In April, the Dairy Calf & Heifer Association (DCHA) introduced its updated Gold Standards – the industry benchmarks and best management practices for raising dairy calves and heifers, and dairy-beef crosses. These standards guide dairy calf, dairy-beef and heifer raisers in growing the healthiest and most efficient and profitable dairy/dairy-beef animals possible. “The Gold Standards have been developed using published data …
Scientists have collaborated to produce the first gene-edited calf with resistance to bovine viral diarrhea virus (BVDV), a virus that costs the U.S. cattle sector billions of dollars annually. The recent study published in PNAS Nexus results from a collaboration between the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service (ARS), the University of Nebraska–Lincoln (UNL), the University of Kentucky, and industry partners, Acceligen and Recombinetics, Inc. BVDV …
Join National Mastitis Council (NMC) for its next webinar – presented in Spanish – on Sept. 29, starting at 2 p.m. Central time (U.S./Canada). Alfonso Lago, an NMC board member and director of research and consulting solutions at DairyExperts, Inc., Tulare, Calif., will address “New Concepts and Opportunities in Mastitis Management” (“Nuevos Conceptos y Oportunidades en el Manejo de la …
Enjoy this great throwback video with Ed DePeters from the Animal Science Department at UC Davis as he shares the significance of colostrum for the first few months of life of a dairy calf and successfully managing that for a healthy future. Read more about keeping calves healthy in California Dairy Magazine. Please thank this video’s sponsor Clean Energy for their industry …
Cows play an integral part in the healthy management of the approximately 6,500-acre Merced Vernal Pools and Grassland Reserve. That expanse of open rangeland adjacent to the UC Merced campus is a constant reminder of the University’s commitment to offsetting its environmental impact. The land will remain undeveloped forever, as agreed to before campus was built. Now an official part of …
The United States dairy industry is a major contributor to the US food and nutrient supply. Dairy products are a major source of protein, calcium, and many essential vitamins not just in the US but all over the world. The US dairy industry also accounts for 16 percent of the greenhouse gas emissions from all of US agriculture, and contributes …
The American Jersey Cattle Association’s comprehensive mating program, JerseyMate, recently had three major updates incorporated. The program now accounts for the risk of a JNS (Jersey Neuropathy and Splayed Forelimbs) mating; incorporates both genomic and pedigree inbreeding levels; and has added a minimum constraint to indicate the minimum number of units to be used from the breeder’s semen inventory when …
The first meal of their lives may well determine the fate of calves; if they don’t get what they need quickly, the newborns may not survive to weaning age, said two scientists with the Agricultural Research Service (ARS). Colostrum is a vital nutrient that mothers provide in the first feedings that newborn farm animals must have within 24 hours of …
Dehydration in calves experiencing scours is often underestimated. A scouring calf can lose anywhere between 5 to 10% of its body weight in water within one day. Dr. Jennifer Trout, Western U.S. Calf and Heifer Technical Pro, offers her insight on properly diagnosing and rehydrating scouring calves. “Shortly after I finished vet school, I was talking with my father who …
There are clear signs that growth in milk production in China is leveling off and, recently, even declining, say a team of Chinese and international researchers, including from World Agroforestry (ICRAF), in a study published in the journal, Climatic Change.Heat stress is one of the main reasons for the recent reduction. In their study, the team computed the change in milk production …
