Drug backorders Generic Oxytetracycline and Ampicillin are unavailable in the short time. Name brands are available at higher costs.
Fly Control - What is your Plan? Feed throughs need to start once temp is 70°. Premise sprays get house flies but not Stable flies. One fly killed in April and May means 10,000 less in September! Don’t wait.
Cooling Cows Inside and Out: Dr. Nathan Upah of Techmix has supplied the Powerpoint that he created for our Peer Group Meeting. Much of it contains the very latest thinking on cow cooling. We can see from activity monitors how much and when heat stress occurs. Lacking the monitors, our repro and milk records tell how much we are losing.
Climate change is real and it is part of the need to update cooling systems. The thermal neutral zone, best for optimal performance and health, is described as the range from 59° to 77°. High producing cows have a lower high limit. Once past the upper limit, we see decreased milk production, fertility, feed intake, and resting time. We see increases in body temperature and respiratory rate. Less resting time especially results in increased lameness and culling.
Glucose is made from propionate and acetate. Lactose is made from glucose. Milk yield is determined by the amount of synthesized lactose. Heat stress alters metabolism and it isn’t all due to decreased DMI. Normal metabolism results in increased insulin, decreased NEFA, and catabolic hormones. Heat stressed metabolism, with decreased intake, has decreased insulin and increased NEFA and catabolic hormones. Milk yield is decreased with heat stress much more than the decrease in dry matter intake would explain. Rumen acidosis is part of this. There is damage to the intestinal tissue that decreases absorption. There is also damage to the tight junctions between cells that results in leaky gut. Bacteria could pass through the damaged junctions into the blood stream. This septicemia requires energy for the immune system to fight or it might get overwhelmed resulting in disease.
What are priorities for heat abatement?
1) Holding Pen and Entrance Area around robots: fans and sprinklers;
2) Maternity Pen: fans and sprinklers;
3) Prefresh Cows: fans and sprinklers;
4) Lactating Cows: A)Water, B) Feed Lines: fans and sprinklers, C) Freestalls: fans overtop;
5) Hospital Cows: fans and sprinklers;
6) Far Off Dry Cows: fans and sprinklers;
7) Processing Areas/ Head Chute/ Foot Trimming/ Palpation Rails;
8) Travel Lanes: shade +/- fans and sprinklers. You may not be able to do everything at once, but there is significant economic benefit to doing all of this. You'll especially make your vet happy by doing #7. One fan goes a long way here, but not anywhere else.
Water is the first limiting factor in milk production. Heat stress drinking can lead upward to 50 to 60 gallons per cow per day. 2-3 linear ft per 10 cows is needed, with a minimum or 2 waterers per group.
Fan Guidance- if you can’t do both fans and sprinklers, choose sprinklers before fans. Sprinklers cool cows more efficiently than fans alone. Sprinklers should be 60” to 66” above the cow floor to put water directly on the cows. Higher sprinklers put water on feed and in the air. Cows that are well cooled do not seem to have the stress response of messing with the sprinklers. Sprinklers and fans at 5+mph are most effective. Fans should start at 65° and run continuously. It may cool off through the night, but it is easier to cool cows with cooler air.
Provide 4-6 mph over beds and feed alley. Fan height >8’ as low as possible but out of reach of cows and machinery. 36” fans should be spaced 20-24 ft apart. 48” fans should be spaced 24 to 36 ft apart. 54” fans should be spaced 36 to 40 ft apart. Fan angle should be 30° downward at the bottom of the next fan. Cyclone vertical fans with fins should be 40 ft apart, not the 60 ft that is advertised. Fans should flow in the direction of prevailing winds. Sprinkler guidance - Evaporative cooling soaks the skin with low pressure, large droplets. Fans then blow the droplets off taking heat with them. High pressure nozzles on fans to coo! air do not work in high humidity areas east of the Mississippi. Sprinklers deliver .5 to 1 gal/min. | like the .5 gal sprinklers and run them until the barrel of the cow is wet, This takes 45 to 150 seconds. Recommendations are to cycle once per 15 minutes at 65°, once per 70 minutes at 80° and once per 5 minutes at 90°. Most controllers can only have 2 intervals so one per 10 at 70° and one per 5 at 85° can work as well.
Holding pen, return alley, and area sprinklers can have varying configurations but | like |-wob systems with the Nelson D3000 System and Spray
head. It is a 360° head with a 28 ft diameter pattern. Some holding pens have sprinklers mounted on one side, but they do not soak the entire pen. That can only work if the holding pen is less than 24 ft wide. Some pens do not cool all the way to the back with the excuse that cows aren't back there long. It only takes 15 minutes for cows to gain one or more degrees of internal body temperature and it takes them 8 to 12 hours for them to dissipate it. Then we do it again, so they are never actually cooled. That can create good reason fo have high late summer and fall cull rates. 36” fans in holding pens should be mounted on 6 foot centers blowing toward the back of the holding pen with rows every 20 to 24 ft. 48” fans can be mounted on 8 ft centers with rows every 24” to 36”. Fans should be as low as possible while avoiding cows and machinery. Cyclone fans do well in holding pens. If you can figure out the technology, tuning off fans and sprinklers after the crowd gate passes makes sense. The challenge is always getting them turned on again.
Fans on the outside rows of 6 row barns have helped the utilization of those stalls. Strategic shade cloth has been a useful tool on these barns, but maintaining it takes some expertise and expense. There are feed additives that can play a role in decreasing heat stress. Some have been added to drinking water but the TMR is an easier and cheaper approach. We can help supply these products.
Cost of H5N1 in a Dairy From AABP Newsletter We investigated the impact of influenza A-H5N1 virus infection in a dairy herd. Clinical disease, which lasted for about three weeks, was recorded in 20.0% (777/3,876) of the adult cows. Milk losses of ~900 kg per cow were recorded in affected cows during a 60 = day-post-outbreak period. Seroprevalence was 89.4% (570/637) in the herd, with 76.1% (485/637) of seropositive animals being subclinically infected. Clinically affected cows presented an increased risk of death (6 times) and of premature herd removal (3.6 times), when compared to non-clinical cows. Economic losses due to decreased milk production, mortality and early herd removal were estimated at $950 per clinically affected cow for a total cost of approximately $737,500 for the herd during the observation period. Our results demonstrate a long-lasting production impact and_ significant financial consequences of HPAI H5N1_ virus infection to dairy farms.
Fly Control - What is your Plan? Feed throughs need to start once temp is 70°. Premise sprays get house flies but not Stable flies. One fly killed in April and May means 10,000 less in September! Don’t wait.
Cooling Cows Inside and Out: Dr. Nathan Upah of Techmix has supplied the Powerpoint that he created for our Peer Group Meeting. Much of it contains the very latest thinking on cow cooling. We can see from activity monitors how much and when heat stress occurs. Lacking the monitors, our repro and milk records tell how much we are losing.
Climate change is real and it is part of the need to update cooling systems. The thermal neutral zone, best for optimal performance and health, is described as the range from 59° to 77°. High producing cows have a lower high limit. Once past the upper limit, we see decreased milk production, fertility, feed intake, and resting time. We see increases in body temperature and respiratory rate. Less resting time especially results in increased lameness and culling.
Glucose is made from propionate and acetate. Lactose is made from glucose. Milk yield is determined by the amount of synthesized lactose. Heat stress alters metabolism and it isn’t all due to decreased DMI. Normal metabolism results in increased insulin, decreased NEFA, and catabolic hormones. Heat stressed metabolism, with decreased intake, has decreased insulin and increased NEFA and catabolic hormones. Milk yield is decreased with heat stress much more than the decrease in dry matter intake would explain. Rumen acidosis is part of this. There is damage to the intestinal tissue that decreases absorption. There is also damage to the tight junctions between cells that results in leaky gut. Bacteria could pass through the damaged junctions into the blood stream. This septicemia requires energy for the immune system to fight or it might get overwhelmed resulting in disease.
What are priorities for heat abatement?
1) Holding Pen and Entrance Area around robots: fans and sprinklers;
2) Maternity Pen: fans and sprinklers;
3) Prefresh Cows: fans and sprinklers;
4) Lactating Cows: A)Water, B) Feed Lines: fans and sprinklers, C) Freestalls: fans overtop;
5) Hospital Cows: fans and sprinklers;
6) Far Off Dry Cows: fans and sprinklers;
7) Processing Areas/ Head Chute/ Foot Trimming/ Palpation Rails;
8) Travel Lanes: shade +/- fans and sprinklers. You may not be able to do everything at once, but there is significant economic benefit to doing all of this. You'll especially make your vet happy by doing #7. One fan goes a long way here, but not anywhere else.
Water is the first limiting factor in milk production. Heat stress drinking can lead upward to 50 to 60 gallons per cow per day. 2-3 linear ft per 10 cows is needed, with a minimum or 2 waterers per group.
Fan Guidance- if you can’t do both fans and sprinklers, choose sprinklers before fans. Sprinklers cool cows more efficiently than fans alone. Sprinklers should be 60” to 66” above the cow floor to put water directly on the cows. Higher sprinklers put water on feed and in the air. Cows that are well cooled do not seem to have the stress response of messing with the sprinklers. Sprinklers and fans at 5+mph are most effective. Fans should start at 65° and run continuously. It may cool off through the night, but it is easier to cool cows with cooler air.
Provide 4-6 mph over beds and feed alley. Fan height >8’ as low as possible but out of reach of cows and machinery. 36” fans should be spaced 20-24 ft apart. 48” fans should be spaced 24 to 36 ft apart. 54” fans should be spaced 36 to 40 ft apart. Fan angle should be 30° downward at the bottom of the next fan. Cyclone vertical fans with fins should be 40 ft apart, not the 60 ft that is advertised. Fans should flow in the direction of prevailing winds. Sprinkler guidance - Evaporative cooling soaks the skin with low pressure, large droplets. Fans then blow the droplets off taking heat with them. High pressure nozzles on fans to coo! air do not work in high humidity areas east of the Mississippi. Sprinklers deliver .5 to 1 gal/min. | like the .5 gal sprinklers and run them until the barrel of the cow is wet, This takes 45 to 150 seconds. Recommendations are to cycle once per 15 minutes at 65°, once per 70 minutes at 80° and once per 5 minutes at 90°. Most controllers can only have 2 intervals so one per 10 at 70° and one per 5 at 85° can work as well.
Holding pen, return alley, and area sprinklers can have varying configurations but | like |-wob systems with the Nelson D3000 System and Spray
head. It is a 360° head with a 28 ft diameter pattern. Some holding pens have sprinklers mounted on one side, but they do not soak the entire pen. That can only work if the holding pen is less than 24 ft wide. Some pens do not cool all the way to the back with the excuse that cows aren't back there long. It only takes 15 minutes for cows to gain one or more degrees of internal body temperature and it takes them 8 to 12 hours for them to dissipate it. Then we do it again, so they are never actually cooled. That can create good reason fo have high late summer and fall cull rates. 36” fans in holding pens should be mounted on 6 foot centers blowing toward the back of the holding pen with rows every 20 to 24 ft. 48” fans can be mounted on 8 ft centers with rows every 24” to 36”. Fans should be as low as possible while avoiding cows and machinery. Cyclone fans do well in holding pens. If you can figure out the technology, tuning off fans and sprinklers after the crowd gate passes makes sense. The challenge is always getting them turned on again.
Fans on the outside rows of 6 row barns have helped the utilization of those stalls. Strategic shade cloth has been a useful tool on these barns, but maintaining it takes some expertise and expense. There are feed additives that can play a role in decreasing heat stress. Some have been added to drinking water but the TMR is an easier and cheaper approach. We can help supply these products.
Cost of H5N1 in a Dairy From AABP Newsletter We investigated the impact of influenza A-H5N1 virus infection in a dairy herd. Clinical disease, which lasted for about three weeks, was recorded in 20.0% (777/3,876) of the adult cows. Milk losses of ~900 kg per cow were recorded in affected cows during a 60 = day-post-outbreak period. Seroprevalence was 89.4% (570/637) in the herd, with 76.1% (485/637) of seropositive animals being subclinically infected. Clinically affected cows presented an increased risk of death (6 times) and of premature herd removal (3.6 times), when compared to non-clinical cows. Economic losses due to decreased milk production, mortality and early herd removal were estimated at $950 per clinically affected cow for a total cost of approximately $737,500 for the herd during the observation period. Our results demonstrate a long-lasting production impact and_ significant financial consequences of HPAI H5N1_ virus infection to dairy farms.
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