Proper grouping plays a role in improving cow health, boosting production, raising income over feed costs and improving parlor efficiencies. Successful grouping strategies depend on suitable facilities, time to manage grouping decisions, adequate labor to execute them and resources to prepare and deliver multiple diets. Even in the best run dairies, individual cows may drift […]
Problem Solving Time Warp
The more quickly a problem is addressed the smaller its impact. That’s certainly true on a dairy. Whether it’s a disease outbreak, feed issue or labor concern, a problem never goes away on its own—it only gets bigger. From a management prospective, solving a problem involves four key steps: Identifying that a problem exists Analysis […]
A Decision For Every Cow
Some cows milk well and conceive easily. Yet even with the best management, some cows simply don’t make enough milk and/or remain open at later stages of their lactations. Clearly, these cows create a major dent in overall herd profitability, creating urgency to identify these cows and rectify the situation. Electronic animal monitoring reports provide […]
Voluntary Wait Periods (VWP)
From the cow side, the logic behind the length of maintaining a voluntary wait period (VWP) is that after normal calving, cows require 30-40 days to complete normal uterine involution before they can be expected to be rebred. From that point on, her fertility will continue to increase as she works through negative energy balance. […]
Did Cows Like the Polar Vortex?
Bitterly cold temperatures, schools closing, and severe warnings to stay indoors, the polar vortex that parked over the Midwest between January 29th-31st, 2019 brought with it low temperatures that have not been seen in the region for decades. Temperatures in Grant County, WI on January 30th 2019 went well below -20 degrees Fahrenheit, not including […]
Tweaking health management with a monitoring system
Information generated by a cow sensor holds the promise of helping monitoring users manage herd health programs more efficiently. However, ensuring the success of a new sensor-driven program is not the product of chance. It’s the outcome of a systematic and structured process. Here’s the blueprint: Successful electronically monitored farms don’t discard their pre-system health […]
How to determine the severity of health issues
One of the more powerful benefits of an electronic cow health monitoring system is its ability to identify cows undergoing a potential health issue earlier than a trained employee (in most cases). This amazing ability is the outcome of the monitoring system’s ability to measure cow behaviors, plot a baseline or a “normal” pattern of […]
How to Successfully Implement a Monitoring System
Many farmers are intrigued by electronic animal monitoring. They’ve heard that it “works,” but how will it work on their farm? To this we answer, “It’s up to you.” A quality monitoring system will monitor individual cows, develop a baseline of behavior and flag the cows that need attention. A credible monitoring system will collect […]
Cows in the California Fire
Smoke over Central Valley in California, picture taken November 15th 2018 near Turlock, CA approximately 150 miles from the fire. The Camp Fire is the deadliest and most destructive wildfire in California history. The fire started on November 8th, 2018. As of November 19th, the fire has claimed 77 civilian fatalities and destroyed over 8,500 […]
Sick Cows That Don’t Get Treatment
The first weeks of working with an electronic animal monitoring system is a period of discovery for farm employees. They continue to use the pre-monitoring system protocols alongside the animal behavior data generated by the monitoring system. This is typically an opportunity not only to find sick cows before clinical symptoms appear, but to also […]