Charmany Dairy Herd Newsletter Oct. 8 th Oct. 14 th

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1 Daily Events Monday: Palpation Laboratory-3 rd year students Tuesday: Am 4 th year Theriogenology Rotation Herd Check Dr. Momont & 4 th yr. Students Tail bleeding opportunity-need blood for Chuck C. s lab between 6:30am-8am Wednesday: Tail bleeding opportunity-need blood for Chuck C. s lab between 6:30am-8am Thursday: Teaching herd student workers meeting at 12:05 pm in Room 2041 in SVM Palpation Laboratory-3 rd year students Friday: 7:30 Herd Management meeting-building 662 Charmany rbst injections given to 22 cows-another opportunity

2 Weekly Events Cows due to calve: We still have 4 cows to freshen in October. Tina 10/11/01; Char 10/12/01; Griffey 10/13/01; Sox 10/29/01(twins) We are in the process of considering purchase of about 10 heifers from the Rukamps. These are daughters of Pearl, Merry, Vicky, Shelby, Griffey, Swoosh, Sox, and Sarah. Sick Cows/Treatments/Breedings: This past week, we had to make the difficult decision to cull Sweetlou, whom most of you know is Swoosh s daughter. She had chronic pneumonia with consolidation, which was exacerbated during the heat stress this summer. She continued to get worse with any stress. She was named after a Michigan basketball player, Louis Bullock. (Her mother Swoosh obviously was named after the sound of a ball getting nothing but net.) We are currently milking 0 cows in the bucket (43 cows milking), and our pickup is averaging close to 77 lbs. per cow per day. Tina, Amanda, and Griffey are in the midst of our fresh cow protocol. We bring dry cows into the lactating herd at least 3 weeks before calving. In the dry cow barn, our cows get free choice mineral and 5 lbs of grain per day along with refusal hay from the lactating herd. While in the barn before calving, cows are post dipped. (A point here is that studies have revealed 50% of teat canals are closed at 7days post-dry-off; a further 45% become closed over the following days during the dry period, and 5% remain open at 90 days. During these studies, 97% of the infections that were diagnosed during the dry period occurred in teats that had an open canal. This is why post-dipping is critical.) At or just before calving, cows receive CA-PO4 paste and Naquasone orally. Then at the 4 th milking and for the next 10 milkings, the cows quarters are CMT d and if a persistent 2-3 is noted, that quarter is automatically treated with Cefa-lak on label. Fresh cows are brought up on grain slowly until 6 weeks post fresh and brought up slowly on protein until 3weeks post-fresh. Fresh cow stalls are cleaned out completely each day until 4 weeks post-fresh. Any leaking cows such as Blackie, Sally, Kathy, Trish, Belle, and Cindy have their stalls cleaned out completely each day and get extra shavings at the PM milking. This is an attempt to keep a clean, dry pen and prevent our main nemesis Klebsiella from getting established. These cows are also milked first in order to decrease the amount of milk and thus wetness in the stall. We have also added fresh cows to the list of stalls that are to be completely cleaned out as 82% of environmental infections occur between 2-4 weeks post calving. Lameness assessments: Sammi and Swoosh had their feet trimmed by Dr. Nigel Cook. He relieved the pressure on the soles of their feet, and we followed up the hoof trimming with 4% Tetracycline spray for 3 days. The cows are two of our highest producers Sammi was at 32,000 in the previous lactation and Swoosh is currently over 100 lbs/day. The ability to recognize and fix problems with cows feet can make a huge difference in the ability to maintain cows at high levels of production. This past week, Ace s feet were examined because of mild lameness. She has had major foot problems in the past that have been cleared up, thanks to Karl Burgi. Dr. Cook was able to do minor trimming and will reexamine the right foot in a week as a follow-up. Project: We give our rbst injections on Friday mornings. If you want to give us a hand (as their can be up to 22 cows to inject) feel free to show up any time between 6:00-7:30am. Come and give Keith Poulsen a hand. We have cows to vaccinate (J-5 and Scourgard) see Erika Langfoss for schedule. 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

3 from 5:00 am to 7:00 am and from 4:30 pm top 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 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 Jessica Pagenkopf, (Please Continue to the Next Page and Check Out this Week s Special Feature!!)

4 **Special Feature** Meet Kristin and Erika Langfoss! Kristin (Test Data from 9/25/01) Breed: Holstein Age: 5 years and 7 months old Lactation: Fourth Days In Milk (DIM): 211 Somatic Cell Count (SCC): 56,000 Average Number of Pounds per Day: 94 Total Pounds Produced this Lactation: 20,800 Reproductive Status: Bred 6/25/01 Erika Langfoss Class: 2003 When Erika started working with the herd and her previous dairy farm experience: Fall of I grew up on a Holstein dairy farm in rural Wisconsin, so I had plenty of experience milking cows and feeding calves. Why Erika took a job with the herd: Dr. Goodger and Chris (Eisele) twisted my arm and talked me into it! But now I m glad they did. I had worked for them on the last Aquilla mastitis trial at Charmany.

5 The best part of Erika s job: The best part is taking care of the cows and just being in the barn. I love the barn atmosphere, and it reminds me of home. How Erika thinks her job enhances her veterinary medical education: I have become very involved in the herd and have gained experience with vaccinations, Posilac, administering magnets and mastitis treatments. I have also had the opportunity to help with calvings and several Caslicks procedures. Skills that Erika has learned and/or improved while working with the herd: I have improved my physical examination skills and IM/SQ injections. Erika s Favorite Cow: There are only several cows I don t like in the herd, but if I had to pick a favorite, it would be Kristin. She s usually a pain to get in her correct stall, but she always comes close to getting the right one. She s a sweet girl and likes to be petted and walks up to you for attention when she s outside. Erika s career interests: I am interested in Large Animal medicine. Growing up on a farm and watching our veterinarian steered me in this direction, and working with the herd has reinforced my goal. Erika s recommendations to other students : I would definitely recommend this job and I have! Dr. Goodger and Dave (Gietzel) are great bosses to work for (most of the time ). It s especially good for the inexperienced student to gain confidence working with cows. Pictured Below: Erika administering an rbst injection