JIM BENNETT
Real dairy conversations at state fair
My shift at the Miracle of Birth Center at the Minnesota State Fair was at 1 p.m. on the first Friday of the fair.
The future of the dairy veterinarian
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.
The hidden costs of mastitis
“Doc, the plant just doesn’t pay me much of a somatic cell count premium anymore. What’s the point of having a low SCC?”
Is there an ideal somatic cell count?
Can somatic cell counts get too low?
Too much information
Humans like simple, straightforward information.
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Progesterone
Progesterone is a steroid hormone that is produced by the corpus luteum, or CL as veterinarians commonly say.
What’s in my car?
Most dairy vets probably still drive trucks with fiberglass inserts. I used to, but my last few vehicles were small SUVs with a much smaller cabinet inside, because I do not need to carry all that stuff anymore.
How we do it here
Any work protocol is just how we do it here. A protocol defines a process, which is a series of steps.
‘Doc, remind me why I want more old cows’
Mr. S, a great client of ours, said those exact words to me not long ago while one of his cows was dying.
Parlor miracles
While it sometimes might seem to be a miracle that we managed to get all the cows milked and through the parlor three times in 24 hours, in reality, no miracles happen in parlors.
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The miracle of birth
I arrived for my 1 p.m. shift at the Minnesota State Fair Miracle of Birth Center at 12:30 p.m. this year on a beautiful, sunny, late summer day.
Cool cows
Are your cows cool? Are your cooling systems working properly? Designs for dairy cow cooling systems are much improved than in the past, but many cows still become hot.
Pentobarbital residues in rendered animals
Pentobarbital is a barbiturate drug that causes sedation, induces anesthesia or causes death depending on dosage administered. In veterinary medicine, the most common uses are to induce anesthesia in pets and to euthanize large and small animals.
Fertility program or service program?
In a recent review in the Journal of Dairy Science (Volume 105, No. 5, 2022), Fricke and Wiltbank discuss the history and purposes of timed artificial insemination programs.
Milk per stall
I am just going to say it right here. Milk per stall is not an appropriate measure of efficiency to use on a dairy farm. There seems to be a trend to use milk per stall this way, and I do not like it. Why not?
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