NEWS

Happy New Year

Welcome to the 15^th year of the production of the Colorado Dairy News! The CDN was started as an effort to reach out to the dairy industry after reorganization decreased the visibility of the dairy program at CSU. Fifteen years ago, Bill Wailes was the dairy specialist and now he is the Animal Science Department chairman. Fifteen years ago, the CDN was a 4 page newsletter mailed to you in an envelope and now it is produced electronically. Fifteen years ago, the CDN was produced 6 times a year and now it is monthly. Change... hope it has been for the better. As I say every year, I would like to hear from you if you have suggestions on ways to make the CDN better and/or more user friendly. You can email me at radams@colostate.edu or call (970-217-2051).

The next couple of months are packed full of educational opportunities and we all need as much education as we can get to survive these wild economic challenges.  By the time this newsletter reaches you, I hope you will have attended the Colorado Nutrition Conference and Dairy Days, both events are associated with the Colorado Farm Show. If you didn't get to the Nutrition Conference, articles from the speakers are electronically attached to this newsletter. Notes from the Dairy Days program and the Hispanic Program will come in the February newsletter.

On February 26-27, the 2009 Southwest Nutrition and Management Conference will be held in Phoenix, Arizona. This conference has been held annually and is in sunny, warm Arizona. Take a break and attend!
Click here for more information

On March 11-13, the Western Dairy Management Conference will be held in Reno. This conference is held every two years and it has become a "must-do" for dairy producers. It is efficiently run and packed with information given at talks or at the trade show. Thousands of your closest colleagues will attend!
Click here for more information

Hope to see you at one of these events.

Happy New Year,
Ragan Adams,
Editor CDN

National Dairy FARM Program:
Farmers Assuring Responsible Management

The National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF) and Dairy Management Inc.(tm) (DMI) have announced the introduction of the National Dairy FARM Program: Farmers Assuring Responsible Management. A joint effort of the two organizations, Dairy FARM has been formed to bolster consumer trust and confidence in the U.S. dairy industry and demonstrate the industry's commitment to the highest levels of animal care and quality assurance.

"Increasingly, consumers want to purchase products from sources they can trust to do the right thing," said Jerry Kozak, president and chief executive officer of NMPF. "The National Dairy FARM Program was established to enhance the trust our industry has with consumers and demonstrate the commitment producers have to animal care and the production of wholesome products."

According to Kozak, Dairy FARM's first step in reaching this goal will be to introduce a national on-farm animal well-being program and make it available to all producers. The Dairy FARM animal well-being program will be consistent with the National Dairy Animal Well-Being Initiative's (NDAWI) principles and guidelines. NDAWI is a producer-led effort to build consumer trust and confidence in the dairy industry's commitment to animal well-being. More information on the NDAWI principles and guidelines can be found at www.dairywellbeing.org.

"Dairy animal care is a top priority for producers throughout the country," said Gatz Riddell, executive vice president of the American Association of Bovine Practitioners. "I'm pleased that NMPF and DMI are taking the appropriate step by launching the National Dairy FARM Program."

Click here for more information on the National Milk Producers Federation

Click here for more information on Dairy Management, Inc.

2008 Elite Producer Business Conference,
presented by Dairy Today

Click here for the Proceedings

List of speakers:

The best of times; the worst of times -  Grasping today's economic landscape.
Michael Swanson, Wells Fargo

Give me what I want, when I want it - The future of dairy supply chain management and its enemies
Kyle Newkirk, General Mills

Managing your margin to protect profitability
Perry Iverson, CIH

Activists are counting on you to surrender -
Get smart and fight back!
Charlie Arnot, CMA Consulting

Prospects for 2009 immigration reform.
Bob Gray, Bob Gray LLC

Dairy Exports: Boom or bust?
Dermot Carey, Darigold, Inc.

Can you meet the 2009 CAFO rules?
Earl Dotson, Validus Services

The elections are over, now what?
Preparing for a new political and regulatory climate
Jim Wiesemeyer, Informa Economics Inc.

How big is your carbon footprint?
Greg Thoma, University of Arkansas

A novel approach to salmonella prevention
Travis Thayer, DVM - sponsored by AgriLabs

Managing udder health through prevention
Dr. Earl Aalseth - sponsored by Prince Agri Products

Think positive -
New mastitis treatment strategies can impact your bottom line
Brian Miller, DVM - sponsored by Ft. Dodge Animal Health

Monitoring systems for your dairy -
Use what your cows are telling you
David Reid DVM - sponsored by BouMatic

Proceedings from the 20th Annual Colorado Dairy Nutrition Conference

January 27, 2009: Greeley, Colorado

Factors Affecting Profitability of California Dairies
L. A. Rodriguez and J. M. DeFrain, Zinpro Performance Minerals

Besides milk price, milk yield is one of the most important factors affecting profitability of California dairies. Higher milk yield maximized milk income in high milk price years and minimized losses in low milk price years. Larger herds are more consistent but not necessarily more profitable. At similar milk yields, herds milked 2X or 3X had similar profitability. Management decisions based on sound research provide for more profit. Focusing all management decisions on reducing feed cost or total cost compromise the financial position of the operation if that decision affects any of the variables that support high milk production.

Click here to read more

Finding Lost Feed Dollars By Reducing Variation in Ration
Bill Stone, Diamond V Mills, Technical Support and Field Research
Auburn, NY

Adapted from a paper presented at the Minnesota Nutrition Conference, Sept. 2008.

The economic downturn has certainly hit dairy farms. Producers are looking for help from nutritional consultants in getting the best return from their feed investment. One way that nutritionists can assist with this objective is in helping feeders to develop habits that result in an accurately prepared ration. Training should occur in a variety of areas, including the collection of the sample for analysis, the dry matter concept, the importance of accurately and properly preparing a load of feed, the goal for ort percentages and how the feeding rate should be adjusted based on the amount of refusals, and how these refusals should be handled. Proper training in these areas should result in more consistent intakes and production, improved health, and the ability to reduce the rate of refusals.

Click here to read more

Effects of Encapsulated Niacin on Evaporative Heat Loss and Body Temperature in Moderately Heat-Stressed Lactating Holstein Cows
R.B. Zimbelman, L.H. Baumgard, T. R. Bilby and R.J. Collier

Department of Animal Sciences,The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ., 85721

During warm summer months milk production can decrease between 10-35% and this is a costly issue in the dairy industry (St. Pierre et al, 2003). The reduced milk yield is a result of increased body temperature induced-decline in feed intake as well as alterations in endocrine profiles, energy metabolism (Baumgard et al, 2007) and other unidentified factors (Collier et al, 2008). Increasing heat dissipation (the transfer of body heat from the core to the surface) via enhanced peripheral vasomotor function and evaporative heat loss may alleviate some of the decrease in dry matter intake and thus milk production.

The effects of feeding encapsulated niacin during thermal stress have not been evaluated, but we hypothesized that if niacin is "rumen protected" then more would be bioavailable and thus produce a greater vasodilatory response. We hypothesize that this would then lead to improved heat loss in cattle fed encapsulated niacin. Two trials were conducted with the following objectives: 1) determine if supplementing encapsulated niacin to lactating dairy cows increased free plasma niacin concentrations altered EVHL and core body temperature indices during moderate thermal stress and 2) determine if this resulted.

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Potential Benefits of LPCV Buildings in Colorado
J.P. Harner, J.F. Smith, B. J. Bradford, M.W. Overton, and K.C. Dhuyvetter

Kansas State University Dairy Team

Low profile cross ventilated (LPCV) freestall buildings provide a temperate environment that ranges within a dairy cow's thermoneutral zone even during summer and winter months. LPCV buildings typically maintain an air temperature 8-15°F cooler than ambient during the summer, but the relative humidity is often 75% or greater due to evaporative cooling and moisture generated by cows. In the winter the interior of an LPCV building is 10-30°F warmer than outside air temperatures.

The ability to control a cow's environment increases milk production, improves feed efficiency, raises income over feed cost, strengthens reproductive performance, allows for controlled lighting, reduces lameness, and lessens fly-control costs. The benefits of LPCV buildings may be examined by reviewing scientific literature and understanding improvements that are possible when an environment complements a cow's thermoneutral zone.

Click here to read more

Jerry D. Olson, DVM, MS, Diplomate ACT
Senior Veterinarian, Dairy Veterinary Operations
Pfizer Animal Health
Email: Jerry.d.olson@pfizer.com

Each year nearly 2 million patients in the United States get an infection in a hospital. The CDC estimates that 90,000 people die as a result of a hospital acquired infections and that 70% of these infections are resistant to at least one of the drugs mostly commonly used to treat them. Even though the majority of these resistant infections have been developed and transferred within hospitals, there is concern that antimicrobial use in food animals contributes to resistant infections in humans. It has been estimated that less than 4% of the resistant bacterial population causing human health problems are of animal origin (Bywater and Casewell, 2000). In a society that is used to getting its news in sound bites, it is important to develop a better perspective of the role that each of us as consumers, producers or veterinarians has in reducing the public health risk to resistant bacteria and at the same time, maintaining the availability of effective antibiotics for animals health.

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information about ILM activities