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When reproduction rates drop, it’s easy to point the finger at your breeder. Naturally, we want to assign blame; finding the source of the issue means we can work toward a solution that much faster.

A cross-Canada trek with a giant plastic Holstein cow named Mable started conversations with consumers about the Canadian dairy industry.

Earlier this year, brothers Teun and Ben De Beer welcomed their herd of 480 milking cows into a new facility on the farm near Mount Elgin, Ontario. The new six-row, sand-bedded freestall barn with perimeter feeding was built for the milking cows. It was built to reduce crowding in the farm’s existing four-row barn with mattresses and a slatted floor.

When Ben and Elly De Beer and their three sons immigrated to Canada in 1999, they purchased a cash crop farm in Mount Elgin, Ontario, and started to build a dairy. They put up a double-10 parallel parlour with a slatted-floor freestall barn.

Ultrasonography is gaining momentum as a way to monitor lung health in young dairy cattle. An ultrasound exam takes less than a minute and helps us understand the presence and severity of underlying pneumonia.