Charmany Dairy Herd Newsletter Sept 29th Oct 5th

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1 Charmany Dairy Herd Newsletter Sept 29th Oct 5th Daily Events Monday: AM: PM: Herd Health Management for 2 nd yr (Joe Herring) and 3rd yrs(stacia Volbrecht -- crew chief) Tuesday: AM: 4 th year Theriogenology rotation Herd Check-- Bill Bosu & 4 th yr. students. Bleeding opportunity to tail bleed cows for Chuck Czuprynski s and Gary Splitter s laboratory. PM: Herd Health Management for 2 nd yr (Joe Herring) and 3rd yr (Stacia Volbrecht, Wednesday: AM: LAIM (a.k.a. Laura Lien) will be sending a 4 th year student to tail bleed for Chuck Czuprynski s and Gary Splitter s laboratory and examine any sick cows. PM: Herd Health Management for 2 nd yr (Joe Herring) and 3rd yr (Stacia Volbrecht, Thursday: AM: PM: Herd Health Management for 2nd yr (Joe Herring -- Friday: AM: 7:30am-Management meeting for Teaching herd management team. ; Prosilac injections given to eligible cows. Saturday: AM: Herd Health Management for 2 nd year (Sara Rosek) and 3rd yr (Stacia Volbrecht, crew chief ) Sunday: AM: Herd Health Management for 2 nd year (Sara Rosek) and 3rd yr (Stacia Volbrecht,

2 Charmany Dairy Herd Newsletter Sept 29th-Oct 5th Weekly Events Cows due to calve: Gertie is in the barn and you cannot miss her, as she is as wide as Katrina is tall. Amanda calved 8 days early and had a heifer named Abbie, and Twinkle calved 12 days early and had a heifer who may be called Tinzel. COW Calving result/due date Gertie 10/10/03 Olive 10/24/03 Sasha 11/14/03 Arethra (Ace s daughter) 11/20/03 Melanie (Merry s daughter) 11/20/03 Lynette (Lynn s daughter) 11/20/03 Sabrina (Sandy s daughter) 11/20/03 Sandy 12/6/03 Swish 12/6/03 Sheila 12/15/03 Scarlet 12/29/03 Brutus 12/29/03 Dimples 12/29/03 Production and Milk Quality summary: The herd continues to milk an average of 87 lbs/cow of Adjusted Corrected Milk (ACM). ACM is a calculation that standardizes milk to 3.5% fat content, produced by a 3 rd lactation cow at 150 DIM. Approximately 46 cows are producing 3500 lbs./day or 79 lbs./cow /day. This is approximately 76 lbs. per stall which is quite a bit better than our breakeven production level of 68 lbs. The herd s butterfat has averaged 3.35 % and the protein has averaged 3.15 %. Dry Matter intake is at 49 lbs. per cow. And Bulk tank SCC is at 243,000 with a SPC of 2000 for September.

3 Sick Cows/Treatments/breedings/Patient Care: 1. Update on Jewel: We are still flushing her abscess and the leg is looking better. She had a minor setback when she somehow got listed as a cow to palpate for the 4th year theriology rotation; she contracted a bacteremia that lasted a few days, but has since resolved. Of course much of the improvement in her leg has been due to the treatment by students on the Herd Health rotation. However, despite the improving leg Jewel is still not doing well. She continues to run a high heart rate (between 100 and 110), with temperature and respiration rates in the high range of normal. Dr. Peek has listened to her chest twice and does not hear a murmur. The presumptive diagnosis, without doing echocardiography, is that she has vegetative endocarditis from bacteria that have moved to the heart from the leg abscess via her blood stream. We know she doesn't feel good because she stands off in the corner by herself when she goes outside. She is eating better each day but has dry matter intake equal to her lbs of milk per day, which may mean her that her lactation has been dealt a severe blow: her projected milk 305 is 12,500 (the herd average is 26,500, and heifers should be about 22,500) and ME305 is 15,500 (so at this rate, as a 3rd lactation cow she would make only 15,500). In addition to all of these problems, she is from an unproven bull with a PTA dollar of 59, as compared to most of the herd sires which are at 400. So, we have made the unfortunate but practical decision to cull her from the herd. 2. Update on Bonnie: Recent culture results have revealed that the abscess in Bonnie s left front quarter has 10,000 CFU of A. Pyogenes. The abscess has been present since she stepped on her teat on 8/26. First it consisted of thickened tortuous tissue, which we treated with Pirsue; then in the week of 9/3 Mike Livesey treated it with saline flushes and CefaLak and the tissue became more organized; then for at least 2 weeks, the teat was cannulated, the CMT was negative, and the mass stayed pretty much the same. Unfortunately, this week the CMT steadily climbed to a 2 and the mass became larger and more thickened. In this time the amount of milk also went from a high of 5.1 lbs a week ago to about 2 lbs now. The current protocol calls for flushing the gland daily with saline to remove all of the milk and infectious material. The treatment plan would be to treat with antibiotics for 2 more weeks, and when one factors in the lost milk, treatment costs may run as high as $350. The prognosis is guarded regarding a complete cure, which leaves the potential of having a cow in the herd with an active infection of A. Pyogenes. So, considering that we have already have spent $250 on Bonnie... we have decided to cull her also. 3. Bitsey: Now for some good news! Bitsey, a fresh heifer who had ketosis last week and was drenched three times with Dave s drenching protocol, is now negative for milk ketones. This is primarily due to her recovery from metritis, during which we were able to maintain her energy balance with the fresh cow drench. 4. Now for the best news of all: -Tootsie is pregnant for the 9 th time -Susan is pregnant (remember that she aborted in May and ET failed in June, but then she met the expertise of Dr. Momont) -Kathy (Katrina s daughter) is pregnant

4 -So that leaves April, who is bred at 322 days in milk (she has only been bred once, due to an ovarian mass that is now receding); and Merry, who is bred at 242 days in milk (she has been bred 5 times) as the only cows over who are 225 days in milk and not pregnant. That s not at all bad for coming out of the heat of the summer! Thanks go out to Genex (Scott Schultz), Dave Gietzel, and Harry Momont, the AI technicians, and theriogenologists Bill Bosu and Harry Momont. Noteworthy items: Dave and I would like to thank the following people who helped to give Jewel and Bonnie every chance, and who continue to be teachers of the students at the Veterinary School and others who have career goals that include veterinary medicine. Mike Livesey Ryland Edwards Sheila McGuirk Simon Peek Deanna Wiegand Kerry Hagen Stacy Garves Sara Rosek Matthew Noland Stacia Volbrecht Betsey Welty Katie Natchek Joe Herring Projects: We have cows to vaccinate (J-5 and Scourgard) -- see Allison Wistrand for the schedule. Sara Gilbertson is now doing the body condition scoring and always could use some help. Kerry Hagen is taking a 699 directed study on sick cow physical examinations. Allison Wistrand is taking a 699 directed study on implementing the OVSYNCH breeding protocol. Bennett Arble and Jodi Woods are editing the newsletter. Employment opportunities: If you are interested in gaining experience with dairy cows, we have the opportunity for you. You can join the milking crew at the Charmany Teaching Facility and work the AM or PM milking shifts. Weekday shifts are from 5:00 am to 7:00 am and from 4:30 pm to 8:30 pm. Weekend shifts are from 5:00 am to 12:00 pm and from 4:30 pm to 8:30 pm. Interested students should contact Dr. Bill Goodger at A further note on employment is that we can save 50% of our expenses for student salaries (about $20,000 per year) if students apply for work-study, which about 90% of veterinary students are eligible for. These added funds would allow more students access to the herd and would also provide support for clinics, projects, and clinical upgrades to our facility that would enhance the experience for all students. Below is information about work-study from the campus work-study office in financial aid.

5 The Work-Study Program does not determine where you work. It is up to you to determine where you'd like to work and what type of work you're interested in. The Federal Work-Study Program (FWSP) employees will be glad to discuss with you what your interests are and what employment options are available to you, but you will need to contact the employers directly to inquire about job availabilities. Accepting Work-Study will benefit you primarily in two ways: first, since employers pay only 50 cents of every dollar earned by a student, work-study students are highly sought after employees. Secondly, any work-study monies earned are not considered earned income when you apply for next year's financial aid. Normally a student's earnings are counted as earned income and your next year's financial aid award is reduced by that amount. If you decide to work on-campus, ANY job at the UW automatically qualifies as a work-study position. You should always let a UW-employer know that you have accepted a work-study award, because again, it makes you an even more desirable hire to them. Having said this, some UW employers require that you have work-study. These listing can be found under the "UWWR" section. If you need to contact someone at the UW-SVM Teaching Herd Barn, call (608) Please direct correspondence regarding the Charmany Teaching Herd or the newsletter to: William J. Goodger, DVM, PhD cellular wgoodger@facstaff.wisc.edu