Dairy Science Digest

It’s always exciting to watch a group of replacement heifers develop and anticipate their performance in the milking string as the top genetics of your herd. There is just about nothing more devastating than freshening them in to find mastitis or even worse, a blind quarter. When a first calf heifer calves in with a high somatic cell count she is more likely to maintain the high count, and more likely to be culled.

Heifer mastitis,...

DSD 6.6 | How much variability is allowable?

Timing of insemination is still one of the most common question Dr. Paul Fricke, Extension faculty for the University of Wisconsin, gets from farmers. This month he and coauthors Vanda Santos and Paulo Carvalho  discuss the ideal timing of insemination when using popular artificial insemination protocols and when producers use estrus detection devices.

Additionally, how does this change...

For decades, ethanol production has generated affordable biproducts to feed. A new distilling method has generated a product with ~50% protein. Dr. Billy Brown, assistant professor of dairy science at Kansas State, wanted to understand how this feed would compare to soybean meal in a starter grain.

To test this he developed rations substituting soybean meal 1:1. Graduate student Rachel Skinner measured intake, growth, effiency and ...

Most dairy farms are trying to push the envelope from the conventional 4L of milk replacer per day to a higher volume to support lean structural growth of replacement heifers. Concerns of ruminal leakage resulting in fermentation has been cited as a concern, but is that based on an incomplete picture?  We know microbial protein offers a nearly perfect alignment of amino acid requirements for the bovine, however nutrition programs h...

DSD 6.3 | Big Picture Management Decisions Matter

Timeless dairy management decisions, such as voluntary waiting period & days dry, have recently been the topic of interest across the globe. Scrutiny to illuminate the ideal to maximize productive life has left the industry questioning convention.  

Michael Overton, DVM at Zoetis worked with co-author Steve Eicker to tease out the answers to these questions from a a massive dat...

Colostrum, the life-giving liquid-gold first milk that builds the calves’ immune function. The dairy industry has made amazing strides on colostrum management, however we’ll always have a small number of cows that come in with enough colostrum, just moderate quality. What can we do to enhance the colostrum to ensure the calf’s success?

Dr. Sandra Godden, from the University of MN Vet Med, and her team of researchers sought to bette...

DSD 6.1 | Management to create the invisible cow

If you pause and think about a list of cows –  chances are the list that pops into mind is a group of troublemakers that didn’t breed back or need another round of treatment or are on this week’s cull list. What if you could create a herd of unmemorable cows – ones who just do their job; make milk, breed back, no mastitis – the "Invisible Cow". Dr. Krogstad’s research program’s go...

Ever heard the adage, “It takes money to make money”? Well, the research highlighted this month shows that it also takes time, to make time. Dr. Zelmar Rodriguez discusses the importance of parlor training and how to make your on farm training as effective as possible. The featured article summarizes results of pre- and post-training assessments he and his team at MI State Vet Med recently completed.

Listen in to be motivated, a sm...

Reproductive physiologists are always trying to improve conception rates for the dairy herd. Double ovsync is one of the best tools in our toolbox to submit cows to first insemination. However, as estrus detection technology becomes more affordable and we learn more about physiology, perhaps combining the expression of estrus at insemination may improve fertility through optimizing ovulation timing.

Dr. Julio Giordano and Ana Lapla...

DSD 5.10 | Rumen friendly fatty acids in High Oleic Beans

Soybeans and dairy cows have walked hand for decades. These oil beans are known specifically for the amino acid sequence in their high-quality protein and energy to support lactation. Recent developments in plant breeding has shifted the fat profile of the bean contain a higher amount of Oleic fat, which is easier for the rumen to digest, in certain varieties.  Substituti...

Despite decades of dedicated research, the rumen still remains a bit of a ‘black box’. This month we feature an article from  Dr. Gonzalo Ferreira and his team at Virginia Tech as they try further define how undegradable fiber impacts the rumen's flow rate, and therefore productivity.

Comprehending the kinetics of degradation will assist in identifying the ideal combination of ingredients to create a profitable ration for your her...

Seems like calcium and phosphorus gather up all the attention, but there is growing awareness of the importance of magnesium – the “runner up mineral” in the dairy cow diet. Some sources of magnesium are simply more available than others. This fact has the ignited the interest of ruminant nutritionists looking to focus their research efforts on determining the most available Mg source so you can get the biggest bang for your buck.

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Subacute Ruminal acidosis, commonly referred to as SARA, could be robbing your herd of production. When pH dips too low for too long the biology of the rumen shifts, butterfat slides and overall health of the herd is negatively impacted.

But how can you tell if your herd has SARA?

This month we invite Dr. Eric Paquet and Felix Huot, from Université Laval in Quebec Canada to explain the method of using DHI milk samples to map the pr...

When your bulk tank volume takes a plunge through the last bout of heat, do you ever wonder exactly WHY? What is it in the udder that changes to cause the decline? Why do we also commonly see elevated SCC in our tanks too?

To best understand the why, the Virgina Tech dairy team collected tissue samples from the mammary gland of cows in controlled environmental chambers. This month we invite Dr. Ben Corl to explain the cellular cha...

Florida researchers began a generational study in 2007 that is still years in the making. It all began with the investigation of the impact of heat stress on dry cows to measure changes that might occur to the calf incubating inside the hot dam, like a crock pot.

In addition to seeing negative production impacts on mama, the researchers began to measure numerous changes in the damaged calf coming out of the heat stressed dry cow. T...

Choline, a pseudovitamin, is required by all mammals including the dairy cow for many essential functions. Research in supplementing rumen protected choline really took off about twenty years ago, however continues today to best understand how this feed through additive can positively influence profitability. Dr. Usman Arshad joins the conversation for this episode to highlight his comprehensive summary of all the peer reviewed, ...

DSD 5.3 | Slight modifications of CIDR Sync - help or hinder?

In this time of heifer inventory shortage – getting heifers pregnant (in a timely fashion) is even more important than ever.

Contract heifer growers in California sought the help of Dr. Fabio Lima and his team at UC Davis to best understand the use of a 6-day CIDR sync with variable rates of GnRH could increase pregnancies when bred to sexed semen.

The findings we discu...

Getting the fresh cow off to a strong start has ripple effects for her entire lactation. Subclinical mastitis rarely gets treated due to an unawareness or a lack of interest in pulling her from the tank. Nisin is a naturally occurring antimicrobial that’s been used widely as a food preservative. Dr. Zelmar Rodriguez and his team from Michigan State University looked at using this familiar antimicrobial to treat subclinical mastitis...

Efficient production is the name of the game, and the key to an efficient cow is her rumen microbiome. The highlighted research this month focuses in on the intersection of Genome of the host cow, Microbiome within the rumen and the Intersection of the two.

To best understand the rumen efficiency story we talk this month with Dr. Guillermo Martinez Boggio from University of Wisconsin, about his recently released paper titled: Host ...