Residues. What do you think about when you hear this word? Residue prevention, antibiotics, farms, veterinarians, meat, milk, food — all are applicable. All domestic and imported food products …
As much as I like working with calves, working through an abomasal bloat issue has proven to be one of the most frustrating challenges I have encountered in veterinary practice. For reference, …
Our practice has been compiling a dairy herd benchmarking spreadsheet every year for nearly 15 years. We use DairyComp 305 data from most of the farms we work with who utilize the program on-farm for …
Right, wrong or otherwise, highly pathogenic avian influenza H5N1 remains a hot topic in the production animal industries. After detection in dairy cattle across multiple states in March 2024, …
As we move into winter, I like to review colostrum practices on farms to help producers prepare for cold weather challenges that can exacerbate neonatal calf health challenges. Thanks to Dr. Sandra …
I am going to apologize in advance as this article gets a little in the weeds when it comes to drug approvals. However, given the recent attention that the Food and Drug Administration has given to …
Salmonella has reared its ugly head in our area in late summer and early fall. Particularly, our clinic has experienced more cases of Salmonella Dublin in dairy calves. While we see it on …
Our veterinary practice runs an in-house laboratory where we perform several types of cultures, including milk cultures from the bulk tank and individual cows. Bulk tank cultures are an …
Hello all. I am new here and following in the footsteps of Dr. Jim Bennett for the Veterinary Wisdom column. I am one of six doctors at Northern Valley Livestock Services practicing primarily dairy …
I was cleaning up while standing at the back of my SUV after my regular scheduled 7 a.m. Monday herd visit, when unknowingly I said, “Well, that was fun.” It was fun because I …
The other day, a few of our doctors were discussing heifer pregnancy rates. A top-notch client had recently posted a 57% pregnancy rate. This is an annual pregnancy rate, not a conception rate, and …
I was doing housecleaning the other day and revisited an old book that my brother gave me years ago. It was published in 1918 with this rather long title: “Farm knowledge: A complete …
According to the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Dr. Nigel Cook, the immediate effects of adding more cows to a pen are mostly positive, i.e., more milk in the tank; while, the long-term …
In my neighborhood, a warm dairy barn used to mean a tiestall or stanchion barn, and those barns had temperatures well above freezing even on the coldest winter days. As freestall barns became the …
Recently, a farmer called me because a consultant had recommended changing pulsation settings in her parlor. This consultant thought that fewer of their cows might suffer from teat-end hyperkeratosis …
Many dairy farms practice culture-based treatment of clinical mastitis.
There have been a lot of studies regarding colostrum in dairy calves. By now, everyone knows that quantity, quality and timeliness of delivery are critically important for proper absorption of …
Most dairy producers now do a great job feeding calves. Colostrum management has improved drastically, and almost everyone feeds some version of an accelerated milk-feeding program. As a result, …
The summer of 2023 was hot and dry. However, until the third week in August, most farmers in my area reported little, if any, drop in milk production. Cows did well because dairy producers have …
I am the current president of the Minnesota Veterinary Medical Association. Representing the MVMA, I recently attended the white coat ceremony at the University of Minnesota College of Veterinary Medicine.