looking ahead at seed, fertilizer and chemical needs for the year before they actually make their purchases. Unfortunately, that same habit of planning well ahead does not seem to...
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While mired tractors and sucked-off boots are annoying reminders of the inconveniences of mud, its effect on animal performance is often overlooked. Animal performance, whether that is making milk or lbs. of growth, is determined by the nutrients the animal is consuming, one of which is energy. As the environmental temperature decreases below the thermo-neutral zone the maintenance energy requirement increases. The thermo-neutral zone is between 23º- 77ºF, depending on cattle age and...
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The rational response to favorable milk prices is to increase production, by whatever means are available. One method is to cull less, calve in all available replacements, and maybe buy a few from the neighbors to expand cow numbers. This strategy is almost never accompanied by construction of more stall or bunk space or extra attention to udder health and reproduction. The goal is more milk in the bulk tank and management satisfied with a victory, but some other things happen as well....
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Dairy cows leave the milking herd for a variety of reasons, and most go to beef production. Some cows do not breed back; others get too old to be productive, while others have health problems such as lameness or mastitis. Often, in the case of a health problem, the cow may be given a medication before the decision to ship her is made. In every case, it is important to ensure that the cow is free of all drug residues before she is shipped. “Once the decision is...
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Recovering from low milk prices has been anything but easy with today’s higher feed costs. Certainly the unaffected reader might be thinking that is nothing new because agriculture almost always is in need. The problem this time is not just high costs, but the lack of good feed buys. That is, no feed ingredients are priced much lower than the rest on the market to make one a clear choice to switch to using it. If such an ingredient existed, it likely would be gone,...
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Providing dry footing for your herd may be one of the keys to promoting healthy hooves. One group of researchers has been looking into the notion that environmental conditions on some farms may be causing changes to feet that make cows more prone to foot ailments. Previous work has shown that the thickness of the soles of cows' feet varies. It's theorized that thin soles provide little protection for the foot's internal structures, so claws with thin soles are prone to bruising from hard...
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Dairy farmers using large amounts of purchased feeds this season are assessing the different types of flexible feeding systems so they can choose which one best suits their needs. Dairy Australia’s Grains2Milk project manager Steve Little said farmers with little or no pasture needed to consider the range of feed ingredients available to them and how their system could minimise feed costs while maximising milk production. “High feed prices are worrying a lot of dairy farmers...
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The emphasis on mastitis control should be prevention. The keys are proper sanitation and management of non-infected and subclinically infected animals. Wet, manure-laden areas in the lactating and dry cow pens and bedding areas, and poor sanitation during the milking process increase the risk of mastitis. Udders should be clean and dry when milked. Teats should be sprayed or dipped with disinfectant after milking. Research has documented the fact that wet, muddy...
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Dairy farmers constantly struggle with the challenge of managing nutrient runoff from the farm. A creative brotherly duo from Connecticut has developed an innovative and environmentally-sound solution to this problem, CowPots. Ben and Mathew Freund created a digestion and dehydration process to overcome the troublesome odors and high nitrate content in cow manure. The remaining manure fibers are then formed into a variety of shapes and sizes to create CowPots, which can be planted in the...
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Dairy farmers constantly struggle with the challenge of managing nutrient runoff from the farm. A creative brotherly duo from Connecticut has developed an innovative and environmentally-sound solution to this problem, CowPots. Ben and Mathew Freund created a digestion and dehydration process to overcome the troublesome odors and high nitrate content in cow manure. The remaining manure fibers are then formed into a variety of shapes and sizes to create CowPots, which can be planted in the...
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Dairymen may want to consider using cross ventilation to provide a cooler environment for the cows. “By using cross ventilation, we’re trying to air condition the barns and we’re going to evaporate water to do that by using evaporative pads,” stated John Smith, extension dairy specialist at Kansas State University, during an educational seminar held at the World Dairy Expo. “There are some limitations to doing that, we have to realize high humidity limits our...
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Dairy farmers need to improve feed efficiency to maintain their profit margin. Many factors can reduce a dairy operation’s profit margin. Although managing cows, crops and manure systems every day leaves little time for long-term planning, making time to look for inefficiencies in dairy enterprises is crucial. Production efficiency is influenced by culling practices, preproduction, milk quality and feed rations. Often referred to as dairy efficiency, feed efficiency easily...
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Heat stress is a major source of economic distress to the US dairy industry with average annual losses of over $800 million associated with reduced performance and increased disease incidence (St. Pierre, 2003). In unusually warm summers these costs rapidly increase. For example, during the summer of 2006 a 2-week heat wave in California caused an estimated $1 billion loss in production and animals. When effective environmental temperature exceeds the thermal zone of comfort, or...
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Water. The simplest of compounds, two hydrogen atoms bound to an oxygen atom, and yet it is the critical solvent for most of terrestrial life’s sustaining reactions. Water is the transport medium for delivery of nutrients to our cells and removal of waste from our organs. It is the solvent that carries messages within tissues locally and to distant organs. It is the principal mediator of body temperature for warm-blooded animals. Water is so crucial to mammalian life, that a loss of...
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Historically, national authorities have published feed evaluation systems to calculate supply and requirement of energy, protein, vitamins and minerals. The main purpose has been to help farmers achieve target milk yields at minimum cost. Today, our goals are more varied: outputs of dairy farming include milk quality, cow health and environmental impact. Control of nitrogen efficiency is one example of how current national feed evaluation systems (e.g. from FR, NL, UK, USA and...
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The problem Grazing management defines a cardinal link between primary and secondary productivity of pastures. Grazing animal/resource under exploitation (pasture) ultimately determines most of the profitability of grazing enterprises; since the “pasture-rumen-animal” interface deals with the internal state of the animal, the amount, the features and nutritive value of available herbage, as well as the effect of management on the capacity of ruminants to harvest the nutrients....
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We read and hear a great deal about biosecurity, but what it actually means in terms of changes we need to make in practical management is not always clear. Biosecurity refers to practices intended to make herds more secure against biologic risks, meaning contagious diseases. The most significant risk factor for introducing a new disease onto a dairy farm is purchasing new animals. Yet, in the past year I have visited several dairy farms in the northeastern US in the process of...
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Dear All
i would be intrested to know what should be the ideal dimensions for the housing for following cows (sand bedding, sqf area for each cow etc)
1- Holstien
2- Jersy
3- Jersy +Holstien cross
4- Hosltien cross with Sahiwal. ...
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Abstract Restricted suckling beforeand after milking is used in most dual purpose cattle systems of Latin America,but many strategies exist that can alter milk fat and yield. An experiment wascarried out to evaluate the influence of stimulation with calf suckling beforemilking on milk fat, yield of saleable and consumed milk and liveweight gainof calves in dual purpose systems with restricted suckling. Brahman x Holsteincows (n = 24) of 2 or more parities were used. They were...
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Abstract An experiment was carried out to evaluate the influence of three cow management strategies at milking on milk yield and composition and on live weight (LW) gain of the calves. Twenty four Brahman x Holstein cows were used for the following treatments: (W) without calf stimulation at milking; (T) calf tied beside its mother during milking and (L) calf loose in a pen along the milking parlor. The cows were machine milked twice daily, at 06:30 and 15:30 h and suckling was...
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The Scottish Agricultural College (SAC) is sponsoring a series of seminars on forage at next month's European Dairy Farming Event, which will provide practical information to dairy farmers.
Importantly, the seminars will also provide opportunities for in-depth discussions with some of the leading subject experts and farmers will be able to ask questions of direct relevance to their own farming system.
Among the seminars planned are:
* Dave Roberts, head of Dairy Research Centre, SAC:...
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