HERD HEALTH

“When we first started talking about cow comfort, about 20 years ago, we were talking about stalls … originally it was meant as a cow lying down in a comfortable place,” said Dr. Don Niles, co-owner and manager of Dairy Dreams LLC.

If you have taken the first step to invest in an automatic ventilation controller for your natural ventilation system, now you need to make sure your settings and sensor placements are optimized to give you the maximum benefit.

Just like thumbprints, no two robotic milking startups are exactly the same. If the technology is the same from farm to farm, then why are there differences?

Mastitis is an inflammatory disease of the mammary gland that impacts all food production animals reared for milk harvest, but is well documented as the most widespread and costly animal health problem in dairy cows.

In a consumer-driven market like the dairy industry, the demand for high-quality milk is sought after more than ever. Consumers want to be confident in the dairy products they are purchasing, and producers are cognizant of that.

Since I graduated from veterinary school almost 30 years ago, there have been big shifts in the types of mastitis found on farms. We used to mostly deal with contagious mastitis cases, which we’ve done a good job of managing.