Dairy Performance

By Lucas Mitchell, Ph.D., Vita Plus | Calves are quite susceptible to disease in their first four weeks of life. How these challenges are combatted varies from farm to farm, but a couple of items consistently ring true.

By Brock Irwin | Tips provided for building a supportive farm culture, recognizing mental health challenges and having discussions about mental health.

By Ann Hoskins | Automatic calf feeders can provide helpful insight into daily calf management as well as overall trends of the calf feeding program. In turn, this can help you create efficiencies, make management decisions and improve calf performance.

By Jon Rasmussen | Research has shown reduced sorting, elevated lying times, positive milk responses, and enhanced milk component responses are all possible with more feed deliveries and feed pushups. One of the simpler technologies we can use in observing feedbunk behavior and feed pushups is a time-lapse camera, which allows us to observe cows at a distance.

By Barry Visser | This winter has presented us with nearly every weather scenario possible: fluctuating barometric pressures, bitter cold temperatures and wind chills, and mild temperatures with rain, ice, and fog. These changing weather systems have an impact on dairy cows and milk production. There are a few management considerations to minimize the impact of cold stress on milk production.

By Stacy Nichols | Because feed represents more than 50% of the cost of milk production, dairy producers often ask how their feed costs compare to those of other farms.  As markets change, it’s important to regularly evaluate feed costs, ask whether you’re getting acceptable returns on your farm’s feed additives and dietary strategies, and explore whether you have opportunities to save on feed costs or invest in milk production for a greater return. With these questions in mind, Vita Plus dairy nutritionists recently conducted a benchmarking analysis survey of income over feed cost (IOFC) with 35 Holstein dairy herds in Michigan and Indiana.

By Dr. David Carlson | The feeding process requires skill and attention to detail to deliver a high-quality, uniform ration to all cows within a pen. The following nine critical control points can help you achieve TMR consistency.

Dr. Bethany Dado-Senn | If your farm has a seasonal decrease in colostrum production across the late-fall and early-winter months, the following proactive steps can help you maintain a constant supply of high-quality colostrum for your valuable replacement herd.

By Barry Visser | Most corn planting happened two to four weeks later than normal thanks to April rains and below-average temperatures. Despite the later spring, corn silage harvest is just around the corner, and for a few in outlying areas, it has already begun. A few strategies can help determine when to hit the fields and how to put up the highest quality forage possible.

By Steve Murty | Nutrients lost through forage shrink have a real cost to your dairy. Here are 11 tips to efficiently harvest, pack, and cover your corn silage to reduce shrink and add dollars to the bottom line.

Dairy producers and industry peers gathered together June 15 and 16, 2022, in Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin, to network and gain practical insight from agricultural leaders. This e-news provides summary articles from the event sessions.

The ping-pong game of Washington politics creates uncertainty as well as direct and indirect consequences for farmers across the U.S. During her presentation at the Vita Plus Midwest Dairy Conference, Constance Cullman, president and CEO of the American Feed Industry Association, highlighted some of the issues likely to affect dairy producers in the upcoming months.

“One of the things we do especially well in the dairy industry is volatility,” said Phil Plourd, president of Blimling and Associates, Inc. and host of The Dairy Download podcast, during his presentation at the Vita Plus Midwest Dairy Conference. Overall, Plourd said the outlook for U.S. dairy is mostly positive.

During their presentation and udder dissection lab at the Vita Plus Midwest Dairy Conference, Dr. Meghan Connelly, Vita Plus, Dr. Kolby McIntyre, Marsh View Veterinary Clinic, and Dr. Matt Schaefer, Waupun Veterinary Service, discussed udder health and its relationship to milk quality.

Steve Murty, Vita Plus forage specialist, discussed four steps to grow a forage program during his Vita Plus Midwest Dairy Conference presentation.

Dr. Kendra Wells is a leader in the use of lung ultrasounds to identify potential respiratory challenges in calves and make valuable management decisions.