Animal Systems News
Genomic sire evaluations were released for the first time in January. Many people believe this will have the largest impact on genetic improvement programs since the advent of frozen semen.
The energy site has undergone massive reconstruction over the past several months with the new theme of "Coping with High Energy Prices."
Penn State Dairy Alliance is currently forming discussion groups for dairy producers in southcentral and southwestern Pennsylvania who want an opportunity to meet regularly so they may network and learn from each other.
With all the talk about electricity prices increasing when the rate caps expire within the next year or two, you may be tempted to consider generating your own electricity. After all, you probably already have a back-up generation system to provide electricity during blackout periods.
On occasion we receive inquires about the effect of phytoestrogens on reproductive performance of cattle. There have been a few reports from nutrition consultants and veterinarians working with well managed herds which experienced a sudden decline in reproductive performance for no obvious reason but when forages suspected to have high concentrations of phytoestrogens were removed from the ration performance improved. It is difficult to find well controlled studies which document how widespread this condition might be. However there are some good review articles describing the effect of phytoestrogens on sheep and cattle.
The adoption and evolution of milking cows without regular intervention by humans (robotic milking, automatic milking, voluntary milking…) is progressing in the US. The Pennsylvania dairy industry, lead by innovative and courageous farmers is participating in this pioneering activity. The questions as to “will robots work?” or “can they reliably identify, prepare and milk cows without human intervention?” are regularly being answered and demonstrated on several farms in Pennsylvania.
At the recent Penn State Dairy Cattle Nutrition Workshop, Dr. Nigel Cook from the School of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Wisconsin presented results of on-going research into the daily time budgets of cows. Their studies use video surveillance to determine how cows spend their time and how management practices and facility designs influence cow behavior. The findings are summarized in this article.
Achieving a high accurate heat detection rate (HDR) is a major challenge to dairy producers.
Accounting is probably one of the most misunderstood concepts of our society, yet it affects the lives of virtually every person on a daily basis.
Over the past few years much has been written, talked about, or broadcast on TV regarding the care or at times the lack thereof of animals raised in production agriculture. This has caused many of us who have been working in animal agriculture for years, to stop and look around and try to understand what has caused some of the fuss.
With the significant increase in adoption of resynchronization programs more routine determination of pregnancy status is being used.
For many producers across the state, it has been a struggle to maintain fat tests above a 3.4%. This has occurred on non-grazing herds and has been fairly consistent throughout the summer, regardless of temperature. This seems to be occurring more on herds feeding a high forage based ration and on an average milk production between 70 and 80 pounds. The one commonality is these herds are feeding corn silage. What are some issues that could be challenging butter fat percent?
The Heifer-Plus™ kit has become commercially available for treating bovine semen immediately post-thaw to alter the sex ratio of offspring.
We are coming into the summer months when the incidence of mastitis and the bulk tank somatic cell count tend to rise.
Pennsylvania consultants who are working with dairy teams to improve farm profitability can take advantage of the new web-based version of the Penn State Profitability Assessment Dairy Tool
A new tool designed to help evaluate the decision to feed pasteurized waste milk is available. This spreadsheet developed by Penn State and Virginia Tech extension educators calculates the cost of owning and operating a calf milk pasteurizer as well as costs to feed milk replacer or whole, saleable milk.
There are conflicting reports on the contribution of ruminants to greenhouse gas emissions (GGE). In these environmentally sensitive times it will help to put things in prospective.
Dr. Larry W. Specht, professor emeritus of dairy science, Penn State University, has compiled a history of polled Holsteins, naturally hornless cattle.
Your strategy should always be to optimize the use of energy to increase profitability and net cash flow.
