Summer is very much my favourite season of the year. The aspects that appeal to me most are the longer days and the summer sun, although the latter is most likely a cow’s worst nightmare. So, the summer season is bittersweet, with the love I have for it overshadowed by the fact that dairy cows…
15
Jul
Jul
Mycotoxins pose an ever-present risk to animal production. Everywhere food and feed crops are produced and stored, mycotoxins are inevitably present, causing substantial losses for farmers and producers. The impact and severity of mycotoxicosis on animals are influenced by various factors, of which the concentration of a single mycotoxin is but one. Testing the levels…
01
Jun
Jun
Hairy heel wart is the commonly used term for digital dermatitis (DD), which is a dangerously contagious foot disease found in cattle. DD has been identified as the leading cause of lameness in dairy cattle in the United States, with a prevalence of up to 80%. Prevention of digital dermatitis is notoriously difficult because a…
05
May
May
Imagine for a moment that a thief were to break into your house every night, stealing discrete amounts of your hard-earned savings, right from under your bed. You might not notice at first, but after months of constant losses, it could cost you everything. In the house of agriculture this thief has been stealing and…
01
Mar
Mar
Have you ever walked through a maze or played a maze game? These days, farming is something like being in a maze, with many twists and turns and walls that seem to rise in front of us as challenges to the end goal of efficient production. One of the challenges that we are faced with…
01
May
May
Effective lameness reduction is vital to dairy farm profitability because it affects everything that a cow does on any given day. A clinically lame cow can cost a dairy producer a significant amount of money as a result of decreased milk production and fertility, treatment and labour costs, and early culling. Addressing lameness is often…