TOPICS

Milk quality is always an important issue. We all know adherence to a good milking routine, including clean teat ends, proper stimulation, prompt identification of clinical mastitis and accurate treatment are hallmarks of a good milk quality program. But how do we make sure milkers have the knowledge to do this right and the motivation to keep doing it?

Health and safety – what do they mean to you? Boring training? One meeting a year that is never talked about again? A “legal” obligation? Or perhaps it’s someone telling you how to do your job?

I was sitting in a sea of financial planners, beside the Atlantic Ocean in Halifax Harbour, while Anthony Williams delivered his thoughts regarding the huge amount of wealth transferring in our great country. Williams graciously gave me his notes to translate what this huge transfer may mean to farm families.

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.

Ashley and Richard VanderKooi both grew up in the Fraser Valley area of British Columbia on dairy farms. Ashley’s family raised Holsteins and Brown Swiss; Richard’s family had Holsteins only.