Dairy Nutrition
The best-quality colostrum is thick, creamy, and has a beautiful golden color, right? Not necessarily, according to Danish veterinarian and researcher Hanne Skovsgaard Pedersen.
Numerous studies have now shown that feeding colostrum replacer to mimic transition milk has beneficial effects for preweaned calves.
As beef-on-dairy animals within the feedlot system continue to rise, feedlots are craving two key pieces of information to help ensure these crossbred cattle thrive.
For the past 13 years, Cornell researchers have been developing the latest, highly anticipated CNCPS version 7.
While it’s easy to immediately place blame on your nutritionist for diet related problems, these three problem solving steps need to be taken before you jump to conclusions.
Inulin is a type of soluble fiber found in plants that is not digestible by humans. However, this not-so-talked-about substance is showing considerable promise in enhancing lactating-cow nutrition.
Routinely monitoring transfer of passive immunity is an effective way to evaluate colostrum management and identify calves with failure of passive transfer.
Is the blanket approach of giving calcium boluses to every fresh cow really the best route to prevent milk fever?
A popular combination of enhancements in calf starter rations has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for replacement heifers.
In both human and veterinary medicine, we’re hearing more about the benefits of gut supplements to support health, performance, and well-being.
Incidence rates for displaced abomasum (DA) range from 1% to 6%, and up to 90% of DA’s happen within the first 30 days in milk.
Waste milk is not necessarily the “free lunch” it is often perceived to be, and may actually be a quite harzardous and costly liquid ration option.
The problem occurs in nearly 50% of cows in the first 24 hours after calving, says Jesse Goff, DVM and ISU professor emeritus. He details four nutrition strategies to prevent or treat the problem so cows aren’t culled.
Mercer Vu Dairy wanted to utilize group housing and waste milk to raise their preweaned calves with round-the-clock access to milk. Here’s how they came up with their own one-of-a-kind system.
In these tumultuous times of drought, global unrest, and supply chain disruptions, feed grains may not be as plentiful, available, and affordable as we have traditionally enjoyed.
It may not be a fancy cocktail, but accurate mixology is important for calf milk replacer, too.
With no end to the higher feed cost trend in sight, farmers are looking at ways to get the most out of their rations while minimizing wasted feed.
What’s the perfect close-up ration to optimize calf health -- something that’s not too much of this or too little of that, but “just right?”
The heat is on, and calves feel it, too. Here are five strategies to help calves cope as summer sizzles on.
Feed costs will continue to be the No. 1 expense. Jim Salfer, Extension dairy educator with the University of Minnesota, offers some best practices to help producers lower feed costs.
A popular Chinese herbal supplement is being evaluated as a potential feed additive to mitigate the effects of heat stress in dairy cattle.
The livestock production businesses of the future will need to balance much more than the bottom line.
Head to Lancaster County Pennsylvania and the sweet aroma of candy can be smelled on a family dairy farm. Red Knob Dairy has been feeding upcycled Hershey candy waste to their cows for more than a decade.
More dairy heifer raisers are taking a page from the feedlot world these days by utilizing liquid supplements as carriers for vitamins, trace minerals, and feed additives in heifer TMRs.
Rumen pH is highly influential on how milkfat production can be maximized.
Raising heifers is expensive, to be sure. But in the long run, raising them right is far more important than raising them cheap.
What dietary supplements are best for preweaned calf rations? Out of the literally hundreds from which to choose, do any of them really work?
The “Wood Milk” ad— funded through MilkPEP —goal is to make people pause and question what they are consuming and the nutritional value of their choices.
“Pushing feed is perhaps the simplest and least expensive management strategy dairy operators can implement.”
Acidification of milk or milk replacer is a common practice for some calf raisers, with some studies showing it improves weight gain and fecal scores in calves.