The University of Wisconsin-Extension dairy calf and heifer management website hosted by Department of Dairy Science has been re-tooled to provide more information to Dairy Team members.  Research and Extension information from the Department of Dairy Science (Pat Hoffman), University of Wisconsin-Extension (Tina Kohlman) and the Wisconsin School of Veterinary Medicine (Dr. Sheila McGuirk) was merged to provide more dairy calf and heifer information in one place.  Check the updated website out at http://www.uwex.edu/ces/heifermgmt/

Individual calf pens can be "microenvironments" within the calf barn.  Even though air movement appears to be fine in the barn, the enclosed calf pens were found by UW School of Veterinary Medicine Researchers to restrict air movement within the calf's individual environment.  This can result in increased bacteria counts and increased incidence of respiratory disease.  To minimize the effect of individual calf pens becoming "microenvironments" for the calf, UW-School of Veterinary Medicine's Dr. Ken Nordlund developed the "Ideal Wisconsin Calf Pen" to promote a healthy pen environment for the calf in a barn scenario.

A factsheet and diagrams detailing the concept of the "Ideal Wisconsin Calf Pen" is now available online at http://www.sheboygan.uwex.edu/ag/dairy/DairyHeiferManagement.html under the "Factsheets & Articles" Section.  This factsheet was developed as a joint effort with the UW-Extension Dairy Team and the UW-School of Veterinary Medicine.

For additional information with regards to improving air qualtiy and ventilation in calf barns, please also visit the UW-School of Veterinary Medicine's webpage http://www.vetmed.wisc.edu/dms/fapm/fapmtools/ventilation.htm. 

One way to help address the respiratory disease in such calf barns and increase air quality for the pre-weaned calf is to bring fresh air from the outside in via a positiave pressure tube ventilation system.  A two-page facthsheet developed Drs. by Brian Holmes (UW-Extension) and Ken Nordlund (UW-School of Veterinary Medicine) on Positive Pressure Tube Ventilation Systems is now availalbe on-line at http://sheboygan.uwex.edu/ag/dairy/DairyHeiferManagement.html under the "Factsheets & Articles" Section.

Also available online to help you when assisting dairy producers with questions with regards to the installation of the possitve pressure tube ventilation system, is an updated Excel spreadsheet based calculator developed by Dr. Brian Holmes.  The spreadsheet is designed to help determine the length, fan size and angles of holes one should have in the system for a particular system.

 Additonal information with regards to Calf Barn Ventilation is available at the UW-School of Veterinary Medicine website at http://www.vetmed.wisc.edu/dms/fapm/fapmtools/ventilation.htm.

For more information or questns with regards to the Positive Pressure Tube Systems for calf barns, please contact Dr. Brian Holmes or Dr. Ken Nordlund.

 This presentation was developed and presented at the 27th Annual Western Canadaian Dairy Herd Dairy Seminar held March 10-13, 2009.  Proceedings will be availalbe online in the new future at http://www.wcds.afns.ualberta.ca/.

 Appreciation is extended to Dr. Dave Kammel for allowing us to share his presentation.

• Reproductive Mangement for Dairy Heifers-Dr. Paul Fricke, UWEX
• Smooth Transitions:  Feeding Heifers for a Smooth Transiton into Lactation-Dr. Noah Litherland, U of M Extension
• Cattle Handling Options for Heifers-Aerica Opatik, Kewaunee County UWEX
• Caring for the Pre-fresh Heifer: From the Womb to the Parlor-Dr. Phil Pearson, Dairyland Veterinary Clinic
• Keeping Heifer Profit Margins Profitable-Dr. Gregg Hadley, UWEX

Also, for a supplementary tool and resource for Dr. Hadley's presentation, please visit http://www.uwrf.edu/extension/GreggH.htm under "Papers, Reprots and Publications" two Enterprise Budget Analysis & Forecasting Decision Aids for the Dairy Calf and the Dairy Heifer Enterprises.

Appreciation is given to our speakers for allowing us to share their presentations on the web.

Listed under "Presentations" Section:

• UW-School of Veterinary Medicine's Dr. Sheila McGuirk's "Dairy Calf Pneumonia: Problems and Perspective" & "Managing the High Risk Calf"
• UW-Extension and UW-Madison Department of Biological Systems Engineering Dr. Brian Holmes' "Calf Ventilation-A Breath of Fresh Air"

Listed under "Cost of Raising Heifers" Section:

• UW-Extension Kewaunee County Agriculture Agent Aerica Opatik's "Raising Health Dariy Calves While Keeping Costs Low".

Please feel free to use as appropriate.  A special thanks to Sheila, Brian and Aerica for allowing us to post their presentations on the web.

This webpage link contains three powerpoint presentations (in PDF format) for agents to use in local or district programming related to the 2007 ICPA Project.  The "Cost of Raising Heifers" is an approximately 30-45 minute presentation developed by Lacrosse County Ag Agent Steve Huntzicker highlighting the 2007 report.  The "Real Herds...Real Heifers-Cost of Raising Calves and -Cost of Raising Today's Dairy Replacements" are two powerpoints dervied from the previous presentation.  Presented at the 2008 Dairy Calf & Heifer Association's Midwest Profit Symposium in Sioux Falls, SD and Lansing, MI by Tina Kohlman & Abby Huibregtse, each presentation is approximately one hour in length-one highlighting the cost of raising dairy replacements from birth to time moved to group housing with the second highlighting the cost of raising dairy replacements from time moved to group housing to freshening. 

For more information, or a ppt file of the above presentations, please contact Tina Kohlman at tina.kohlman@ces.uwex.edu.

• A Management Approach for the Control fo Mastitis Infections in Dairy Cattle - Part 3
• What Does it Cost to Raise that Heifer
• Revised Udder Health Management (UHM) Reports - Part 2
• Bovine Somatotropin (BST) Safety Around the World
• Glycerin as a Potential Feed Ingredient for Dairy Cattle
  

For complete newsletter, please refer to the webpage at:

http://www.uwex.edu/ces/cty/jefferson/ag/Cowscope08.html

Organic Dairy 101: A workshop for dairy support professionals

Organic Dairy Workshops for Veterinarians and Dairy Support Professionals will be held in Wisconsin at the following locations in 2008:

February 6: Madison at WI Department of Agriculture  (2811 Agriculture Drive, Rm 106 Madison, WI 53718  608-224-5120)

February 22: LaCrosse at the Radisson Hotel in conjunction with the Upper Midwest Organic Farming Conference.  (200 Harborview Plaza LaCrosse, WI 54601 608-784-6680)

March 13: Loyal, WI at the American Legion Hall (302 S Union St Loyal, WI 54446 715- 255-8373)

Agenda

All workshops run from 9:30 a.m. - 3:30 p.m.  Registration starts at 9 am. The price of the workshop includes materials and lunch and breaks featuring organic foods.

Morning:

I. Overview of Organic Dairy--What is it, who is doing it in Wisconsin, what are the rules, trends, and economics, what is the market outlook?

Dr. Brad Barham and Caroline Brock, UW Program on Agricultural Technology Studies

II. Toolbox for Managing Animal Health in Organic Systems: What's allowed and what's not?

Dr. Guy Jodarski and/or Dr. Hubert Karreman  Jim Riddle, Univ MN Organic Agriculture Specialist

LUNCH and Topical Discussions

Afternoon:

III. Treatments & Disease Management on Wisconsin Organic Dairy Farms:

Results of a 2004 study Dr. Pam Ruegg, UWEX Milk Quality Specialist

IV. Farmer panel and Q&A - certified organic dairy producers will openly discuss their rationale for going organic, day-to-day management practices (including feed and nutrition, livestock health, production, and other topics), the successes and difficulties they face.

All registrants will receive the book: Organic Dairy Farming: a resource for farmers as part of program materials. Send a check made out and mailed to:

WI DATCP 

Attn: Laura Paine

PO Box 8911

Madison, WI 53708