NEWS

'Tis the Season

This month I hope you are taking care of business but focusing your attention on the real spirit of the holiday season. For most of us this year, we won't be distracted by shopping malls and spending which I find a considerable relief. There is so much more to the season than consumerism. This year we will more likely be focusing on the essentials and helping those less fortunate.

Dr. Frank Garry and Dr. Craig McConnel have been on the road recently visiting dairies to gather statistics for their dairy cow mortality study. They have been to over 30 dairies but want to include a total of 60 to complete the study by early spring. As you will appreciate when you read the article on dairy cow mortality, this subject is a growing problem nationally and researchers throughout the country are trying to understand it.

Craig and Frank are leading researchers in this area but they need your help. If you have not yet joined the effort, please consider doing so. The length of time it takes to complete the survey depends on the organization of the data you have collected on your herd. If you would like to participate, please contact Dr. Craig McConnel at Craig.McConnel@colostate.edu

Have a wonderful holiday and I hope to see you at the January conferences.

Ragan Adams,
Editor CDN

Dairy Cow Mortality: A Growing Problem

Marcia Endres, Extension Dairy Scientist at the University of Minnesota, summarized the many studies that focused on risk factors associated with dairy cow mortality in the United States and were reported at the 2008 Annual American Dairy Science Association meetings or published in the Journal of Dairy Science.

Click here for more information

More ILM Graduates Making an Impact

In recent issues we have had contributions from ILM graduates, Dr. John Wenz now on staff at Washington State University, Dr. Noa Roman-Muniz, who was recently hired as a dairy extension specialist at CSU, and Dr. Jason Lombard who headed the Dairy 2007 study for USDA. Other ILM graduates are making important contributions to the livestock management sector around the country. ILM graduate students traditionally have their DVM and some clinical experience when they enroll in the masters and/or PhD graduate studies program at CSU. They create a study program and research proposal around their individual interests. The graduate students combine the expertise of many individuals in different university departments and colleges and focus their research on practical problems that actually occur in the Colorado livestock sector.

Many of you will remember Heather Hirst who came to CSU with a DVM from Ohio State University and several years experience in a California dairy practice. She spearheaded the Johne's Disease research projects in the late 90's. Dr. Hirst moved east several years ago where she worked in practice and in industry. She was recently appointed the State Veterinarian for Delaware!

Click here for more information on Dr. Hirst

Guy Loneragan completed an internship and a PhD in epidemiology at CSU graduating in 2001. He will be coming through Colorado this month as acommittee member for a student completing a PhD defense. Dr Loneragan is now an associate professor in the Division of Agriculture at West Texas A&M University in Canyon. He is also an adjunct professor in both the Department of Animal and Food Services and the International Center for Food Industry Excellence at Texas Tech University in Lubbock.

Jason Osterstock was in town last week to lecture on the genetic epidemiology of paratuberculosis (Johne's Disease) as well as its diagnosis and control in beef cattle. After finishing an internship at CSU, Dr Osterstock went to Texas A & M for a PhD in epidemiology. He is now an assistant professor with Texas Agricultural Research and Extension Center in Amarillo.

Colorado January Dairy Conferences

The schedules are now posted for three premier dairy conferences in Colorado:

Click here for The Colorado Nutrition Conference

Click here for Dairy Days at the Colorado Farm Show

Click here for the Spanish Program at the Colorado Farm Show

More Dairy 07 Results

Three more sets of results from the USDA Dairy 07 Study were released last month.

Antibiotic Use on U.S. Dairy Operations, 2002 and 2007

One goal of the Dairy 2007 study was to evaluate the use of antibiotics for disease prevention, disease treatment, and growth promotion on U.S. dairies. Dairy 2002 also evaluated antibiotic practices and provided a baseline comparison for 2007 antibiotic-use practices.  Producers completed a form detailing the number of animals displaying clinical signs of disease, the number treated with antibiotics, and then listed the antibiotic that was used for the majority of those animals during each study year.

Click here to read the analysis

Bovine Leukosis Virus (BLV) on U.S. Dairy Operations, 2007

This information sheet presents and compares data on BLV prevalence in U.S. dairy cattle collected during Dairy 2007 and during a previous NAHMS dairy study, Dairy 1996.

Click here to read the analysis

Bovine Viral Diarrhea (BVD) Management Practices and Detection in Bulk Tank Milk in the United States, 2007

During the 2007 NAHMS Dairy Study producers were asked about their BVD management practices. Bulk-tank-milk samples were collected and tested for BVD polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Samples were collected from 527 operations from march through August 2007.

Click here to read the analysis

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