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Animal Health

All Animal Health Content
A red and white holstein calf, looking through the fence from its calf hutch on a sunny, summer day.

Understanding and Mitigating Heat Stress in Young Dairy Animals

We often don’t focus as much on heat stress in young dairy calves and tend to focus more on cold stress. However, it is just as important and producers or calf raisers should have a plan in place to help mitigate heat stress in these animals also.

Milk Replacer being stored poorly on the floor in a facility. Courtesy: Tracey Erickson

Ensuring Quality Milk Replacer Through Proper Storage

Milk is the source of nutrients in newborn mammals. When mother’s milk is not available, a milk replacer is utilized. To ensure the proper growth and health of the young newborn, it is critical provide a quality milk replacer and proper storage of this product is a key component for success.

Holstein Dairy Calves lying in fresh straw, wearing calf blankets to help keep warm.

Keeping Pre-weaned Dairy Calves Healthy and Growing in Cold Weather

Cold stress can result in calves turning to stored body fat to generate body heat, essentially losing weight. In addition, calves experiencing cold stress will have compromised immune systems making them more susceptible to disease.

Holstein Dairy Calves lying in fresh straw, wearing calf blankets to help keep warm.

Managing Un-Weaned Dairy Calves During Cold Weather

Winter can present extra challenges for dairy producers and heifer growers as they try to keep calves alive and growing adequately in frigid temperatures.

Two blue feed buckets filled with distillers grains.

Evaluating Feedstuffs on Nutrient Cost-Comparison Basis

Feed costs in dairy diets typically make up half or more of the input expenses of a ration. Thus, it is imperative to keep a handle on input costs by comparing ingredients on an apples-to-apples basis when looking for cost-effective diet solutions.

A holstein dairy cow with several flies on its face.

Fly Population Management on Dairies

Fly control on dairies is an important pest management consideration that impacts the bottom line by affecting overall animal productivity and health.

Brown Swiss Dairy Calf, lays outside calf hutch in straw bedding with blue calf coat on, sunning itself in the winter sunshine.

Winter Preparedness on the Dairy Farm

Weather this time of year can change in a hurry. So how many of you as dairy producers have heeded the warning and taken the time to prepare for the upcoming winter?

A diseased pig lung

Get to the Root of Porcine Respiratory Disease Complex

Respiratory disease incidence increases in swine in the fall and winter. Changeable weather seems to trigger outbreaks. You and your veterinarian can supply meaningful samples to aid in determining a diagnosis. Contact your local diagnostic laboratory if you have questions on sampling.

Brown and white cow grazing on standing cornstalks

Considerations for Grazing Standing Corn

Grazing standing corn is a viable option to supply nutrients to livestock. However, mitigating risk is critical to ensure healthy animals and optimize crops.

Russ Daly standing in front of a herd of cattle

Five Tips to Keeping Livestock Vaccines Viable on Farm

September 09, 2021

Whether the producer/veterinarian team chooses an inactivated or modified-live virus vaccination program, Daly says it’s important that the vaccines don’t go past their prime.