Articles
Know Where You Stand: Helpful Benchmarks To Track On Your Dairy
Click here to view as a pdf: Know Where You Stand: Helpful Benchmarks To Track On Your Dairy By Erik Brettingen, B.S. “You can’t manage what you don’t measure.” An arguably overused but truly powerful statement. When evaluating dairies and looking for ways to improve on client farm successes, tracking performance over time and comparing…
Helpful Benchmarks For Raising Calves
Click here to view as a pdf: Helpful Benchmarks For Raising Calves By Carley Ciolkosz, B.S. Livestock Nutritionist Raising healthy calves is one of the most important and hardest tasks on a dairy farm. Healthy calves turn into healthy cows and the months from birth to weaning sets up the calf for the rest of…
Focus On Profits For Dairy Success
Click here to view as a pdf: Focus on Profits For Dairy Success By Erik Brettingen, B.S. When sitting down with current and prospective dairy clients, the conversation regularly revolves around farm goals and benchmarks. This is important to make sure the dairy is headed in the direction the owners are striving for. Different dairies…
Biologically Appropriate Calf Feeding
Click here to view as a pdf: Biologically Appropriate Calf Feeding By Erik Brettingen, B.S. The performance and production ability of a cow are determined by the quality of nutrition and health management they receive as a calf. Since calf raising is expensive, it is important to determine the most efficient and effective feeding method…
How To Effectively Manage High Somatic Cell Counts
By Erik Brettingen, B.S. Herd wide high somatic cell count (HSCC) issues can negatively impact both milk quality and overall farm profitability. One study estimated that the cost of subclinical mastitis to the U.S. dairy industry exceeds $1 billion annually. The overall production loss for the average U.S. dairy farm was estimated at $110/cow…
Calcium And The Transition Cow
Click here to view as a pdf: Calcium And The Transition Cow: Diet Strategies For Smooth Transition and Profitable Cows By Erik Brettingen, B.S. The transition period—defined as approximately three weeks before calving through three weeks after—represents the most critical phase in a cow’s lactation. While it accounts for less than 10% of the lactation…