Cow Comfort
Published:
4/12/2013
Written by:
Milkproduction.com staff
We often forget that the foundation of cow comfort is the human-cow interaction. Increasingly, we focus on management strategies to minimize the cost of production and optimize performance, but the focus is seldom on how we interact with the cows in our herd.
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Calf management
Published:
4/5/2013
Written by:
Sam Leadley
Yes, it is discouraging to get the lab culture results back and find high coliform counts in the colostrum. However, there is good news! It is possible to deliver clean colostrum to calves.
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Farm management
Published:
3/6/2013
Written by:
Francisco Rodriguez
Just like snowflakes and udder conformations, no two farms are exactly the same. Robotic milking has certainly highlighted this fact as more North American dairy producers are preparing their farms for the latest in milking technology. Before the robots are delivered to the farm, many planning decisions need to be in place. How should I design the layout of my barn? Which cow traffic system should I use? What about feeding strategies, bedding management and cow comfort?
Read more »
Farm management
Published:
3/4/2013
Written by:
Francisco Rodriguez
Like other industries, it’s absolutely essential that all dairy farms have a strategic plan in place. But to gauge how well an automated milking operation is running, I recommend using some specific key performance indicators (KPIs).
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Farm management
Published:
12/3/2012
Written by:
Lior Yaron
A dairy farm is a complex system. There are many areas to manage in order to secure profitability, and few farms can be profitable without balancing milk production, feeding, animal health and reproduction. Research and personal experience show that measurement and proactive herd management in all these areas is critical to ensure the optimal performance of the herd and to achieve high economic returns. There is technology available that makes it possible for professional farmers to measure, manage and optimise the performance of each individual cow in the key areas of feeding, animal health and reproduction.
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Dairy World
Published:
2/14/2013
Starting with the charts from December 2012, every month we will post the world milk and feed price indicators from the IFCN (International Farm Comparison Network) on the Milkproduction.com web site.
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Sustainability
Published:
1/23/2013
Written by:
Monica Wadsworth
New FAO report profiles the state of the natural resource base upon which world food production depends.
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Dairy farms
Published:
10/31/2012
Patrik Johansson is a fifth generation farmer who together with his wife Elin and six employees runs Torp Farm in Månstad, Sweden. The farm has three main activities: dairy, beef and contract work. In 2008 they switched over to a more automatic operation, by installing four milking robots, and a fully automated feeding system, including calf feeders. They also use automatic climate controls in the barn to ensure that their cows have optimal conditions.
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Dairy farms
Published:
10/2/2012
Innovation and technology for the future, today
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Dairy world
Published:
9/28/2012
The global dairy market appears to be heading for a period of renewed supply scarcity in the coming 12 months, according to Rabobank.
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Dairy world
Published:
9/26/2012
School students around the world will be celebrating World School Milk Day on September 26. Now in its 13th year, World School Milk Day provides an opportunity for schools around the world to celebrate the health benefits of milk for school-aged children. An initiative of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, World School Milk Day aims to highlight the importance of milk in every child's diet.
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Automatic milking
Published:
8/21/2012
Written by:
Francisco Rodriguez
A growing lack of high-quality, affordable labor, in combination with the demand for higher efficiency, lower costs and flexible lifestyles, has created a need for robotic milking and other automated systems on dairies. This article aims to introduce the different types of automatic milking systems available and the realities of operating each system.
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Sustainability
Published:
8/9/2012
A dairy cow’s rumen allows her to digest the high-fiber feed necessary for milk production, but it also causes her to produce enteric methane gas. Enteric methane is the largest source of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with milk production. The dairy industry has made great strides in reducing GHG emissions on the farm. The Cow of the Future project seeks scientifically sound, economically viable and socially responsible ways of reducing enteric methane emissions through improvements in dairy cow nutrition, genetics and health. The Cow of the Future project aims to reduce GHG emissions for fluid milk by 600,000 metric tons through the adoption of existing technologies and practices and research into new opportunities.
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Milk quality
Published:
8/4/2012
The National Mastitis Council announces the release of its commemorative book.
The book is a collection of the past 50 years of mastitis control, milk quality, the history of the National Mastitis Council, personal recollections from current and past members as well as a look at what the future of milk quality holds.
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Housing
Published:
7/25/2012
Written by:
Israel Flamenbaum
A lot of information has been published in last three decades on the negative effect of summer heat stress on the productive and reproductive traits of the high yielding cow. Very limited information existed, however, up until the last few years, on the effect of heat stress on the feed efficiency of cows (as estimated by the feed to milk ratio).
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Housing
Published:
7/10/2012
Written by:
Craig Thomas
Heat stress abatement is a critical dairy management strategy for all dairy producers. Properly applied, these seven heat stress abatement strategies can minimize the harmful effects of heat stress on dry matter intake, milk production (volume and components) and reproduction. Be sure to include every animal on your dairy when considering heat stress abatement strategies. Heat stress affects not only high producing milk cows, but also dry cows, heifers and calves. Minimize heat stress in your dairy cows by following these strategies.
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Animal health
Published:
6/27/2012
Ultimate objective is to achieve FMD-free status. FAO and the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) are joining forces to combat foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) on a global scale, laying out a detailed strategy today to bring the devastating livestock disease under control.
The two organizations underlined, however, that only solid commitments from global partners will make the strategy possible, as they opened an international meeting in Bangkok supported by the Thai Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives.
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Biosecurity
Published:
6/18/2012
To prevent introducing mastitis pathogens into a herd when purchasing cows, a balance has to be struck between minimizing the probability of purchasing an infected cow and maintaining sufficient choice in the population from which to select replacements. This is also influenced by the farm attitude to risk – what degree of risk is acceptable for purchasing an infected cow.
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Heat stress
Published:
6/19/2012
Written by:
Israel Flamenbaum
Dairy farmers over the world, mostly in hot regions, are familiar with the negative impact of heat stress on their cow’s performance, but only few of them have the means to quantify the economical losses caused by hot summer, as well as the potential benefit that can be obtained, when intensively cooling their cows in this season.
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Dairy world
Published:
6/1/2012
Written by:
Monica Wadsworth
More than 700 000 000 000 kilos of milk is produced every year in the world, and we consume around 100 kilos per person per year on average. Studies show that consumption of milk and low-fat dairy products help reduce the risk of many chronic diseases and disorders. There is even evidence that babies born to women who consume cheese and other dairy products during pregnancy are likely to have better dental health than babies born to non-dairy-consumers. And at the beginning of this dairy chain that puts the milk and cheese on your table there is a cow, and a farmer.
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Dairy world
Published:
5/21/2012
Written by:
Milkproduction.com staff
International prices of dairy products are declining in the face of rising supplies. At the same time, import demand remains strong, keeping prices well above recent historical averages.
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Automatic milking
Published:
4/16/2012
Written by:
Monica Wadsworth
Cows that are milked in an automatic milking system (AMS) need to be healthy and productive, with correctly placed teats and healthy feet & legs to carry them around the barn and to the robot. But is that enough? Should we also be looking for cows with the right ‘robot’ temperament? New research suggests that cows’ performance in different housing systems can depend on their temperamental traits.
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Small scale farming
Published:
4/18/2012
Written by:
Milkproduction.com staff
As part of a development education/awareness programme in Europe, Vétérinaires Sans Frontières (VSF) Europa and its partners recently carried out a study on the importance of Small Scale Livestock Farming in the context of climate variability. Part of a ‘campaign’ to sensitize and mobilize people in favour of small scale livestock farming, the study “shows that small scale livestock farming has a potential to cope with and adapt to climatic variability, especially in some determined regions in the world. Moreover, due to its specific functions, small scale livestock farming can also be considered as an important way to mitigate carbon emissions from livestock sector.”
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Dairy world
Published:
5/4/2012
Written by:
Milkproduction.com staff
Kids who grow up on a dairy farm are 21-26% less likely to develop asthma and allergies than kids not raised in a farm environment, according to a European study.
Read more »
Reproduction
Published:
3/28/2012
Written by:
Milkproduction.com staff
The genomes of cows that have difficulty reproducing often contain fragments of the male Y chromosome, according to a new study in press in the Journal of Animal Science. The researchers say this finding could help cattle producers identify subfertile females before investing time and resources on breeding attempts.
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Animal health
Published:
3/27/2012
Written by:
Milkproduction.com staff
Food-borne diseases might soon have another warrior to contend with, thanks to a new molecule discovered by chemists at the University of Illinois. The new antibiotic, an analog of the widely used food preservative nisin, also has potential to be a boon to the dairy industry as a treatment for bovine mastitis.
Read more »
Automatic Milking
Published:
3/16/2012
Written by:
Milkproduction.com staff
Transitioning a dairy herd to an automatic milking system (AMS) from a conventional parlor system may be stressful for the cow, as many changes occur during this process. Chronic stress may affect the welfare of the cow, and acute stress during milking can decrease milk yield. Therefore, it is important to quantify if and how long stress during adaptation to an AMS might persist.
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Feeding
Published:
2/25/2012
To understand what is the right order of ingredients into the mixer wagon, we must consider the physical properties of the ingredients that affect mixing such as size, shape, density, water absorption capacity (hydroscopy), static electricity and adhesiveness.
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Automatic Milking
Published:
2/16/2012
During the last several decades, new milking management systems have been introduced, of which development of automatic milking (AM) systems is a significant step forward. In Europe, AM has become an established management system and has shown to be much more than milking management. Factors such as milking, milk quality, feeding, cow traffic, grazing, and animal behavior are essential elements of AM. This system offers possibilities for more frequent milking and can be adapted to lactational stage. Increased milk yield with AM has been observed, but lack of increased production has also been reported from the field, probably due to less attention paid to the total management system.
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Calf management
Published:
4/25/2013
Written by:
Jud Heinrichs
Two real world examples of group housing and feeding systems for calves and a discussion of the challenges in each system
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Sustainability
Published:
4/23/2013
Written by:
Milkproduction.com staff
The Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy® today announced new science-based resources available for dairy producers, processors, industry partners and stakeholders. The resources help the industry act on the unprecedented scientific research commissioned as part of the U.S. Dairy Sustainability Commitment — a collective effort of the dairy value chain to measure and improve the sustainability of U.S. dairy from farm to table. The Innovation Center, established under the leadership of dairy producers, launched the Sustainability Commitment in 2008.
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Reproduction
Published:
4/22/2013
Written by:
Milkproduction.com staff
Dr. Fricke covered two areas of reproductive research that have investigated new tools for reproduction and conclude each with an economic analysis of the data.
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Nutrition
Published:
4/16/2013
Written by:
Milkproduction.com staff
When it comes to fertilizing crops, maximizing nutrient uptake and minimizing losses is what it’s all about. The ability to capture a greater fraction of applied nutrients in your crops increases nutrient efficiency and most importantly, your bottom line. Right source. Right rate. Right time. Right place. These are the four R’s of ‘4R nutrient management’
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Nutrition
Published:
4/18/2013
Written by:
Milkproduction.com staff
Oftentimes, you’ll see the carbohydrate terms nonstructural carbohydrates (NSC) and nonfibrous carbohydrates (NFC) listed on your forage report, or they may be used as parameters for comparing forage seed varieties. Both NSC and NFC measure carbohydrates that are not “structural”, in other words, carbohydrates other than cellulose and hemicellulose (constituents of the plant cell wall).
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Nutrition
Published:
3/22/2013
Written by:
Jennifer Heguy
Ed DePeters
Jed Asmus
It’s imperative for nutritionists to test forages for quality parameters to formulate rations, but it’s also helpful for you to be able to read your forage results and have a basic understanding of the different components. The concept of DM is something everyone working with feed on your dairy, including feeders, should understand.
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Nutrition
Published:
3/20/2013
Written by:
Ed DePeters
Jennifer Heguy
The composition of your forages provides valuable information to feed your cows. It also provides information that aids in determining forage pricing.
Read more »
Energy saving
Published:
3/18/2013
Written by:
David I. Johnson
Planning an energy budget is difficult, but with the high cost of natural gas, heating oil, and other energy sources, budgeting for the increased price of fuel and electricity is imperative. Fortunately, there are alternative methods dairy producers can employ to lessen the strain of skyrocketing energy costs.
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Calf management
Published:
3/11/2013
Written by:
Milkproduction.com staff
As we find ourselves shivering in the early morning temperatures and craving a warm cup of soup, it’s a good time to think about the nutritional needs of calves. Calves expend significantly more energy to maintain body weight as the mercury dips and will need even greater nutrition for optimal growth. Should you consider
increasing the quality and/or quantity of milk for your pre-weaned calves?
Read more »
Farm management
Published:
3/6/2013
Written by:
Francisco Rodriguez
Just like snowflakes and udder conformations, no two farms are exactly the same. Robotic milking has certainly highlighted this fact as more North American dairy producers are preparing their farms for the latest in milking technology. Before the robots are delivered to the farm, many planning decisions need to be in place. How should I design the layout of my barn? Which cow traffic system should I use? What about feeding strategies, bedding management and cow comfort?
Read more »
Reproduction
Published:
2/25/2013
Written by:
Gary Hennip
There are several ways to economically evaluate better reproduction. Whatever economic indicator is used, research suggests that the more efficient our dairy producers become at getting their entire dairy herd pregnant, both first service cows and repeat breeders, the potential exists for increased profitability for the dairy enterprise.
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Hoof health
Published:
2/20/2013
This study, which was made at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, investigated the effects of rubber alley flooring on cow locomotion, claw and leg health, production, cleanliness, grooming behaviour and cow exclusion rate in a free stall herd.
Read more »
Reproduction
Published:
2/8/2013
In this webinar from DAIReXNET, Dr. Dechow from Pennsylvania State University reviewed genomic technology and implementation, comparisons of early genomic predictions to actual daughter proofs, a discussion of inbreeding, and how genomics can be used as a herd management tool.
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Dairy outlook
Published:
2/5/2013
Special report produced for CLAL by Erhard Richarts, Dairy Market Consultant, Chairman of IFE (Institut für Ernährungswirtschaft e. V., Kiel)
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Research
Published:
1/29/2013
Pasture-based milk production using mainly nitrogen fertilizer emits more greenhouse gases than pasture-based milk production that relies mainly on fertilizing with white clover.
Read more »
Research
Published:
1/28/2013
Barn designs that promote animal comfort and that reflect preferences of dairy cattle play an important role in increasing animal production. A study was performed in free stall barn housing in Konya (Turkey) to determine the hourly and seasonal variation occurring in the barn area preferences of dairy cows.
Read more »
Milk production
Published:
1/18/2013
Written by:
Monica Wadsworth
Starting with the charts from December 2012, every month we will post the world milk and feed price indicators from the IFCN (International Farm Comparison Network) on the Milkproduction.com web site.
Read more »
Calf care
Published:
1/21/2013
Written by:
Monica Wadsworth
Calf care in cold temperatures requires different best management practices than in warm temperatures. Regardless of your growth goals, if you were achieving these goals during the summer and you continue the same feeding program as the weather gets colder you will not see the same level of success.
Below you will find a number of articles about calf care in cold weather.
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Milk production
Published:
10/17/2012
Costs of milk production are expected to increase by about 5% in 2012, compared to 2011. The main drivers for cost increase are: increasing feed prices, high energy costs, increasing competition on land market worldwide (affecting prices). From the return side, the average milk price from January to August has dropped by 24% in 2012 compared to the same period in 2011. Therefore, profitability of dairy farms is expected to decline significantly in 2012, compared to 2011. Feed prices have almost tripled since 2006, and price of feed is currently higher than the price of milk, resulting in a milk feed price ratio below 1. In times of high feed prices, dairy farms having low concentrate intake (like in Ireland) have a competitive advantage. Adaptation of the farming system by either increasing milk yields (maximise output) or by decreasing yields (minimise input) could help high input systems to improve their farm economics.
Read more »
Sustainability
Published:
9/12/2012
The Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy®, established under the leadership of dairy farmers, is now accepting nominations for the second year of the U.S. Dairy Sustainability Awards. The award program recognizes dairy farms, businesses and collaborative partnerships for their contributions to healthy people, healthy products and a healthy planet and showcases that sustainability makes good business sense.
Read more »
Housing
Published:
9/7/2012
Written by:
Israel Flamenbaum
Summer losses in milk production are usually related to the negative impact of summer heat stress on the lactating cow. This is due to the large negative effect of heat stress on feed consumption and the efficiency of feed utilization of the lactating cow, as well as on reproductive traits. Recently, it was found that also dry cows, although they are not producing milk, are negatively affected when subjected to heat stress conditions.
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Management
Published:
7/31/2012
Written by:
Christian Poggensee
Volatile fuel costs are steadily becoming the new norm for consumers in the U.S. and much of the world. Earlier this year, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) projected the price of imported crude oil to peak at $115 per barrel this summer, but due to stagnant global economic growth backed by rising financial uncertainty in Europe, oil prices fell well below $100 in June.
Read more »
Housing
Published:
7/30/2012
Written by:
Israel Flamenbaum
Summer conditions make the implementation of cooling systems in the dairy farms an important tool for efficient milk production. In cooperation with the "Israeli Herd book" data, a new index was developed, called the summer: winter ratio. This index serves as an indicator for characterization of the effectiveness of farmer's efforts to reduce summer negative impact on cow's performance. In the following article, the use of this index will be described, and the achievements of the Israeli dairy sector in combating heat stress in the last 15 years will be presented.
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Housing
Published:
6/29/2012
Cow fertility tends to decline in the summer in hot and even temperate climates. Heat stress negatively affects all stages of the cow’s fertility, among them the manifestation of “heat signs”, conception and maintenance of pregnancy.
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Biosecurity
Published:
6/18/2012
There are many reasons to buy cows. It’s necessary to purchase cows as part of herd expansions and sometimes herd removal policies dictate that new animals must be brought into the dairy herd to maintain cow numbers but as you buy remember the saying, Caveat emptor, or “buyer beware.” People don’t sell their best cows, herds don’t disperse because of success, and cows like routine. The stress of moving and new environments make new arrivals to your herd more likely to shed disease organisms and become sick. You need to protect your investment in cows, your farm enterprise, and importantly, maintain your herd’s udder health by developing a sound biosecurity program for your farm.
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Animal health
Published:
5/18/2012
Written by:
Milkproduction.com staff
In the early 1940s, the first antibiotic—penicillin—was used successfully to treat bacterial infections and to save thousands of lives, including those of wounded World War II soldiers. Today, antibiotics, which target microorganisms like bacteria, fungi, and parasites, are essential for human and animal health. They continue to save lives as well as increase animal production and efficiency. However, exploration of alternative strategies to mitigate the use of antibiotics is needed in view of growing concerns about antibiotic resistance to certain strains of bacteria and increasing restrictions on their prudent use in animals.
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Dairy training
Published:
4/19/2012
Written by:
Milkproduction.com staff
Ninety six dairy farmers (96) among them 44 females have been trained on “Feeding strategies to improve dairy production in Samastipur District of Bihar”. The one-day training programme was organised by the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) and partners of Bihar, India.
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Dairy world
Published:
5/18/2012
Written by:
Milkproduction.com staff
Fifth Tetra Pak Dairy Index highlights the challenges and opportunities in meeting rising expectations of low-income consumers in developing countries. New research from Tetra Pak has identified 2.7 billion low-income consumers in developing countries as the dairy industry’s next big growth opportunity due to an expected rise in prosperity, purchasing power and desire for packaged liquid dairy products (LDP).
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Animal welfare
Published:
3/26/2012
Written by:
Milkproduction.com staff
From a young age, dairy cows react differently from each other to stimuli from their surroundings. An animal's temperament determines how it reacts in stressful situations, but may also influence its general health. In the future, temperament could be bred as a selective trait to improve the robustness and wellbeing of dairy cows.
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Dairy world
Published:
3/19/2012
Written by:
Milkproduction.com staff
A dairy market analysis on Russia from CLAL, presented at the Dairy Industry conference in Moscow on March 13, 2012.
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Milk Quality
Published:
3/7/2012
Written by:
Milkproduction.com staff
New articles in the weekly series on Mastitis and milk management on the UW Milk quality web site. The latest articles discuss treatment decisions for managing clinical mastitis, the role of milking equipment in mastitis, and teat disinfectons.
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Farm management
Published:
2/20/2012
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and USDA's National Agricultural Library, in partnership with the American Farm Bureau Federation, announced on Feb 16th Start2farm.gov, a new online portal that helps provide assistance for beginning farmers and ranchers. The portal includes links to training, financing, technical assistance and other support services specifically for beginning farmers and ranchers as well as successful case studies about new and beginning farmers and ranchers.
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Housing
Published:
2/20/2012
In some parts of the world spring is approaching, and it is high time to brush up on old knowledge or learn something new about heat stress in cows, to avoid a drop in production this summer. DAIReXNET offers free webinar on this subject, starting March 5th.
Read more »
Animal health
Published:
3/7/2012
Written by:
Milkproduction.com staff
New articles in the weekly series on Mastitis and milk management on the UW Milk quality web site. The latest articles discuss treatment decisions for managing clinical mastitis, the role of milking equipment in mastitis, and teat disinfectons.
Read more »
Automatic milking
Published:
1/9/2012
Written by:
Morten Lindgaard Jensen
Which milking robot manufacturer to choose is for many a careful evaluation based on several factors: cost, annual running costs, capacity, reliability and service options, to mention some. All parameters are important when making this kind of investment. The total time the cow stays in the milking robot affects the number of cows that can pass through the milking robot, affecting the utilization of the milking robot’s capacity. An optimal capacity utilization is important to ensure a good economy with milking robots.
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Milk Quality
Published:
12/22/2011
Written by:
Monica Wadsworth
A new website to help Wisconsin dairy producers improve milk quality has been launched by two professors in the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
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Transition cows
Published:
11/29/2011
Written by:
Barry Bradford
In the past, efforts to improve the transition to lactation have focused largely on preventing infections and maximizing energy intake in transition cows, and these have generally been treated as independent issues. However, new models are emerging to explain the development of numerous transition disorders.
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The dairy farms
Published:
11/14/2011
The switch from a parlour to milking robot led to both less and lighter work
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Dairy report
Published:
11/8/2011
Written by:
Monica Wadsworth
Milk production needs to increase 200 million tons in the next 15 years, from 700 million in 2010 to 900 million by 2025, if we are to meet the demands of the forecasted 7.8 billion people, according to Torsten Hemme from IFCN. But we must not forget that in the past 15 years milk production increased 170 million tons, and 62% of this milk came from Asia.
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Housing
Published:
11/7/2011
“The Aerial Environment: Fresh Air and Plenty of It” will be the topic of the next session of the Technology Tuesdays webinar series offered by the Penn State Extension Dairy Team. The webinar will be held Nov. 8 from 8:30 to 10 a.m., Eastern time, and is free of charge.
Read more »
