Working with cattle: Tips for minimizing stress
At Jefo Nutrition, one area of focus is to help producers reduce dairy cow stress. In a recent anecdotal survey, we asked them: Which dairy cow…
Five actions to strengthen labor management
Labor management can have a huge impact on a dairy operation’s performance and financial success. For many farms, labor costs constitute 20% or more of the…
Chronic stress underlies many health challenges
How to keep your dairy cows chill Successful Farming magazine interviewed Jefo Nutrition’s Chris Gwyn about dairy cow stress and its deadly health challenges. The article covers how to spot stress and outlines management practices and tools to help reduce its effects in your herd. Chris says that cows can usually overcome stress from one…
How long should cows stay in the fresh pen?
Have you found a sweet spot for transitioning cows from a fresh diet to a lactating diet? To keep post-calving stress at a minimum, many producers provide a separate pen for fresh cows, giving this group more individualized attention, comfortable space and a specific fresh-cow diet. But how much time in the pen is ideal?…
Two basic, but often overlooked, management practices that impact performance and profitability
Pushing up feed and calculating dry matter intake are so important, yet these basic fundamentals are often neglected when the focus is put more on feed efficiency, labor efficiency or the many other numbers that get crunched. By no means are these other areas less important. It’s just that if there is no feed available…
Drought impacts on corn and forage crops and nutrition
Keep disease and stress away from the diet. A well-balanced diet ensures your cows are eating a meal that supports their nutritional needs. That includes a TMR with fresh and fermented corn and forages for silage. However, lack of rainfall can change your crops. Read about what happens to starch content, energy content, soluble sugars…
The impact of harvest on year-round performance
Changes in corn silage – 3 key areas to minimize nutritional stress. Vicki Brisson covers the growing period, harvesting season and feed preparation and how attention to details in these areas can help ensure quality corn silage and a healthier more productive herd. Read the article
How do ration changes influence the rumen environment and its microbial population?
The amount of B vitamins available to a cow changes with the ingredient composition of the ration as well as rumen fermentation events. Studies demonstrate the benefit of supplementing a protected B vitamin blend to improve performance and health. Check out this article that first appeared in Progressive Dairy. Read the article
Tools for minimizing heat stress
What happens to a cow when there is a rise in air temperature and humidity? Negative outcomes increase. Using a temperature-humidity index (THI) can help you identify the different levels of heat stress and how different ranges can negatively affect cow performance. See the chart that helps you pinpoint when to begin adjusting management and…
What’s the relationship between stressors and sustainability?
Reducing, limiting or controlling stressors and their impact on your herd can lead to increased efficiency and a more sustainable dairy farm. Let’s review a sustainability approach to managing stressors and solutions that can help your business, your cows, your employees, your bottom line and the environment. A view inside the relationship between stressors and…