Latest News From Dairy Cattle

Athian announced the establishment of the first-of-its-kind voluntary livestock carbon insetting marketplace with the first accepted protocol aimed at reducing methane emissions with help from Elanco Animal Health.

Between 60% and 70% of U.S. dairies have mycoplasma at least as a component of the respiratory disease that they deal with, according to Geof Smith, DVM and a dairy technical services veterinarian with Zoetis. 

For decades, 305 days of lactation, plus a 60-day dry period, has added up to a dairy cow’s target calving interval of one year. But is this a standard that needs to be broken?

Feeding hay to preweaned dairy calves remains a topic of frequent confusion and debate. Should you do it at all? And if so, when, and what type? Penn State offers some answers.

Annette Ostrom's legacy will continue to live on at World Dairy Expo by celebrating the show's youth, the future leaders of the dairy industry.

Solvet Lidoband is approved for use in calves under 250 pounds and in lambs under 50 pounds. The local, soothing anesthesia works for up to 42 days, helping veterinarians and producers improve animal well-being.

Norbrook announces the introduction of Tauramox Injectable Solution for the control of key internal and external parasites in beef and dairy cattle.

A massive question dairy producers often ask themselves is who should be raising replacement heifers. Should they be raised by the producer, contracted out and customed raised, or should they be purchased?

Improved performance is helping dairy producers capitalize on better genetics, according to Dr. Paul Fricke, University of Wisconsin dairy cattle reproduction professor and Extension specialist.

Heat stress undoubtedly causes setbacks for cows. But a growing body of research shows it also impacts the calves they are carrying, and possibly even the generation after that.

Aimed at doing better and gaining efficiency on their operations, producers are determining how they want to milk their cows in the future, and larger herds have leaned into technology and turned to robotic milking.

AABP is offering online materials veterinarians can download and use with Spanish speaking caregivers of dairy and beef cattle. Some of the guidelines available address dehorning, castration, transportation and more.

Paul Virkler, DVM, Cornell University, says teat end scoring is a good way to gather insights on a dairy's milking processes and whether adjustments are needed to improve an individual cow's comfort and care.

Uterine torsions occur occasionally in cattle right before calving. It is an emergency situation to de-torse the uterus. Determine the direction of the torsion, whether it’s clockwise or counterclockwise.  

Pain can impact cow health and productivity at all stages of life. Management practices to avoid or minimize painful experiences can deliver benefits to animal welfare, productivity and consumers’ perceptions.

Recently, the board of directors from Select Sires four individual cooperatives voted unanimously to merge together as one full-service A.I. cooperative.

One Holstein sire born in 1962, Pawnee Farm Arlinda Chief, sired 16,000 daughters, 500,000 great-granddaughters, and more than 2 million great-granddaughters.

Can you guess your state's top five favorite ice cream flavors?

We don’t feed dairy calves the way we used to, and that’s a very good thing, according to calf industry consultant Dave Kuehnel.

The heat is on, and calves feel it, too. Here are five strategies to help calves cope as summer sizzles on.

As beef production falls, meatpackers will be looking to dairy producers for cattle

A popular Chinese herbal supplement is being evaluated as a potential feed additive to mitigate the effects of heat stress in dairy cattle.

The dairy cattle of the future may be more comfortable and less susceptible to heat stress thanks to genetic alterations to change the physical characteristics and color of their hair coats.

According to a recent study, some cows don't have the right personalities to click with robots.

Weight at calving not only determines first-lactation performance, it pretty much sets in stone lifetime performance and your herd’s overall performance.

Rumen pH is highly influential on how milkfat production can be maximized.

There’s a new equipment option for raising preweaned dairy calves, and it’s a far cry from the pocket-knife-slice approach of the past.

Raising heifers is expensive, to be sure. But in the long run, raising them right is far more important than raising them cheap.

The Holstein breed is wrestling with the phenomenon of a newly identified genetic defect for Recumbency.

Services provided by animal health diagnostic center veterinarians and staff help practitioners in the field improve the quality of care and treatment they provide to all farm animals, whether livestock or pets.

Surplus dairy calves – those not intended for breeding – are their own, unique subset of the dairy industry.

For your showing clients, now is a good time to discuss a Certificate of Veterinary Inspection. Many livestock shows will require a CVI -- even if the animal doesn’t have to cross state lines to get to the show.

With drought and production costs pushing the native beef population to a record low, beef-on-dairy has a huge opportunity to keep the feedlots and processors at full capacity.

The University of Idaho is building a massive dairy research center focused on the industry’s sustainability.

Dairy farms can often be a slippery place for both farmers and cows to work.

As we transition the cows into a new facility, take time to watch the cows' usage of the facility. Cow behavior in the facility will indicate what may need to be adjusted.

Real-time monitoring of the environmental conditions for baby calves during transport would be highly beneficial to their comfort and health. Now, that task is becoming a possibility.

Scoring teat ends tells a story of how happy a cow is with how she is milked and treated. It also provides insights into whether the milking process is harmful to the animal and needs to be changed.

A breeding indicator can help alleviate labor and uncertainty during breeding.

Imagine receiving a phone call from the government telling you to euthanize your entire herd. That’s the nightmare Art Schapp, owner of Highland Dairy in Clovis, New Mexico, wished had never come true.

There’s a new face in the winner’s circle for the most lifetime milk produced by a U.S. Holstein cow, and it belongs to Chrome-View Charles 3044, owned by Mason’s Chrome View farm in Nottingham, Pennsylvania.

Veterinarians and researchers have hypothesized why H. somni is becoming more widespread and increasingly prevalent, but there is not a clear culprit.

The new indication is for control of pyrexia in dairy cows due to acute mastitis. There is a short milk withhold of 48 hours. 

Making culling decisions can often be difficult for many reasons. In the process, estimating cow value around the time of culling is oversimplified.

It may not be a fancy cocktail, but accurate mixology is important for calf milk replacer, too.

A high school dance proposal used to simply consist of asking your date to the dance, but now there is a lot of hype about when and how you ask. Recently my daughter's proposal included a trip to the cow barn.

The latest USDA Milk Production report saw a mere 0.8% increase in December’s milk production over the prior year. While states, like Texas and South Dakota continue to lead the way in year-over-year cow number growth.

Somatic cell counts have long been an indicator of milk quality and udder health. But can a cow’s SCC get too low?

If you listed the top three disease problems in young dairy calves, diarrhea and pneumonia would likely come to mind immediately. The third one might not be as obvious: umbilical infection.

This article, developed by Margaret Masterson, DVM, The Ohio State University, covers surgery basics for supernumerary teats, slow milkers, teat obstructions, teat spiders, fistulas and teat lacerations.