Summary:
Monitoring blood metabolites is essential for assessing dairy cattle health, but traditional methods are time-consuming, costly, and stressful for cows. This study explored a more efficient approach by integrating in-line near-infrared (NIR) milk spectroscopy with on-farm data (days in...
Dairy cattle breeds have a limited genetic pool, making them vulnerable to recessive genetic disorders. Traditional methods for identifying these defects often miss conditions related to immune or metabolic issues, as they can be mistaken for environmental diseases.
This study...
Source: University of Minnesota
Quick facts
The ideal dairy cow should:
Produce high fat and protein.
Produce a calf regularly without any trouble.
Maintain superior fertility.
Have functional udder, feet and legs.
Be resistant to health problems and mastitis.
If a cow has these traits,...
Source: Four Star Veterinary Service
Why should a beef or dairy producer consider embryo transfer?
Traditionally speaking, most producers have used bulls for reproduction services with their cows. The difficulty with using bulls for reproduction is that for half the...
Source: Pennsylvania State University
Managing heifer inventories on a dairy farm is not always an easy responsibility. Having too fewheifers brings a lot of risk to the future outlook and limits opportunities for strategic animal sales. Having too many heifers...
The Council on Dairy Cattle Breeding (CDCB) has announced two significant updates for the April 2025 dairy genetic evaluations: revised lifetime merit indices and a genetic base change. These updates, approved by the CDCB Board of Directors on December...
Source: Lactanet Canada, by: Hannah Sweett, Ph.D.
Over the past few years, on farm breeding strategies have shifted to include the use of beef sire semen to breed lower genetic merit females and increase the sale value of calves. In...
One thing I love about the dairy industry is that we are always looking for ways to improve on what we are already doing…
And the McCartys are no different.
In this episode of the Uplevel Dairy Podcast, we are heading...
What is A2 Milk?
A2 milk comes from cows that produce only the A2 variant of beta-casein protein, which makes up 30% of milk protein. This milk may be easier for humans to digest, but scientific evidence supporting health...
Source: CDCB
The CDCB and USDA AGIL team describes changes implemented for the triannual genetic evaluations on December 3, 2024, including updated calculations for Residual Feed Intake, integration of foreign evaluations with the new Rear Teat Placement in Brown Swiss,...