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Crystal Creek® is proud to present Dr. Ryan Leiterman’s recent articles published in the Progressive Dairyman Magazine.
Progressive Dairyman will be featuring three of Dr. Leiterman’s articles on calf barn ventilation this year. Dr. Leiterman is the Director of Technical Services at Crystal Creek® and holds degrees in both veterinary medicine and agricultural engineering.
Click here to view as a pdf: Crank Up Your Fans To Improve Summer Calf Performance
By Ryan Leiterman, D.V.M
Summer heat can be just as, if not more, stressful for calves than winter. Keeping them cool and healthy boils down to achieving adequate air exchanges per hour and a 2 to 5 mph breeze. Heat stress is a major concern for calves. Research has proven calves suffer from heat stress in much the same way cows do. A calf ’s temperature threshold can be easily reached during summer months. A daily temperature exceeding 77ºF can prevent calves from dissipating accumulated heat and result in performance declines.
Click here to view as a pdf: 2017 April Newsletter1
Click here to view as a pdf: Pre-Engineered Tube Ventilation Systems
By Ryan Leiterman, D.V.M.
What are the benefits of a pre-engineered positive pressure tube system?
Crystal Creek® is now handling pre-engineered tube systems. These duct systems have reduced set up and production time, lower material waste and use bulk shipments for lower freight costs; making the ducts less expensive when compared to a customized duct. Pre-engineered duct systems do not require a ventilation designer to engineer the system, further reducing costs.
Click here to view as a pdf: Embracing Change
By Rob Adler
As a newcomer to the agricultural industry I am refreshed by the number of times I hear one of our nutritionists or livestock specialists say, “My producer is excited about the positive results from the changes we made.”
Before joining Crystal Creek®, I spent 24 years in manufacturing. When I entered the manufacturing industry in the early 90’s the business culture was, “if it worked in the past it will continue to work today.” That mindset caused many of the processes, technologies, and building infrastructures to remain unchanged for a number of decades. When global competition heightened in the early 2000’s, many manufacturers found themselves uncompetitive resulting in the loss of jobs, bankruptcy, or jobs moved overseas.
Click here to view as a pdf: Dairy Goats Benefit From High Quality Nutrition
By Dan Leiterman
Goats are competent browsers, which leads to the misconception that goats can eat and thrive on almost anything. In reality, because goats have a shorter digestive system relative to their body size, food is not retained as long. This increases the need for both higher levels of nutrition and higher quality nutrients. This faster digestive pass through time, reduces nutrient absorption, but also allows goats the ability to increase their dry matter intake to offset the short access time to nutrition. The range of dry matter intake for goats is 3 to 5 % of their body weight which is typically higher than other ruminants.1
A goat’s diet may consist of a wide variety of feedstuffs. Goats can browse on shrubs, graze on pasture and can accommodate supplemental grain feeding when necessary to meet nutritional requirements during times of higher production or winter months.
Click here to view as a pdf: Understanding Biofilms In Agriculture1
By Jessica Dercks, B.S.
In agriculture today, sanitation technique and protocol implementation have become more important than ever before. An increased awareness of health benefits gained from a clean environment has stimulated a higher standard of cleaning expectations. Many producers not only strive to remove organic matter from surfaces, but also microbial buildup; more accurately, biofilms.
“My Layers Were Producing Well, But Are Not Producing Now –
What Is The Problem?” – Eggless in Ohio
As you might expect there is a long list of reasons why this might happen. However, the most common theme that results in a decrease in egg production is stress. Stress is defined in medical terms as, “Any physical, physiological or psychological force that disturbs equilibrium…..includes agents that upset homeostasis, such as infection, injury, disease, internal organ pressures or … strain.”1
Click here to view as a pdf: Swift Start Calf Feeding Challenge
By Teresa Marker, B.S.
The ultimate goal for calf raisers is to raise a healthy, profitable replacement for their herd. Crystal Creek’s Swift Start® Calf & Heifer Program consistently provides the jump start calves need to become a productive part of the herd. The Swift Start® program consists of a line of milk replacers, texturized calf feeds, calf pellets and calf and heifer minerals that are formulated with industry leading technology and manufactured with the highest quality ingredients available. Calf raisers on Crystal Creek’s Swift Start® Calf & Heifer Program see less scours, better average daily gains and smooth transitions after weaning.
Click here to view as a pdf: Hygiene Protocols For Successful Calf Raising
By Erik Brettingen, B.S.
Every calf raiser knows that keeping calves healthy is neither simple nor easy. When a calf’s exposure to pathogens “outweighs” its immune resources, the results are clinical illness. One of the keys to keeping calves healthy is reducing disease causing pathogens at their source using proper hygiene procedures.
