By Dr. Noah Litherland
While we enjoy spring's warmer weather, this is usually a stressful season for calves and heifers. Increased ambient temperature during the day, increased humidity, and cooler nights have clear impacts on heifer intakes and health. Coccidiosis and respiratory challenges are common due to fluctuating temperatures and environmental stress.
By Dr. Eric Schwab
Mycotoxins are present in a wide range of livestock feeds. While the focus has been primarily on cereal grains, haylage and hay can also contain mycotoxins. Grain byproducts, such as distiller’s grains and corn gluten feed, can have mycotoxin concentrations two to three times greater than the parent material as little mycotoxin destruction occurs during processing and concentration occurs in the byproduct stream. Testing for mycotoxins should be considered when symptoms of toxicity exist among a large population of animals on your farm and cannot be readily explained.
By Barry Visser
High-quality forages are essential to maximize performance in lactating dairy cows, especially if your goal is to feed high-forage diets. With the introduction of reduced-lignin alfalfa, some producers ask if pairing this product with brown midrib (BMR) corn will result in too much digestible fiber.
While controlled research on feeding both reduced-lignin alfalfa and BMR corn silage is limited, producers are having success with this strategy. The decision and extent to move toward lower-lignin forages are farm-specific.
By Dr. Jenn Rowntree
We're likely to see more bitter cold temperatures yet this winter. Unless frostbite is caught and treated early, the results are often permanent and detrimental. With limited treatment options, prevention of frostbite is the best strategy.
The extreme cold weather and wind chills you are dealing with are dangerous.
Keep this list handy and watch for any symptoms of hypothermia, frostbite, trench foot, and chilblains that may occur in your family members, employees, or yourself.
When was the last time you and your herd veterinarian spent time together with calves? Even if the calves are healthy, your veterinarian should still be involved in the development of calf management practices. Here are five questions to ask your herd veterinarian to evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of your calf-rearing program.
By Dr. Noah Litherland
Every one of us in the dairy industry has an inborn fondness for cattle, and value newborn calves and the promise they bring. Let’s get wise about thermal support for our calves in the first 24 hours of their lives during cold weather.
By Dr. Jenn Rowntree
Recently, a herd of cows in Dane County, Wisconsin recently tested positive for bovine tuberculosis (TB) and has been quarantined. The herd will continue to be under quarantine while the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection (WI DATCP) traces all cattle that have entered and exited the herd in the last five years. This event provides a great opportunity to reiterate how important it is to practice proper biosecurity protocols.
By Eliza Ruzic
Agriculture is an ever-changing field with endless opportunities for a variety of careers. From accounting to research, and from sales to hands-on daily labor, young people considering a career in agriculture have plenty of choices for future careers.
After speaking to an eighth-grade careers class recently, I started thinking about what students can do to prepare themselves for a career in agriculture. Here are my top 10 tips to make yourself stand out as a candidate for a position.
By Dr. Zach Sawall
A calf is born with a sterile rumen environment void of bacteria, protozoa and fungi. Microbes in the gut populate slowly at first, but speed up over time. This process of developing the calf into a ruminant is one of the main goals of the nursery phase. If a calf consumes more than 0.4 pounds of fat from milk, starter grain intake begins to be suppressed. Therefore, to maximize starter grain intake, a balanced milk feeding program should accompany a quality starter grain.
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.
By Peter Coyne
Key performance indicators (KPIs) are defined as measurable values that demonstrate how effectively a business meets its objectives. Identifying and tracking a few simple, yet critical, KPIs can prevent farm managers from becoming bogged down in analysis and losing sight of what’s important to their operations.
By Dr. Darin Bremmer, Vita Plus regional sales manager
Parts of our market area saw intense rainfall and flooding in recent weeks, causing a delay in harvest until the fields can dry out. Other parts saw the exact opposite and have dealt with severe drought for the better part of the growing season.
Both crop situations can result in low moisture levels and these producers will have to work through the unique challenges of harvesting low-moisture corn silage. When it comes to properly harvesting and feeding dry corn silage, it helps to adjust harvest basics - such as kernel processing, chopping height and packing - to achieve a good fermentation.
By Dr. Michelle Der Bedrosian
As producers fill silos, bunkers or bags, I often get calls about gases coming off the silage. During fermentation, many different gases are formed. For the most past, this is very normal. I expect gas formation to occur for roughly a week after a silo is sealed, although some silos can produce gas longer. While some gases are harmless, others are deadly. You can never be too cautious when it comes to silo gas.
By Jon Urness
Here in the land of wide open spaces and free markets, it’s fairly easy to put together a silage additive simply by choosing a few likely characters for bacteria, mixing them in a bottle, slapping on a label, and touting it as being well researched and proven – with little or no interference from regulators.
An incredible number of forage management practices must go right to produce quality feed for livestock. As corn silage harvest approaches, you need to make sure you have enough bacterial inoculant on-hand before you head out to the fields. Now is the time to double-check your inventory.