Dairy

Proactive cull cow management boosts dairy farm income and animal welfare, while finish-feeding thin cows improves meat quality and profit.

Feed newborn calves 3–4 quarts of clean, high-quality colostrum (IgG >50 g/L) within 4 hours of birth to ensure essential passive immunity.

Low-stress cow handling protects workers, reduces animal fear, boosts milk yield, and uses sensory principles like flight zones and point of balance.

In this presentation, Dr. Sebastián Umaña Sedó Assistant Professor, Production Management Medicine at Virginia Tech discusses modifiable factors that producers can incorporate into their daily routines to prevent and control neonatal calf diarrhea, as well as the key elements needed to develop an effective diarrhea treatment protocol at both the group and individual animal levels.

The transition period is one of the most challenging times for dairy cows, in which they experience several physiological and behavioral stressors. These challenges can be detrimental to cows’ success on the dairy and their welfare.

Explore strategies to reduce methane from anaerobic manure storage—digestion, solids separation, acidification, and frequent emptying—with costs and tradeoffs.