10/06/2009 10:58AM
Breeding should occur when the heifer reaches puberty. Puberty is a
function of breed, age, and weight. Most heifers will reach puberty and
be bred by 12 to 14 months of age and will be between 55% and 65% of
their mature weight when they first begin to exhibit estrous cycles.
08/05/2009 09:22AM
Annual data from the National Animal Health Monitoring System confirm that scours continues to be a leading cause of calf mortality and a major source of economic loss for beef producers. Most cow/calf producers are all too familiar with the prevalence of scours and the financial impact it can have on
08/05/2009 09:19AM
Authors as Published
Few management items exert a greater influence on the productivity of your beef cattle herd over time more than replacement heifer selection and development. Many cattlemen’s best and worst memories are related to the success or failures of their replacement heifers.
06/26/2009 09:40AM
Arthritis
Some calves with pneumonia due to M. bovis will develop a severe arthritis two to four weeks later. Different strains of M. bovis have different likelihoods of causing joint problems so some outbreaks have many lame calves while others have none. Affected calves will have swollen joints that
06/24/2009 01:56PM
Mycoplasma is a tiny bacterium that has a long history of causing disease in the cattle industry. Beginning in the early 2000s, it has emerged as an important entity in Virginia.
Introduction
Mycoplasma was first isolated from cattle with pneumonia and arthritis at the Pasteur Institute 100 years
06/18/2009 10:59AM
Introduction: It's All About Internal Mineral Balance
One of your best cows calved a couple of days ago and now she's down, lying on her sternum, head lying along her side with a kink in her neck. Her eyes are glazed over, pupils dilated and she can't get up. If observed earlier she may have been
06/16/2009 09:21AM
Introduction
Replacement heifers, whether they are raised on the farm, purchased from other dairies, or contract-raised by growers, are critical to herd productivity because they represent the future milking and breeding stock in all dairy operations. The goal should be to provide an environment for
06/12/2009 10:50AM
The practice of rearing healthy dairy calves in individual calf hutches has become a common management procedure. These units provide semi-isolation to minimize contact with disease organisms shed by older animals. When management and nutrition are at a high level, calf growth rate is excellent in hutches
06/10/2009 01:08PM
Evidence has been accumulating that lactating cow mortality rates have increased more than 2 fold since 1980. Legislative changes that limited the sale of downer cows caused a jump in mortality rates in 2003 - 2004, but levels were on the rise long before then. There are obviously severe economic consequences