HERD HEALTH

As we move forward as a society, the dairy industry will continue to have to justify the use of antibiotics on their operations. On a dairy, mastitis treatment is one of the most prevalent areas where antibiotics are used, especially when it comes to dry cow mastitis treatment.

Ask any producer who consistently feeds close-up dry cows a negative-DCAD diet if it makes a difference for transition cows, and the answer will be yes.

The detection and control of clinical and subclinical mastitis in dairy goats is critical for the production of healthy milk for human consumption. Dairy goat producers want to produce the highest-quality product – specifically, milk – for their consumers.

Since the introduction of the Babcock butterfat tester almost 130 years ago, dairy producers and milk processors have been analyzing the content of milk to improve quality and profitability.

Producing high-quality milk and milking more cows in the same amount of time, or milking the same amount of cows in less time, are on top of a manager’s mind when discussing the milking center.

This is the first of a regular column to bring you information regarding some of the research being done around the world and published in the Journal of Dairy Science (JDS). The objective is to bring to light areas of research that may have an immediate practical application on a dairy farm as well as research that, even though it may not have a practical impact now, could be interesting for its future potential application.