World Dairy Expo

Calf Nutrition Important for Cow Success

Fri, 13 Nov 2020 06:00:33 GMT

How one Minnesota farm raises healthy calves that turn into productive cows.

By Wyatt Bechtel

When it comes to raising healthy calves that turn into productive cows, nutrition is a must.

Marcie Feine has been custom growing heifers with her family at Feine-est Heifers in Rushford, Minn., for the past 17 years. Feine outlined areas of focus for her operation during a media session hosted by Land O Lakes at World Dairy Expo.

Annually, Feine-est Heifers will raise 750 heifers. Calves arrive at a day old and leave the farm once confirmed pregnant.

“We raise mostly Holsteins, but we have a couple of farms that raise Jerseys, a few Brown Swiss and some crossbreds,” Feine says.

In 2013, the operation transitioned from individual calf feeding to group housing utilizing automatic calf feeders. Calves are preconditioned in an individual pen for up to 2 weeks of age prior to entering the group barn.

“The biggest thing for us as a family is we believe in stewardship,” Feine says. “I want to do as good of job with those babies, as if they were my own.”

The biggest area Feine targets for calves to be helped in their development are with nutrition. “The best nutrition that you can give that animal is going to give them a better chance at a healthy future.”

Full potential feeding has been an important factor with nutrition. Feine-est Heifers has been feeding seasonal milk replacers like Land O Lakes Cow’s Match ColdFront and WarmFront to better meet the needs of calves throughout the year.

“If they aren’t fed well to begin with they won’t have much of a start,” Feine says. “Now, as custom raisers we have to get them up and growing quickly.”

Feine has seen calves consistently gain around 2.5 lb. per day from birth to weaning. At day 49 calves are weaned.

Besides the focus on nutrition Feine also puts an emphasis on health and animal handling.

Part of the farm’s procedures are to twice a day disinfect everything that comes in contact with a baby calf’s mouth, like the auto feeders, bottles, nipples, waterers and feed bunks.

Daily, weekly and monthly protocols are written out so everyone on the farm understands what needs to be done.

“One of the biggies for me is if a calf doesn’t finish its milk, temp it,” Feine adds. “Take its temperature and get right on it so something (illness) doesn’t get in front of you.”

After the temperature is taken it is written down to help monitor the health of the calf.

Pain free dehorning has been part of everyday practices since 2008. Calves receive a shot of xylazine, lidocaine and fluxin to help numb the horn bud prior to dehorning.

“They don’t ever have to hurt and let me tell you that makes a big difference,” Feine says. “My babies are never afraid to come up to me, not after dehorning. Calves aren’t afraid to put their head through the front gate and into the bucket. I think they have an incredible memory for kindness.”

World Dairy Expo's 2011 Virtual Farm Tours to Feature Maryland Jersey Dairy

Fri, 20 Nov 2020 02:27:43 GMT

The show’s Oct. 5 program will highlight the ecological soundness, economic viability and positive community influence of St. Brigid’s Farm.

Source: American Jersey Cattle Association

St. Brigid’s Farm, a Registered Jersey™ dairy located near Kennedyville, Md., will be one of eight U.S. operations featured as a Virtual Farm Tour at the 2011 World Dairy Expo.

The program, which will be presented by owners Robert Fry, D.V.M., and Judy Gifford, will start at 2 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 5 in the Mendota 1 meeting room in the Exhibition Hall at the Alliant Energy Center, Madison, Wis. The American Jersey Cattle Association is the program sponsor.

“The three cornerstones of St. Brigid’s Farm are ecological soundness, economic viability and positive community influence with the Jersey cow the center of all three,” Gifford says.

The 55-acre farm is located on the scenic eastern shore of Maryland near the headwaters of the Chesapeake Bay and planted in permanent pasture. It was named after St. Brigid, the patron saint of dairymaids and scholars who was renowned for her compassion and often featured with cows at her feet. She perfectly represents the pairing of Judy, the dairymaid, and Bob, the scholar.

Established in 1996 with the purchase of 69 heifers, the St. Brigid’s Jersey herd today includes160 head consisting of milking cows, replacement heifers, steers and veal calves. It currently ranks third in the nation based on its herd average Jersey Performance Index™, with the 86 cows averaging $222 for USDA’s Cheese Merit index. The 2010 lactation average was 19,867 lb. milk, 936 lb. fat and 754 lb. protein.

The cows graze on perennial grasses, such as ryegrass, orchardgrass or endophyte-free fescue mixed with white clover, from April to mid-December. Pastures are irrigated in the summer. During the grazing season, the ration is supplemented with a fortified grain mix and a modest amount of corn silage. In winter, corn silage and baled hay take the place of grazed forages.

Grass-fed Jersey beef and meadow-raised veal is sold directly to individuals and restaurants to offer consumers a delicious and healthy alternative to the options at the supermarket. St. Brigid’s Farm beef and veal is offered regularly on the menu of the popular Chestertown restaurant, Brooks Tavern, Woodberry Kitchen in Baltimore and several others in the area as seasonal specials.

Since 2008, St. Brigid’s Farm has hosted an annual Field to Fork Dinner featuring food sourced from the farm and other local producers. The menu is different each year depending on the availability of local ingredients and the creative flair of the chef. Much of the dinner is cooked on site. Net proceeds are donated to charity with beneficiaries including Heifer International and the Kent County High School Culinary Arts Program.

Judy served as co-chair of the National Sustainable Agriculture Research & Education (SARE) Outreach Committee from 2005 to 2010, and was keynote speaker for the SARE New American Farm Conference in 2008. Bob received the Award for Excellence in Preventive Veterinary Medicine in 2005 from the American Association of Bovine Practitioners.

Other Virtual Farm Tours feature dairy businesses located in Michigan, Wisconsin, Indiana, Pennsylvania, Minnesota and North Carolina. They are being sponsored by AgSource Cooperatives Services, Conestoga-Rovers & Associates, Lely USA, North Carolina Dairy Advantage, Pioneer Hi-Bred, Quality Liquid Feeds, and Structures Unlimited LLC. There is no charge for these programs.

World Dairy Expo opens Tuesday, Oct. 4 with the Central National Jersey Show starting at 1 p.m. in the Coliseum. The cow show continues on Wednesday morning and concludes with selection of the Grand Champion by judge Hank Van Exel, of Lodi, Calif.

The Top of the World Jersey Sale kicks off at 7 p.m. on Tuesday evening in the sale pavilion. Jersey Marketing Service, Reynoldsburg, Ohio, is the sale manager.

The American Jersey Cattle Association and National All-Jersey Inc. will have an exhibit throughout Expo. It will be located in the Coliseum at Arena Level 101 and 102.

For the complete schedule of events at the 2011 World Dairy Expo, visit its web site at www.worlddairyexpo.com .

The American Jersey Cattle Association, organized in 1868, compiles and maintains animal identification and performance data on Jersey cattle and provides services that support genetic improvement and greater profitability through increasing the value of and demand for Registered Jersey™ cattle and genetics, and Jersey milk and milk products. For more information on the association’s complete line of services for dairy business owners, visit the website at www.USJersey.com or follow the news feed at facebook.com/USJersey.

Leading Experts Join Judges Panel of U.S. Dairy Sustainability Awards Program

Fri, 20 Nov 2020 02:28:59 GMT

USDA and World Wildlife Fund join the panel that will judge the newly launched awards program.

Source: Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy news release

Rosemont, Ill. — The U.S. Dairy Sustainability Awards program continues to gain support, as the Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy® today announced that the newly launched awards program will be judged by a panel of experts from academic institutions, USDA, EPA, World Wildlife Fund, media and dairy industry leaders.

In September, the Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy, in affiliation with the Dairy Research Institute®, announced the U.S. Dairy Sustainability Awards, a new program to recognize dairy farms, businesses and collaborative partnerships for efforts that deliver outstanding economic, environmental and/or social benefit, thus helping advance sustainability of the dairy industry.

The Innovation Center and Dairy Research Institute were established by America’s dairy farmers to foster innovation and research across the industry.

“In the U.S. dairy industry, we have learned that there is incredible power in working together, pre-competitively, through our entire value chain and beyond,” said Paul Rovey, an Arizona dairy producer, member of the judges panel and Chair of Dairy Management Inc™. “This program is a great example of how systemwide collaborative efforts can help dairy secure a bright future, providing healthy products, healthy businesses and a healthy planet to future generations.”

The judges panel brings together leading experts on the economic and environmental issues and opportunities facing the dairy industry today. This varied experience will enable the panel to assess nominations from diverse perspectives as they evaluate and select the winners. All nominations will be evaluated based on the program’s or project’s results as measured by triple bottom-line success — economic, environmental and social. Judges also will assess the potential for adoption of the idea by other dairy farms and businesses; demonstrated learning, innovation and improvement; and scalability.

Judges for the inaugural U.S. Dairy Sustainability Awards are:
· Robert Bonnie, Senior Advisor to the Secretary for Environment and Climate, U.S. Department of Agriculture
· Jim Carper, Chief Editor, Dairy Foods
· Dr. Jason Clay, Senior Vice President, Market Transformation, World Wildlife Fund
· Lawrence Elworth, Agricultural Counselor to the Administrator, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
· Dr. Molly Jahn, Professor, Laboratory of Genetics and Department of Agronomy, University of Wisconsin-Madison
· Larry Jensen, President, Leprino Foods and Chair, Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy
· Matt Kistler, Senior Vice President, Walmart
· Steve Larson, Managing Editor, Hoard’s Dairyman
· Dr. James Linn, Department Head, Professor of Dairy Nutrition, University of Minnesota; and President, American Dairy Science Association
· Joel Makower, Chairman and Executive Editor, Greenbiz Group Inc.
· Randy Mooney, Dairy Producer and Chairman, National Milk Producers Federation
· Dr. M. Gatz Riddell, Executive Vice President, American Association of Bovine Practitioners
· Paul Rovey, Dairy Producer and Chairman, Dairy Management Inc.
· Connie Tipton, President and Chief Executive Officer, International Dairy Foods Association
· Dave White, Chief, Natural Resources Conservation Service, USDA

In addition to the prominence of the judges panel, USDA and World Wildlife Fund have lent their support to the U.S. Dairy Sustainability Awards. Since 2010, World Wildlife Fund and the Innovation Center have established a transformative partnership to build on each other’s networks, knowledge and experience, with the broader goal of creating a more sustainable dairy industry environmentally, socially and economically.

“We believe that when it comes to big issues such as reducing greenhouse gas emissions or safeguarding our water supply, no individual sector — government, NGO or business — can make as big of a difference working alone as we can working together,” said Dr. Jason Clay, senior vice president, market transformation for World Wildlife Fund. “The U.S. Dairy Sustainability Awards highlight the benefits of shared research, technical expertise and best management practices. The success that we are having in our work with the U.S. dairy industry is already attracting attention from groups around the globe that hope to create similar partnerships.”

Greenhouse gas reduction projects under way as part of the Sustainability Commitment are supported in part by funding and shared resources from the U.S. Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service (USDA-NRCS). In particular, NRCS is working with the dairy industry to promote on-farm energy management.

Nominations are being accepted at USDairy.com/Sustainability/Awards through Dec. 1, 2011 for the following awards:
· The Elanco Award for Outstanding Dairy Farm Sustainability
· The U.S. Dairy Export Council Award for Outstanding Dairy Processing & Manufacturing Sustainability
· The Center for Advanced Energy Studies/Idaho National Laboratory Award for Outstanding Achievement in Energy

Winners of the inaugural U.S. Dairy Awards will be announced in February 2012 and will be recognized at a special awards ceremony held in Washington D.C. The awards are part of the U.S. Dairy Sustainability Commitment, an industrywide effort to measure and improved the economic, environmental and social sustainability of the dairy industry. For more information on the U.S. Dairy Awards Program, visit USDairy.com/Sustainability/Awards .

Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy® is a forum for the dairy industry to work together pre-competitively to address barriers and opportunities to foster innovation and increase sales. The Innovation Center aligns the collective resources of the industry against common priorities to offer consumers nutritious dairy products and ingredients, and promote the health of people, communities, the planet and the industry. The Board of Directors for the Innovation Center includes dairy industry leaders representing key producer organizations, dairy cooperatives, processors, manufacturers and brands. The Innovation Center is staffed by Dairy Management Inc™. Visit USDairy.com for more information about the Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy.

Dairy Research Institute® was established under the leadership of America’s dairy farmers with a commitment to nutrition, product and sustainability research. The Dairy Research Institute is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization created to strengthen the dairy industry’s access to and investment in the technical research required to drive innovation and demand for dairy products and ingredients globally. The Institute works with and through industry, academic, government and commercial partners to drive pre-competitive research in nutrition, products and sustainability on behalf of the Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy®, the National Dairy Council® and other partners. The Dairy Research Institute is primarily funded by the national dairy checkoff program managed by Dairy Management Inc.™

Wisconsin Plant Turns Cow Manure into Electricity

Fri, 20 Nov 2020 02:48:46 GMT

A La Crosse, Wis., based health care network celebrated the completion of a $14 million project that uses cow manure to produce electricity in conjunction with the World Dairy Expo.

Gundersen Health System was set to unveil the plant at GL Dairy Biogas Farm on Monday morning. The company’s joint power venture with Dane County kicked off near Middleton late last year, the La Crosse Tribune reported .

“The cow power project paves the way for home-grown renewable energy, cleaner lakes and keeping our dairy farm families milking cows for generations to come,” said Dane County executive Joe Parisi. “Dane County is the 23rd-largest dairy-producing county in the nation, and we are turning all that milk into green energy to power our homes and businesses.”

Manure from more than 2,000 cows owned at three local dairy farms is sent to the plant, where it’s used to create methane and produce electricity. Gundersen then sells the electricity to Madison Gas and Electric Co., which uses it to power about 2,500 homes, and byproducts, such as compost, bedding and liquid fertilizer, elsewhere.

The company is hoping to achieve energy independence this year, according to Corey Zarecki, director of a Gundersen subsidiary that cultivates environmental and sustainability programs.

“We’re pushing for that. We’ll have a good indication of that by the end of this month or November,” he said.

The plant’s digesters are expected to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 22,000 tons each year, equivalent to the amount of carbon dioxide emissions from more than 4,000 cars, according to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.

Gundersen also partners with La Crosse County to tap a landfill for methane, which is used to produce electricity, and then sold to a Minneapolis-based utility company.