Keep flies from moving in

Posted on April 28, 2022 in Dairy Performance
By Barry Visser Now is the time to make fly control plans for your operation. Flies are a nuisance to farm workers and animals, transmit disease and cause significant economic loss. Flies cause livestock to expend extra energy fending them off instead of resting, feeding and milking. Fly control is critically important to all dairy operations to reduce the spread of disease and improve animal comfort, resulting in decreased stress and greater efficiency of growth or production. 

Farm feature: Hilltop Dairy LLC has decades’ tradition of ‘good-looking, good-producing cows’

Posted on September 24, 2020 in Dairy Performance

The owners of Hilltop Dairy LLC in Markesan, Wisconsin, have had a passion for registered Holstein cattle and “good-looking, good-producing cows” for decades.  That tradition continues to be front-and-center on the 1,400-cow dairy today.

Any heat stress abatement is better than nothing

Posted on June 30, 2020 in Dairy Performance

By Dr. Andy Kniesly
After just a few hot days, it is not uncommon to see milk production losses of 5 to 15 pounds of milk per cow day. That might be just the tip of the iceberg as heat stress can lead to a long list of other animal health and performance consequences. A lot of factors go into designing heat abatement systems for dairies, which require a solid understanding of your facilities and environment.  Here are some very common areas that we can focus on to help us prioritize where to start.

Waves of Change: Vita Plus Dairy Summit Recap

Posted on January 30, 2020 in Dairy Performance

During Vita Plus Dairy Summit in December, attendees explored many “waves of change” in the dairy industry.  If you did not attend the event – or did attend and are looking for a refresher – browse the topics in this post to access the full event e-news.

Minimize milk fat depression in the heat of summer

Posted on August 1, 2019 in Dairy Performance

By Barry Visser
Enhancing milk fat is beneficial to animal performance and farm profitability. Today, butterfat accounts for more than half of your milk check. Production goals are often based on combined milk fat and protein yields. Although the dog days of summer may not be an ideal time to improve milk fat, several factors may help you minimize your decline.

Internal parasite control

Posted on October 26, 2018 in Dairy Performance

By Barry Visser
Dairy cattle behavior and appearance often make it easy to detect external parasites like flies, mange and lice. Severe internal parasite infiltrations can result in roughness of hair coat, anemia, edema and diarrhea. However, the subclinical impact of internal parasites is largely hidden, yet costly. According to a recent study at Iowa State University, undetected subclinical disease caused by internal parasites can cost $190 per animal.

The Right Focus: Vita Plus Dairy Summit 2017 Recap

Posted on January 8, 2018 in Dairy Performance

More than 330 dairy producers, Vita Plus consultants and industry peers came together December 6 and 7 for Vita Plus Dairy Summit 2017 in Madison, Wisconsin.  Follow the links in this post to access full event coverage, including speakers' PowerPoint presentations, articles, videos and more.

3 things a fresh cow wants

Posted on July 28, 2017 in Dairy Performance

By Stacy Nichols
A fresh cow pen should provide cows with a clean, comfortable environment to recover from calving and minimize the social stress they experience when being moved into new groups.  The primary goal of a fresh group must be to minimize health events to allow cows to reach their production potential.

Calf program checklist: Fly control

Posted on March 24, 2017 in Dairy Performance

By Ann Hoskins, Vita Plus calf products coordinator
As spring begins, it’s time to put your fly control plan into action. The key to good fly control is getting ahead of them and staying vigilant throughout the season.

Don’t skimp on the details and you’ll find the lost dollars (Part 2)

Posted on September 15, 2016 in Dairy Performance

By Dr. Laurie Winkelman
In Part 1of this article series, we discussed the details involved in good forage and feeding management to help prevent lost dollars. This second article will focus on the details of cow comfort and reproductive management to help boost your farm’s bottom line regardless of the milk markets.

Strong transition requires more than a great ration

Posted on September 7, 2016 in Dairy Performance

By Dr. Nicole Barkley
You have many options to choose from when it comes to feeding dry cows.  You may favor a single dry cow group over a two-group system, feed anionic salts and high or low calcium, or incorporate high levels of straw. 

Milk the money-makers

Posted on April 25, 2016 in Dairy Performance

By Stacy Nichols
With the current low margins, more emphasis needs to be placed on the factors that impact dairy farm profitability.   Dairies should milk as many profitable cows as possible to maximize the milking parlor – without exceeding the capacity to take care of cows. 

A smooth transition

Posted on September 11, 2015 in Dairy Performance
By Sarah Fraley The transition period for a dairy cow is often considered her most stressful time in the course of her lactation. Typically defined as the three weeks prior to the three weeks after calving, the transition period consists of rapid changes in the cow’s metabolic needs as well as many physiological changes associated

The ladies like it cool… Starting today (Part 2)

Posted on May 30, 2014 in Dairy Performance
By Rod Martin It’s the end of May and that means heat abatement strategies should be in place on your dairy.  A good method to review your cooling strategy is the 3-M approach:  mechanical considerations, metabolic considerations and management considerations. I discussed several mechanical considerations in my last post, including shade, airflow and water access. 

The ladies like it cool… Starting today (Part 1)

Posted on April 25, 2014 in Dairy Performance
By Rod Martin On April 20 here in the Madison area, the temperature soared above 70 degrees for the first time in 190 days.  This was certainly a welcome relief and we are hoping for many more days like that since many of us were wondering if this severe winter would ever end. For 190

Summer’s here: Is your fly control program in place?

Posted on June 13, 2013 in Dairy Performance
By Ann Hoskins With this summer's slow start, it might have been easy to push off fly control for another week.  But it's June and that means you need to have your strategy in place.  Having an established plan can save you lots of time and energy this summer. According to research from Purdue University,