Education
When baby calves are transported from their home dairy to a separate rearing site, they need support in multiple ways.
It has been well-documented that feeding preweaned calves on a higher plane of nutrition improves calf health and performance. However, providing calves more nutrients may also promote wound healing.
An Arkansas scientist has shown that a common and inexpensive hormone additive may mitigate the ill effects on growth performance of calves born to cows grazed on endophyte-infected fescue pastures during gestation.
The American Association of Veterinary Medical Colleges (AAVMC) has awarded nineteen scholarships to students enrolled in AAVMC member institutions, totaling close to $100,000.
Here’s three key claims and takeaways from this year’s animal rights extremist conferences and how they plan to turn consumers away from meat, poultry and dairy products.
Just like children letting off some steam on the playground, calves too could benefit from physical enrichment.
Move over, artificial insemination. There’s a new “A.I.” in town, and it’s more intelligent than you.
In the past, it was believed there was no point to give injectable respiratory vaccines before about 4 months of age, because they would be inactivated by maternal antibodies. A recent study proves that’s not the case.
It seems likely that many producers have adjusted herd inventories, given hay and feed supplies, to be able get through the winter.
Genetic improvement can be complicated. Here’s a look at the basics.
Hear from experts as they review and explain ideas on best feeding and management practices for transition cows.
Sometimes called “sudden death syndrome” or “bloody gut,” Hemorrhagic Bowel Syndrome is characterized by dark, tarry, and sometimes bright red, bloody feces; dehydration; and decreased feed intake.
PRRS continues to be the most economically significant disease affecting the U.S. swine industry. Boehringer Ingelheim is launching a PRRS Knowledge Manual, chronicling years of research and best practices for control.
Inflammation creates additional stress at calving.
The transition period, 3 weeks before and after calving, is challenging for all cows. But for first-calf heifers, it’s likely the scariest and most stressful time in their young lives.
Determining proper mineral supplementation merits more thought than simply going to the feed store, grabbing a few bags or a pallet of the mineral they have on hand and throwing it in a lick tub.
Decision-making for treating tough diseases in dairy calves is complex and challenging. Sometimes timely euthanasia is needed. More training and support for calf caretakers are needed in the process.
Whether calves will be retained and backgrounded or sold shortly after weaning, it is important to consider the impacts of weaning strategies on calf health and performance.
Call it pandemic fatigue or just burnout: You could be losing motivation, experiencing emotional numbness, feel that almost all people drain your energy. Your productivity may drop even if your hours haven’t.
The poet Ovid said, “Dripping water hollows out stone, not through force but through persistence.” This quote perfectly encompasses a key in business success: small habits done repeatedly truly do add up.
University of Wisconsin animal welfare researcher Sarah Adcock addresses several considerations when using caustic paste to complete disbudding, as well as some drawbacks that could be improved upon.
After a typical birth the calf should breathe within 30 seconds of delivery, says Dr. Geof Smith, dairy technical services veterinarian for Zoetis. If it isn’t, you need to intervene.
While dairy producers are rapidly embracing the concept of using beef semen to freshen their cows, the resulting crossbred calves are proving both a valuable opportunity and a challenge for the U.S. beef industry.
Compared to Holsteins, is calving time with crossbreds more difficult in terms of calf weight, stillbirth, gestation length, or dystocia?
“Similar to Staph aureus and mycoplasma, Prototheca [mastitis] is hard to detect, has no known cure, and is contagious by intermittently shedding from cow to cow.”
Estimating forage usage by cows is an important part of the task of calculating winter feed needs. Hay or standing forage intake must be estimated in order to make the calculations.
Because newborn calves have very little body fat to help them stay warm, calf jackets can help them preserve energy, protect immunity and improve daily gain.
How can we create a sustainable future for animal agriculture? By building it together, says AAA. The 2023 Stakeholders Summit theme has been set, and speaker proposals and applications are open.
Weight at calving not only determines first-lactation performance, it pretty much sets in stone the heifer’s lifetime performance and a herd’s overall performance, according to Gavin Staley, DVM.
Grazing regrowth on irrigated alfalfa fields is likely in fall grazing plans for many producers. However, alfalfa has several challenges to grazing from animal and plant health perspective.