heifers

Garth and Rose Bibby were a ranching couple admired for their creative cowboy poetry and their devotion to each other and ranch life.  Garth rode across the great divide in January and this week you’ll hear highlights from some of their visits on the SPIRIT OF THE WEST. Their captivating stories and poems will keep you listening closely. There’s some great new songs of the west, as well as the classics the round out this nostalgic ride.

A fine cowboy, roper, guide outfitter and legendary bush pilot Bob Kjos (Joes) rode over the great divide in 2021.  He left us with a terrific book about his life called “Horse shoes in My Hip Pocket, and this week you’ll hear some of his amazing adventures with horses, cattle and airplanes.  A song that influenced a young farm boy to follow cowboy life along with some great poetry will keep your attention along with horse training help and the Rangeland News

This ride covers a lot of ground. The Voice of the Chuckwagons Les McInyre is back with more stories from the behind the chutes.  An Arizona cowboy recalls a fateful morning on a green horse riding through the thorns, and Wylie Gustaffson has the story of how he had to buy an old pick up to get to an important show with his band, and this week you'll hear the latest on the 2025 Spirit of the West Cruise.

This episode is from a webinar presented by Dr. Sandra Godden from the University of Minnesota Department of Veterinary Population Medicine. To view the full webinar and access the slides referenced during this podcast, visit balchem.com/real science and scroll down to the webinar presented on November 8, 2023.

Dr. Godden begins with the reminder that despite decades of research and definite advances in colostrum management, there's still a lot to learn and research. Her goal is to give an update on new findings that can be utilized in your colostrum management program. (0:21)

Promoting calf health and growth is a balance between maximizing immunity and minimizing infectious disease challenges. Colostrum is one aspect of maximizing immunity and provides passive immunity in the form of immunoglobulins. It also contains bioactive compounds, immune factors, growth hormones, leukocytes, and nutrients. (1:09)

We can measure adequate transfer of passive immunity via serum immunoglobulin G levels, where anything greater than 10 grams per liter is a pass. Passive transfer of immunity is associated with reduced morbidity and mortality, especially in the first 2-3 months of life. Successful passive transfer has many other intermediate and long-term benefits, including improved growth rate and feed efficiency, leading to even longer-term benefits of decreased age at first calving and potentially improved milk production in the first and second lactation. (4:18)

When building a comprehensive colostrum management program, Dr. Godden distills it down to the five Qs: quality, quantity, quickness, squeaky clean, and quantifying. Starting with quantifying passive transfer, in a perfect world, we would have a quick, inexpensive, on-farm serum IgG test that could be run on whole blood. Unfortunately, that test does not exist. In research studies, we send serum samples off to reference labs to have serum IgG tested. On-farm, we use indirect tests such as serum Brix or serum total protein. Historically, the literature has said that a serum total protein of somewhere between 5.0 and 5.2 grams per deciliter most accurately predicts that IgG value of 10 grams per liter. If greater than 10 g/L IgG is a pass, is a higher concentration better? Yes. A good goal would be for 90% of the calves to have serum IgG higher than 10 g/L. More specifically, goals are around 40% of calves in the excellent zone of 25 or greater, roughly 30% of calves in the good zone of 18-25, and around 20% in the fair zone of 10-18. Dr. Godden references the corresponding Brix and total serum protein readings in her slides. (7:24)

Quality refers to the concentration of IgG in the colostrum, and experts have suggested that be at least 50 grams per liter or higher. This corresponds to a Brix reading of approximately 22% or higher. Several factors influencing colostrum quality are under our control, including the dry cow vaccination program, feeding a balanced dry cow ration, avoiding stressors during the dry period, avoiding excessively short dry periods, and milking cows out as soon as you can after calving. (16:18)

When it comes to quantity, a larger volume at first feeding will result in higher IgG concentrations in the calves. One study compared feeding two or four liters at first feeding with a second feeding of two liters at 12 hours. The higher volume first feeding showed better results. (29:23)

As for quickness, IgG absorption efficiency is optimal in the first couple of hours after birth but is then slowly reduced as gut closure occurs. Ideally, we want to feed the calf as soon as possible, hopefully within one to two hours of birth when possible. (30:35)

The last Q is squeaky clean or cleanliness, specifically the level of bacterial contamination in colostrum. Obviously, we don't want to feed colostrum that is laden with pathogens that can cause disease. However, high bacteria counts in colostrum have also been associated with reduced absorption of IgG. Dr. Godden details a number of critical control points that can be assessed if colostrum cleanliness is an issue of concern. (38:19)

Dr. Godden finishes the episode by taking questions from the webinar audience, ranging from average colostrum volume collected at first milking to what temperature colostrum should be frozen at to heat stress impacting quality and quantity of colostrum. (49:20)

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Fletcher Jowers shares a lot of his experiences with some of the state's biggest outfits. out with the wagon, sleeping under the stars and singing his own unique cowboy songs around the  Campfire.  The Rangeland News has good news for cow calf operators, and the Irvine Saddles and Western Wear Horse Training File explains how some riders have gotten into a dangerous situation by doing something most working cowboys will avoid.

The beloved Oklahoma Balladeer Les Gilliam passed away in November. This week Hugh brings back some of the great stories he told about growing up next to Gene Autry's ranch in Oklahoma and many stars and celebrities he performed with over the years. You'll hear some of the memorable western songs he wrote and sung.  There's practical horse training advice, rangeland News, and some hints about the 2025 Spirit of the West cruise.

Rearing heifers well is an extremely important aspect of herd management. Selecting the right heifers and ensuring they reach target weights in a specified time period is integral to the future production of your herd. 

However rearing heifers is a costly exercise so thought and planning is important to ensure you get it right. Carrying too many heifers can be expensive and tie up farm resources. This is particularly so in dry times which we are currently seeing through much of NSW. Today my guest Neil Moss joins me to discuss the cost of feeding heifers and strategies to ensure you rear the number you need.

Links to useful resources related to this podcast:

Feed budgeting tool | Dairy Australia

Back of the envelope feed budget | Dairy Australia

Monthly back of the envelope feed budget | Dairy Australia

This podcast is an initiative of the NSW DPI Dairy Business Advisory Unit 

It is brought to you in partnership the Hunter Local Land Services

Please share this podcast with your fellow farmers and colleagues and feel free to contact us with suggestions or comments via this email address thebusinessofdairy@gmail.com

Further NSW DPI Dairy channels to follow and subscribe to include;

NSW DPI Dairy Facebook page 

DPI Intensive Livestock Twitter feed

NSW DPI Dairy Newsletter

Transcript here

Produced by Video Lift

The information discussed in this podcast are for informative and educational purposes only and do not constitute advice. 

In this episode, Tanner McBride of STK Cattle and Hay talks about the complexities of ranching. Tanner shares some hard-earned wisdom from steering his family's farm through turbulent times. His story of buying and selling cattle, and implementing rotational grazing strategies are lessons learned from a life in the saddle. Learn how he leveraged his herd to his advantage, and the challenges he faced in switching from his father's ranching methods to establish his own distinctive style.

Social media:
Youtube: STK Cattle and Hay
Email: stk_cattle@yahoo.com

Discover the wonders of regenerative agriculture with Noble Research Institute! Their practical solutions and extensive research help farmers and ranchers enhance soil health, increase grazing productivity, and uplift the entire ecosystem. They've just launched the Essentials of Regenerative Ranching course - a must for those eager to pioneer change in agriculture. Check them out at noble.org and pioneer a sustainable future today!

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Guest: Dr. Bill Weiss, The Ohio State University

In this episode, we welcome back the fan-favorite journal club podcast. Dr. Bill Weiss joins Scott and Clay for this episode, discussing a large study from Germany evaluating the time spent in the pre-fresh group and its impacts on health and production. 

Dr. Weiss begins with a description of the study’s overall research question of “How long should a cow stay in the pre-fresh pen?” - and the researchers’ hypothesis that time periods too short or too long would be detrimental to both cow health and production. (3:14)

The study had a wide range of days in the pre-fresh pen, ranging from around seven days to about a month, with a mean of 18 days. This is similar to the general industry recommendation of 21 days. (7:16)

Diets were typical of a U.S. diet, although DCAD concentrations would be considered moderate. (9:42)

The longer heifers were in the pre-fresh pen, the higher their milk production was. A quadratic effect was observed in the multiparous cows, where too short was detrimental to milk production, and too long was detrimental to milk production. (11:56)

If the time spent in the pre-fresh pen was less than seven days, both cows and heifers were at higher risk for retained placenta. (14:30)

On the other hand, more extended periods of time in the pre-fresh pen were related to higher incidences of clinical hypocalcemia. (16:40)

Metritis and ketosis were also higher for cows who spent shorter periods of time in the pre-fresh pen, with three weeks best for these health issues. (19:26)

From these results, Dr. Weiss recommended that if calcium metabolism is an issue on a farm, leaning toward a shorter pre-fresh period of around two weeks may be beneficial. On the other hand, if other issues like mastitis, metritis, and retained placentas are an issue, leaning toward three weeks may be most appropriate. Regardless, don’t put cows in the pre-fresh pen for less than a week or more than 35 days. (20:37)

Dr. Weiss suggested an interesting next-step study would be to feed a DCAD diet for the full dry period to both cows and heifers. (28:32)

Dr. Weiss detailed some of the differences observed between cows and heifers in this study and how more research needs to be done around first-lactation cows because heifers are not just little cows. (35:35)

You can find this episode’s journal club paper here: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022030223002230

Authors: P.L. Venjakob, W. Heuwiese, S. Borchardt

Please subscribe and share with your industry friends to bring more people to join us around the Real Science Exchange virtual pub table.  

If you want one of our new Real Science Exchange t-shirts, screenshot your rating, review, or subscription, and email a picture to anh.marketing@balchem.com. Include your size and mailing address, and we’ll get a shirt in the mail to you.

Recently a farmer reference group was formed in the Mid Coast region of NSW to provide information and guidance on an economic and risk analysis of rearing non-replacement calves. 

The project was led by Dan Armstrong, Senior Consultant with the RM Consulting Group. 

In the analysis, Dan and his team used two of the farms as case studies where the goal was to sell the non-replacement calves as dairy beef and investigate whether it would be economically practical to hold onto these calves and pursue this alternative pathway.

This was the second phase of a Dairy UP project looking at Sustainable Pathways for Surplus calves, led by Dairy Australia. The first phase involved a variety of consultation activities in the Nowra region with consumers, farmers, milk and meat processors and other supply chain stakeholders looking at alternative management pathways.

Useful resources related to this podcast:

DairyUP website - further information on this project and others www.dairyup.com.au 

Dairy Australia’s “Surplus Calves” and the Growing Beef from Dairy Project 

This podcast is an initiative of the NSW DPI Dairy Business Advisory Unit

It is brought to you in partnership the Hunter Local Land Services

Please share this podcast with your fellow farmers and colleagues and feel free to contact us with suggestions or comments via this email address thebusinessofdairy@gmail.com

Further NSW DPI Dairy channels to follow and subscribe to include;

NSW DPI Dairy Facebook page

DPI Intensive Livestock Twitter feed

NSW DPI Dairy Newsletter

Transcript here

Produced by Video Lift

The information discussed in this podcast are for informative and educational purposes only and do not constitute advice. 

Guests: Dr. Mike Van Amburgh, Cornell University 

Here is the first episode of the New Revelations in Transition Cow Nutrition from the 2022 Cornell Nutrition Conference four-part mini-series. Essential versus required nutrition requirements is the subject matter from Dr. Mike Van Amburgh of Cornell University. Dr. Clay Zimmerman from Balchem adds his comments in this podcast as well.

Laying out a new way to think about essential and non-essential nutrients, Dr. Van Amburgh began the series by highlighting the value of understanding nutritional equivalencies such as amino acids and carbohydrates and reframing the function of energy. 2:28

While microbial proteins are made of both essential and non-essential amino acids, the key factor is remembering synthesis is energy intensive. 

Mentioning the adaptability of the organ, Dr. Van Amburgh shares that not only do the nutrient sources allow a cow to manipulate blood flow, but it allows for the ability of groups to form to maximize efficiency. 8:51

Beginning with the general understanding of optimal supply, Dr. Van Amburgh shifted his discussion to anabolic output responses. He shared that when considering the extraction of branched chains, lysine tends to undergo obligate metabolism in the mammary gland. 11:09

Ultimately milk protein synthesis requires key metabolic pathways, but how does an optimal supply of amino acids affect anabolic output? 

When analyzing shifts in nutrient profiles, Dr. Van Amburgh shared the transparency that occurs when building fatty acid diets. He mentioned he’s researching the value of pushing methionine up to 1.19 grams and then nearly 2.7 times for lysine. 17:25

So what does the future of nutrition modeling look like? Based on a meta-analysis, Dr. Zimmerman added the biggest goal in nutritional modeling continues to be focused on the differences between essential and required nutrients. 38:31

Wrapping up the conversation, Dr. Zimmerman shared key takeaways from Dr. Van Amburgh’s webinar and briefly mentioned the meta-analysis highlight of choline as a required nutrient in transitional dairy cows. 42:39

If you would like to review Dr. Van Amburgh’s webinar from the 2022 Cornell Mini Symposium, you can view all four webinars in the series at balchem/com/realscience. 

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If you want one of our new Real Science Exchange t-shirts, screenshot your rating, review, or subscription, and email a picture to 

anh.marketing@balchem.com

. Include your size and mailing address, and we’ll get a shirt in the mail to you.

12-6-22 AJ Daily

Preparing for Financial Opportunity — Heifer Retention
Adapted from an article by Mark Johnson, Oklahoma State University Extension

March Through NCBA Trade Show in the Crescent City
Adapted from a release by the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association 

Alliance Releases Reports From 2022 Animal Rights Conferences
Adapted from a release by the Animal Agriculture Alliance 

Compiled by Paige Nelson, field editor, Angus Journal. For more Angus news, visit angusjournal.net. 

In this episode of Anexa’s Podcast, In One Ear and Out the Udder, vet Emma Franklin talks to experienced technician and dairy farmer Kelly Goodare. They talk about why training heifers is a job well worth doing before calving starts and Kelly shares her tips for getting heifers used to different types of cowsheds. Emma talks about the benefits of Teat Sealing heifers and asks Kelly what the farmers can do, beforehand and on the day, to make sure this crucial job runs smoothly and is hassle free. Whether you have a herringbone shed, a rotary shed or are using Anexa’s Teat Sealing Trailer, you and your team won’t want to miss this episode.

Stocking density and available bunk space play a significant role in determining rate of gain and feed efficiency in growing dairy heifers. While the research on heifer feeding isn’t as plentiful as it is in other areas of dairy nutrition, there are still some important findings for dairy producers and heifer developers.

In this episode of Feedstuffs In Focus we talk with Feedstuffs columnist and longtime dairy nutritionist Dr. Al Kertz about what the literature says regarding limit-feeding heifers and the importance of bunk space. Dr. Kerz explains that studies find yearling bred Holstein heifers with free or restricted diet access gained about 9% more with about 1.6% greater intake when not limited in access to the feed bunk. 

You can watch Dr. Kertz’s full presentation via Feedstuffs 365, our virtual community and education platform. It’s available via Feedstuffs.com as part of your Feedstuffs subscription.

This episode is sponsored by Arm & Hammer Animal and Food Production and their #ScienceHearted podcast, “Food Chain Chats.” Check out their recent episodes to hear former USDA Undersecretary, Dr. Mindy Brashears, give insights and projections for advancing food safety from the farm to the table. Subscribe wherever you find your favorite podcasts.