After milking with their parents in two separate stanchion barn dairy operations, Tim and Lisa Evert and Rick and Ronda Lehman joined together to form one dairy – United Dreams Dairy LLC – in North Freedom, Wis.

“We were each farming with our parents at the time and both looking to do something,” Rick said.

Tim added, “We were both looking for a lifestyle change and it made a lot of sense for us to pool our equity.”

The new parlor/freestall facility was built in 1997 on 40 acres owned by the dairy. Originally, a double-8 Universal parlor with adjustable height floor was installed. The parlor has since been expanded to a double-12, and they are slowly converting the equipment to DeLaval.

The 370-cow dairy is averaging 87 pounds of milk per cow with a 3.6 percent butterfat and 3.3 percent protein. The somatic cell count is 110,000, but they can achieve less than 100,000 in their mattress barn system.

Time has been spent altering freestalls for better cow comfort. Brisket boards were removed and the width of the stalls was expanded to 50 inches. When it came time to replace the curtain sidewall, they moved it out 18 inches to provide more lunge space for cows along the outer wall of the six-row barn.

In 2002, the dairy added a freshening barn with 32 stalls and two bedded pack calving pens. “This was one of our better investments,” Tim said.

Dry cows and heifers are moved to the dairy about three weeks prior to calving. Before arriving at the dairy, these groups are housed at the Everts’ and Lehmans’ original farms that are still owned and maintained by each couple.

Calves born on the dairy are sent to the individual farms at 3 to 5 days old. They are all sent to one location until the calf facilities there are full, then new calves go to the second farm. It usually works that one group of calves is weaned before the same farm receives wet calves again.

Each group of heifers stays at the respective farm until they are confirmed pregnant when the move to the Lehman farm. It is equipped with a cattle chute used for hoof trimming and dry treatment. Dry cows are kept in a modified machine shed at the Evert farm.

The individual operations are paid monthly by the dairy for providing housing and feed. Each farm is responsible for putting in its own crops, and then the dairy hires a custom harvester to harvest all crops.

An important part of every dairy operation is its employees. The Everts’ son, Jeff, and the Lehmans’ nephew, Michael Niemann, are now working on the farm full-time. In addition, the farm employees two married couples that have been there for the past 10 years.

 

 

 

 

Farming is a tradition for the Laufenberg family.  Laufenberg Farms, LLC was founded in 1899.  Today, Dave and Fred Laufenberg are the fourth generation to own and operate the farm in Waunakee, Wis.  In addition to the dairy, Laufenbergs run a farrow-to-finish hog operation and feed out about 4,000 pigs each year.

Since the 1970s, Laufenbergs had been milking cows in an 85-stall tie-stall barn.  When the herd grew to 170 cows, labor became a definite issue.  Instead of hiring more employees, the Laufenbergs decided to take advantage of an emerging technology.  This past March, they completed construction on a new freestall barn equipped with four robotic milking machines and expanded the herd to 280 milking cows.

Facility design

Laufenbergs’ facility is designed for the cows to move from the feedbunk to the milker and then back to the feedbunk before they are allowed to enter the stalls.  Dave said they chose this unique design because it allows for more time for the teat to dry before the cow lies down, helping to prevent infection.

Each stall contains its own water mattress filled with 14 gallons of water.  The water shifts with the cow as she moves in the stall, allowing for optimal comfort.  With these mattresses, the Laufenbergs don’t use any bedding.  They simply apply lime to the mattresses once a week.

The freestall barn is an eight-row cross-ventilated barn.  The ceilings are low to keep air movement at the cow level and provide increased efficiency.  In addition to helping with great ventilation, the side walls are designed to be easily removed.  This will make for a smoother process if the Laufenbergs choose to expand the facility in the future.

Robotic milkers

The four robotic milkers allow for great opportunities to monitor production and health.  With this DeLaval system, each inflation is on its own line.  Dave said this allows for more flexibility in cow size and udder shape versus a single-unit system.  Managers can also monitor production in each quarter.  The cow is automatically sorted to a treatment pen for further observation if she does not meet expected production.

The computer system also measures milk conductivity.  If a fresh or treated cow shows higher conductivity, her milk is automatically diverted to a milk can.  The system then takes approximately five minutes to rinse itself before another animal is allowed to enter.  Every eight hours, the robot shuts down for 20 to 25 minutes for a full cleaning.  Dave said three of the four robots are milking cows at any given time.

Thus far, Dave said his family has been satisfied with the robots’ performance.  They are currently averaging 81 pounds of milk with about 2.5 milkings per day.

Reduced labor

With the robots came a reduced need for labor and the family no longer needs to rely on the work of non-family employees.  The entire farm – including the hog operation – is run by Dave and wife, Kate, and Fred, wife, Mary, and son, Kurt.  In addition, Dave and Fred’s parents still actively work on the farm.  Dave said expansion is a distinct possibility as the next generation joins the farm.  Regardless of what changes may be ahead, Laufenbergs will continue taking advantage of new technologies to increase efficiency and run a successful business.

 

 

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Why do consumers feel the way they do? How can we influence their perceptions about modern agriculture? How can we balance feeding a growing world with combating obesity here at home?

The preconference symposium at Vita Plus Dairy Summit 2011 focused on thought-provoking questions like these. Dr. Jude Capper of Washington State University, Sarah Muirhead of Feedstuffs Magazine, and Laura Daniels with Vita Plus focused on how to feed a hungry world while maintaining a relationship with the consumer.  

Nine billion people are not getting enough to eat and 25,000 people die each day from hunger or malnutrition. In 50 years, we must double the food supply to feed the 9 billion people that will be on the planet by 2050.

But, we’ve made tremendous strides in the past century. Everything from milk production to corn yields have reached record heights while using fewer animals, land and resources. 

Many threats

Recently, we’ve been faced with the pressure of feeding a growing world while being attacked for current production practices.

“We have become much better at communicating with consumers,” said Daniels. “We are getting better at telling our story and we need to keep doing that. They need to hear why we do what we do.”

While we do that, it is important to remember why consumers think what they do about modern agriculture, explained Capper. While showing images promoted by the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), she explained why they resonate with consumers.

“When 98 percent of people aren’t involved, and therefore don’t understand, production agriculture these messages become very dangerous,” she added.

One of the most startling statistics is that HSUS and PETA are cited as the number one credible source of information on the humane treatment of animals. Farmers themselves are at the bottom of the list. The good news is that we can influence consumers.

“There are 2 percent on either extreme. Two percent involved in production agriculture and 2 percent that are never going to change their negative opinion of modern agriculture,” shared Muirhead. “That means that there are 96 percent of people in the middle that can be influenced.”

Changing school lunches

The growing obesity epidemic has caused many in Washington and elsewhere to look for a solution to the problem. School lunch has become the focal point of this discussion and schools have been asked to take a critical look at what they are putting on lunch trays.

This situation has a huge effect on agriculture for several reasons. Only 35 percent of kids are paying for their school lunch and about 2 percent bring their own lunch from home. The other 63 percent of lunches are paid for through food aid programs, which account for 76 percent of the funding for the farm bill.

To cut sugar in school lunches, the easiest fix has been to remove flavored milk. But, in almost all school districts that have axed chocolate milk (about 3,000 of the 90,000 school districts in the nation) total milk consumption has gone down. Being a member of newly popular wellness committees or sending a letter to your school board is an easy way to get involved with the debate on a community level.

 

 

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What is the population of China? What country will be the most populous by 2030? What is the birth rate in the European Union? What country is the largest dairy exporter to China? What country produces the most milk?

Why is it important that we know the answers to these questions? As Al Gunderson, Vita Plus vice president of sales and marketing, shared at the Vita Plus Dairy Summit 2011, we live in a truly global marketplace—what happens in India, China, the European Union (EU), Russia and other countries is incredibly important to what we do every day in the dairy industry.

Let’s travel to China

Gunderson’s recent trip to China opened his eyes to how very different other countries are and how very connected we are to what happens on the other side of the world. 

In China, here is virtually no private ownership of land, but the 40 percent of Chinese people that work in production agriculture rent land from the government in 70-year leases.  The Chinese government is making a large push to improve transportation to these areas by building miles of new roads.

Because of its large population, China has been growing its agriculture industry. But, many obstacles stand in the way. Transportation, especially refrigerated, is fairly limited. Disease outbreaks, including foot and mouth, have caused problems in filling existing facilities. For example, Gunderson visited a farm built to milk 30,000 cows, but was only milking 10,000. Sanitation, pollution, air quality and electricity shortages also pose problems.

Because of recent food safety issues, consumer confidence in dairy products is not high, especially those that are pre-packaged. Most milk is UHT (ultra-high temperature or higher than 275 degrees F for one to two seconds), which means the dairy case is not refrigerated and those that are refrigerated are not as cold as they are in American grocery stores. Yogurt drinks are some of the most popular dairy products with cheese being one of the least popular.

China, and other Asian countries, are gaining in wealth and are looking to expand their knowledge and technology base. This allows for huge opportunities in dairy and in agriculture, says Gunderson. The growth in population in that region of the world needs a steady supply of dairy products that U.S. dairy farmers have the chance to produce.

A global perspective

What can we do to develop our own awareness of the global economy and its effect on our business? Gunderson offers these great tips:

• Read and develop a perspective of events.
• Watch the markets—not just corn, soy and milk. Oil and currency markets are equally important.
• Network and rely on your advisors.
• Think global, act local. Take care of the business at home while planning for the future by using your global perspective.
• Don’t be afraid to change for the better by trying new things.

 

“None of us can predict how all of these factors will go together,” said Gunderson. “But, we have to be able to imagine it. Manage for the margin and allow for the unimaginable—it might just happen.”

 

 

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It is well known in the ag community how much more efficient we are today compared to years ago. To properly display that efficiency, the dairy industry must be evaluated on production basis, not a per cow basis, said Dr. Jude Capper of Washington State University.

At the Vita Plus Dairy Summit 2011, Capper said that since 1944, the carbon footprint per cow has doubled, but the carbon footprint per pound of milk has been reduced by two-thirds. The entire U.S. dairy industry has reduced its total carbon footprint by 41 percent through greater productivity.

That improved productivity is also the best way to meet future U.S. and global demands of dairy products. Capper conducted a study of three production systems – rbST, conventional and organic. If dairy consumption continues as expected, it will take 13 million conventional cows to meet that demand. An organic system would require 25 percent more cows, while rbST would need 8 percent fewer cows.

The same holds true for land base. An organic system requires 33 percent more land than conventional, while rbST needs 5 percent less land. Organic systems have a carbon footprint 13 percent greater than conventional and rbST is 6 percent less. As carbon footprint labeling of food products becomes more popular, this information may sway some consumer buying habits.

Yet, buying solely on carbon footprint may not be the right way to go either, Capper said. A paper from Sweden looked at total GHG emissions of drinks while taking into consideration the drinks’ nutrient density.

“Milk on a nutrient density/climate impact index looks really, really good,” she said. “It is twice as much as orange juice, the next leading drink.”

In a study submitted to the Journal of Dairy Science, Capper compared the environmental impact of Jerseys and Holsteins. Because a mature Jersey cow weighs less than a Holstein, it needs less water and land. Therefore, a decrease of GHG is shown in cheese made from Jersey milk versus Holstein.

The environmental savings in producing 500,000 metric tons of cheddar cheese with Jersey milk equates to land the size of Mt. Rainier National Park, water to supply 657,889 households annually, enough BTUs of energy to heat 6,335 households a year and carbon dioxide equal to removing 336,888 cars off the road.

This study also resulted in findings that characteristics of body weight, milk yield and component yield have a greater carbon footprint impact than other areas like calving interval, herd life and age at first calving.

With the real life challenge of meeting a growing demand for dairy products, finding ways to increase productivity applies to every system.

“Sustainability is not just about environmental benefits, but also economic and social,” Capper concluded.

 

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OSHA has become a hot button topic in agriculture over recent months.  Some dairy producers say they know safety policies on their farms need to be updated, but simply don’t know where to start.

Dr. David Douphrate, assistant professor with the University of Texas School of Public Health, said he’s here to help.  Through his research and outreach work with the High Plains and Intermountain Center for Agricultural Health and Safety headquartered at Colorado State University, Douphrate works with livestock producers to provide the resources they need to ensure a safe workplace for their employees.

Douphrate said the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) indeed has jurisdiction over many of today’s progressive dairies.  Through the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 (OSH Act), “any dairy farm which employs 11 or more employees at any time during the previous 12-month period or has an active temporary labor camp during that period is subject to OSHA regulatory oversight,” according to Douphrate.  This means these farms are subject to inspection at any time.  But that doesn’t mean smaller farming operations are exempt from regulation. 

Regardless of farm size, all operations are responsible for ensuring “safe and healthful working conditions for working men and women by setting and enforcing standards and by providing training, outreach, education and assistance.”

What are the steps producers need to fulfill this responsibility?  Douphrate outlined the following components of effective safety management.

Owner and management commitment

Farm owners and managers set the example for safety.  They need to demonstrate leadership in working safely.  Management’s words and actions show their dedication to providing a safe environment for the rest of the team.

Safety communications

Make sure that all safety protocols are easy-to-understand for all employees.  This may mean you need to translate safety posters, signs, protocols, directions, etc.   Use employee meetings to discuss safety-related topics.  If employees raise concerns, make sure you document the concerns as well as the actions you take to address them.

Hazard assessment and control

Set a pattern of periodic inspections to identify potential hazards.  You can also use this as the basis for setting safety procedures to avoid hazards. 

Accident investigation

If an accident does occur, use it as an opportunity to learn and prevent future incidences.  Ask yourself:  What happened?  Why did it happen?  What should be done?  What action has been taken?

Safety planning, rules and work procedures

Safety rules should be written out, apply to everyone and cover topics such as protective equipment, appropriate clothing, and expected behavior.  Consider developing discipline and award programs.  Make sure you also have a written plan for all emergency situations. 

Safety and health training

“Training is one of the most important elements of any safety program,” Douphrate said.

Employees should be adequately trained in animal handling, machinery operation, safeguards and protective equipment.  Consider appointing an employee as the safety director or coordinator.  That person may take the lead on safety training for new employees.

Although a new safety program may seem overwhelming, Douphrate reminded producers they have many resources available to help.  He said his office is always willing to assist in training and the National Farm Medical Center in Marshfield, Wis. is also a great resource in the Midwest. 

“Owner and manager commitment is vital to a successful injury prevention program,” Douphrate said.  “Resources are available to assist owners and managers to make their dairy farms safe working environments.”

 

 

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After Cody Heller graduated from college with a degree in ag business management, he returned home to the family farm in Alma Center, Wis. with hopes of managing the farm’s finances. At his father’s request, he instead spent a year in the barn. That experience, however, helped him find a way to combine daily farm tasks with technology, resulting in more profits for the dairy.

Heller implemented AFI Farm, Feed Watch and remote access on the farm and told of each of their benefits at Vita Plus Dairy Summit 2011.

AFI Farm

Heller Farm utilizes the AFI Act portion of the AFI Farm system for heat detection in all the dairy’s cows and heifers. With this system, the farm has reduced the number of days open, detected abortions and cystic cows earlier, and kept a history of early heats and previous lactation events.

Each morning, a report is generated for the person in charge of breeding on the farm. The herdsman also receives a daily report of cows displaying reduced activity. This helps him foresee subclinical mastitis, injuries and digestive problems, such as hemorrhagic bowel or clostridium.

Since implementing the system, the farm’s heat detection has increased from 16 to 62 percent. Pregnancy rate has jumped from 10 to 18 percent.

“Those are huge numbers and that is money,” Heller said. In addition, the farm has saved money by eliminating the use of synchronization programs.

According to Heller, the investment cost of the system was $85,000. He figures this will quickly be paid back with an annual return of $217,000.

Feed Watch Pro

Prompted by the need to purchase a new feed mixer for the farm, the Hellers decided to add on the Feed Watch Pro feed management software program.

Through this program, the dairy’s nutritionist can easily change recipes, track dry matter intake (DMI) weekly, track costs and troubleshoot. Managers at the farm can set target DMIs and monitor them daily, schedule feeding and mixing times, track and project inventories, and see cost summaries.

The program automatically adjusts based on what has already been fed for the day so that by the end of the day the feeder can hit the target DMI. “That is phenomenal, we absolutely save money there,” Heller said.

The program cost was $11,400 with a $250 annual support fee. Heller calculates that it saves the dairy $26,600 a year.

Remote access

Heller also uses a program called WebEx PCNow that provides local computer access from anywhere in the world via a computer, laptop, tablet or smart phone. For this dairyman, it means he can access the dairy’s main computer to change settings or fix problems quickly while away.

“My consultants use it more than I do,” he admitted. The nutritionist uses it to monitor and make changes from home. It allows the vet to keep an eye on diseases, sickness, retained placentas and more without being on the farm.

 

 

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“Volatility, uncertainty and opportunity. That’s what you dairy producers are facing at this given time,” declared Gary Sipiorski of Vita Plus.

Sipiorski, along with his colleagues Randall Greenfield and Dr. Neil Michael, addressed how to keep an eye on the ever-changing dairy industry as they presented the closing session of Vita Plus Dairy Summit 2011.

There is opportunity for U.S. dairy on the global front, but a good year in New Zealand could lead to volatility; and the European debt crisis is looming uncertainty.

Sipiorski reported that 13 percent of the domestic milk supply is being shipped out of the U.S. To continue to serve a global and domestic marketplace, our country’s milk production is nearing 200 billion pounds.

“I hope, if you’re sitting in this room, you see more opportunity out there than you see volatility and uncertainty,” he said.

To help manage that volatility, Randall Greenfield offered some insight into risk management. “We’ve really worked at changing the goal of contracting milk from helping you beat the market to helping reduce risk,” he said.

In understanding where the greatest risk is, he looked at 500-cow dairy producing 85 pounds of milk per cow with a standard ration. Greenfield gathered the price range from the last five years for the commodities of corn, soybean meal, soybeans and milk. Then he calculated the risk based on the range in cost per month.

If the dairy purchased 100 percent of its feed, the range of risk in income over feed cost (IOFC) is $25,000 to $240,000, figuring that 74 percent of that risk was due to the range in milk price. If the dairy only purchased soybean meal, the IFOC range was $92,000 to $268,000, 91 percent of which is due to the milk price.

“If you’re wondering where to start, I would suggest starting with milk,” Greenfield said. “Milk would be where you get the most bang for your buck.”

Even before then, he recommends getting to know your farm’s financials and developing a marketing plan customized to your operation.

Managing risk should always begin at home. Dr. Neil Michael shared a new tool under development by Vita Plus to help producers and their teams do just that. Dairy Pulse™ can be accessed from a computer, tablet or smart phone and allows the user to view multiple data sources in “real time” from one central location.

It utilizes existing data sources and provides remote access in a secured management system. This allows team members to easily monitor production, animal inventory, feeding, cow observations, reproduction and finances, as well as communicate with one another in a central place.

“We’re nearing the end of a beta test phase right now,” Michael told the audience. “We look forward to bringing the tool to you.”

 

 

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Consumers and processors in the Upper Midwest demand solids to produce high quality dairy products. But how do we produce high solids milk without giving up production? How does it pencil out?

Dr. Eric Schwab, a member of the dairy nutrition and technical services team at Vita Plus, shared his thoughts on changing consumer demands and how those demands can be met through increasing milk fat and protein content on farm.

Eating, not drinking them

World demand for dairy is on the rise, but consumer preferences are also changing. Since 1985, demand for fluid milk has held steady whereas demand for products like butter, non-fat dry milk, and cheese has grown. The largest growth has been seen in the non-American cheese market where 4.4 percent growth was observed.

In addition, new nutrition trends have changed the way milk is used. Greek yogurt sales have gone from $60 million in 2006 to $1.5 billion in 2011. The “granola bar evolution,” or the recent popularity of high-protein energy bars, has also grown demand for milk protein concentrate. China, and other populous Asian countries, rely on imports of whey and other dairy products because they do not have the ability to produce enough dairy products to feed their whole country.

“People aren’t drinking their milk,” said Schwab. “They are eating it.”

What can we do?

Using numbers from Federal Milk Marketing Order 30 (Upper Midwest), Schwab estimated that, with a 5-percent jump in components, dairy farmers could gross 53 cents per head per day. For a 500-cow dairy, that would be about $95,400 per year.

It may make financial sense, but can it be done? The Pacific Northwest Federal Milk Marketing Order (124) has outperformed the Upper Midwest for the last 10 years in milk fat and protein percentages. Schwab also offered two on-farm examples. In one case, a 7-percent rise in protein and a 13-percent jump in butterfat was seen since 2003. In another, a 4-percent and 7-percent growth in butterfat and protein, respectively, were observed.  Both herds currently boast 30,000 rolling herd averages.

“We don’t need to sacrifice milk production to see high components,” said Schwab.

What can hold us back?

A variety of factors can hinder progress in improving solid percentages in milk. One of the biggest culprits is heat damage and spoilage, explained Schwab. Heat-damaged protein is unavailable to rumen microbes and butyric and moldy haylage means you have to feed more protein to give rumen microbes what they need. Inconsistent byproducts and variable feedstuffs prove difficult to balance in a ration as well.

“Know where your byproducts come from and test them often,” advised Schwab. “If you haven’t seen the back of your commodity bay, it is good to see it. Clean it out all the way a few times a year.”

By reducing nutrient variation and paying attention to details, improving component content in milk can be a realistic goal.

 

 

 

Does length of time ensiled enhance forage digestibility? Can enzymes aid in this process? What effects do wild yeasts have on rumen fermentation?

These are the questions Dr. Limin Kung, Jr. at the University of Delaware and his colleagues tried to answer in their research this year. Kung reported the findings at the Vita Plus Dairy Summit on Dec. 7 in Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin.

Length of time

Kung’s corn silage study involved using a non-BMR corn hybrid and a BMR hybrid, each at low dry matter (DM), 32 percent, or high DM, 41 percent. He found that from 90 to 360 days in storage the trend of fiber digestibility (NDFD) remained fairly level. While there was little effect of the level of DM on NDFD in the non-BMR varieties, there was a measurable difference in BMR.

“If I’m going to grow BMR, I’m not going to let it get mature because I’m going to take a hit on that,” he said.

When comparing the same samples for starch digestibility, he found it did increase with time spent in the silo. This was especially true for hybrids that started with low starch digestibility at harvest.

A study comparing 33 percent dry matter to 45 percent dry matter alfalfa silage showed relatively no increase in NDFD after a year of storage, but soluble protein did increase over time. “This is coming from microbial protease activity,” Kung said. “That is also why we see starch increase in time.”

He cautions that these are part of a limited number of studies, most of which were conducted in mini silos under controlled conditions, and thus far no definitive links have been made between these changes and changes in animal performance.

Based on the analysis at this point, Kung said he would allow corn silage to ensile for at least three to four months prior to feeding, assuming acres and inventory space are available. He would also test silages for nutrient composition on a regular basis and adjust TMRs as needed, feed lower DM corn silage first and allow higher DM silage to ferment longer.

Enzymes

Results of these first studies prompted Kung to consider what other options there are to improve starch digestibility. Perhaps using corn silage varieties with low prolamin content or adding a protease enzyme.

He tested two types of enzymes on corn silage. At day 150, the proteases proved to have higher starch digestibility, ammonia and soluble protein.

“We’re in experimental stages only,” Kung said. “If viable, proteases could be added to silage that would be used right away.”

Yeasts

Kung obtained samples of high moisture corn and corn silage from U.S. dairy farms. The yeasts were isolated and characterized. One species was tested at different levels in in vitro fermentation fluid.

High levels of the added yeast increased total acid production and decreased NDFD. The added yeast did not affect the biohydrogenation of lipids. Kung concluded that large amounts of yeasts consumed from silages may alter ruminal fermentation.

 

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Most of the time, immunologists and nutritionists don’t speak the same language and often do not think about their respective fields together. But, as Dr. Matt Waldron of the University of Missouri explained at Vita Plus Dairy Summit 2011, they both have a lot to teach us about managing transition cows.

Transition cow immune dysfunction

From three weeks before calving to three weeks after calving, cows have shown to be more susceptible to disease. Not only is immune protection limited, but there is also an escalated inflammatory response and more tissue damage.

A study from Cornell University demonstrated that the highest number of clinical mastitis cases occur in the first week after calving. Most likely, these animals are infected during the dry period, but they do not display clinical signs until the first week of lactation. Research from the University of Kentucky showed that during the transition period there is a more severe response to infections.

Cows with retained placentas also show decreased immune function. Immune cells themselves are responsible for releasing the placenta and, if they don’t, the cow can have serious health problems. Even before calving, cows that end up retaining their placenta have lower immune cell function.

Better understanding immune cell function

Hydrogen peroxide is one of the main secretions of neutrophils (a type of immune cell) and it is often used as a measurement of immune cell function, explained Waldron. Several studies tracking the level of hydrogen peroxide showed a large drop two weeks before calving until one week after calving when it began to rise. In general, older cows have lower overall hydrogen peroxide levels than younger cows.

“But, what causes this drop?” asked Waldron. “Is it the act of having the calf or the metabolic drain from producing milk?”

Even in cows that were mastectomized (the mammary gland removed), researchers saw a characteristic drop in immune cell function before calving. But, those cows bounced right back after calving, a week before the intact cows. In addition, cows with high NEFA levels (higher than 0.7) and high BHBA levels showed lower immune cell function and higher risk of clinical mastitis.

One more reason

“These facts explain how there is one more reason to do the right thing,” Waldron said. “One more reason to put emphasis on your transition cows to keep the metabolism clicking.”

By minimizing negative energy balance, watching for forage changes, and managing cow comfort, the large drop in dry matter intake right before calving could be lessened. That, in turn, could lead to better immune function.  Also, insuring your forages are low in potassium, feeding adequate magnesium in the diet, and using anionic salts can help keep transition cows healthy.

 

 

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Producers well know the value of heat stress abatement for milking cows as temperatures spike in the summer and milk production drops.  But according to Dr. Bruno Amaral, the value of keeping animals cool isn’t limited to the milking herd.

Amaral works in Vita Plus dairy technical services in Michigan, Indiana and Ohio.  Prior to joining Vita Plus, Amaral conducted post-doctorate research at the University of Florida to evaluate the effects of heat stress abatement during the dry period on the subsequent lactation of dairy cows.  He shared key findings from three different experiments with producers at Vita Plus Dairy Summit 2011.

                

In the first experiment, Amaral and his team split a herd of dry cows in half.  All cows were kept in a freestall barn and fed the same ration.  Half of the cows had sprinklers and fans; the other half did not.  After calving, all cows were moved to a sand-bedded freestall with fans.  Amaral noted that this experiment was conducted during an especially hot summer and shared these observations:

• Cows exposed to heat stress calved seven dairy earlier than those that were cooled.
• Calf body weight was 28.7 pounds higher for calves born from non-heat-stressed cows.
• Milk production up to 30 weeks of lactation was higher for cows cooled during the dry period.  The average increase in 3.5% fat-corrected milk (FCM) in cooled cows was 18.7 pounds of milk per cow per day compared to cows exposed to heat stress.

 

“Remember that in this experiment the cows were heat-stressed only during the dry period,” Amaral said.  “The magnitude of response in milk production is related to heat stress load and intensity.”

With such dramatic results in this experiment, the team delved into the topic further.  The second experiment was designed similarly to the first, but the ambient heat was not as intense the summer this experiment was conducted.  Amaral shared these findings:

• Rectal temperature was increased in heat-stressed cows.
• Heat-stressed cows showed greater respiration rates.
• Heat-stressed cows again calved seven days earlier than cooled cows.
• Calves born from non-heat-stressed cows were 11 pounds heavier.

 

This experiment also evaluated immune function.  Neutrophils are specialized cells that act as the immune system’s “first line of defense.”  Through a process called phagocytosis, neutrophils engulf foreign bacteria and “kill” them through oxidative burst.  This experiment showed that heat stress reduced both neutrophil phagocytosis and oxidative burst.  Furthermore, heat-stressed cows produced fewer antibibodies to fight against disease.  In simple terms, this means the immune system was compromised in its ability to fight infection. 

Amaral’s third experiment was again designed similarly to the first and looked at the effect of heat stress on mammary gland cell proliferation (the multiplying of cells).  Through udder biopsies, the team was able to see that heat-stressed cows had lower proliferation of epithelial cells (milk-producing cells), which may be a contributing factor to the low milk yield.

Although his research comes with a lot of in-depth data, Amaral’s finding come with a common sense strategy for managing dairy cows.  Keeping cows cool as much as possible – including during the dry period – increases production, immunity and mammary cell proliferation. 

“Any cooling is better than nothing,” Amaral said.  “Minimizing heat stress in dry cows is a valuable management tool to increase peak and overall milk production.”