Maintaining Good Rumen Health in High-Producing Cows
This program will focus on keeping high-producing dairy cows efficient and healthy by emphasizing good rumen health through feeding balanced high-forage rations with adequate effective fiber and proper feeding facilities.
Nutritional and environmental issues related to providing and maintaining good rumen health will be explored. Emphasis will be placed on the negative effects of sub-acute rumen acidosis (SARA) and how to prevent the disease. Nutritional issues will address forage feeding and providing adequate physically effective fiber relative to total fermentable carbohydrate load in the rumen as a means to emphasize rumen health and SARA prevention. In addition, we will cover how proper feeding system design and surface areas can assist the farmer and cow in providing a good environment for achieving this well-balanced diet.
Instructors include Dr. Jud Heinrichs, professor, Penn State Department of Animal Science; Dr. Robert Van Saun, Penn State Extension veterinarian, and John Tyson and Dan McFarland, Penn State Extension engineers.
Agenda Topics
- Forage feeding for high producing dairy cows
- Issues related to sub-acute rumen acidosis
- Proper feed bunk design and surfaces
SmartStart Credits
This program is eligible for 2 SmartStart credits from AgChoice Farm Credit.
Registration
50% Off Discount Available: Pennsylvania dairy producers and their dairy employees may attend this workshop for the discounted fee of $12.50, thanks to a grant from the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry. To receive this discount, recipients must be willing to provide their Social Security Number to the Department of Labor and Industry at the workshop. Those unwilling to provide SSN will be charged the full rate of $25. Pennsylvania agribusiness employees are not eligible for this reduced registration fee. Online registration is not available for WIB discount.
Registration fee: $25 per person. To register, mail in this form and a personal check, or register online with your Mastercard or VISA.
Contact
For more information, call the Penn State Extension Dairy Team office at 888-373-7232 or contact Dr. Jud Heinrichs at ajh@psu.edu
