Question: Reproductive performance over the past several years has gotten worse. We have tried all the normal things that most dairymen do, with the help of our veterinarian. Is there some influence that we may have overlooked? Reproductive performance is a subject that I leave solely in hands of people more skilled than myself. I would like to report on some research that I read about lately and how it might apply to this situation. At the' 2000 Regional Meeting of the National Mastitis Council, personnel at the ' University of Tennessee presented a paper entitled “Clinical and Subclinical Mastitis During Jfcarly Lactation Impairs Reproductive Performance of D%iiy -Cows”. These w?xe the at the end, i of that presentation; (I) occurrence of mastitis before first service delayed days ‘to first ■'' r ihcreased ’ days to conception and elevated services per conception, (2) occurrence of mastitis during the breeding period increased days open and doubled the number of services per conception compared to uninfected cows, (3) reproductive performance was not affected if mastitis occurred after establishment of pregnancy, (4) NEW SORT ALL BUILDING Designed bg Schick Enterprises SUPER SORTER THE PERFECT PIG PICKER iliMi i <s • T\vo New 2200 Hd Sort All Finishers, Now Under Construction WE CAN HELP WITH ALL YOUR BUILDING AND SCHICK ENTERPRISES DESIGNER AND BUILDER OF TURN KEY BUILDINGS Call For Details 800-527-7675 both Gram-negative and Gram positive mastitis pathogens decreased reproductive performance similarly, (5) sub clinical and clinical mastitis equally reduced reproductive performance, and (6) experimentally-induced mastitis increased concentrations of cortisol, increased serum PFG 2alpha, and elevated body temperature. As this applies to this farm we should first look at the mastitis trends of this herd measured by somatic cell count. We can 1 easily see the increased trend in Somatic Cell Count over the past three years. I further dug into the information and turned up the following. We see that the big influence on the cell count is on the cows that we are breeding or getting ready to breed. In the first 60 days in milk (the voluntary waiting period) we see by far the highest infection rate this year. We see the same thing in cows during the breeding period as indicated by the list for cows up till 130 days in milk. I then looked at all the current pregnant cows. 23 cows became pregnant less than 130 DIM and 75% did not have a LSCC exceeding 3 for the first three test periods. 16 cows became pregnant past 130 DIM with 63% • Automatically Sorts Pigs By Weight • Make Money On Sort Bonus • No More Battles On Market Day • Pigs Will Be Sorted, Ready For Loading • You Can’t Afford To Build Without It EQUIPMENT NEEDS Average Farm Feed Costs for Handy Reference To help farmers across the state to have handy reference of commodity input costs in their feeding operations for DHIA record sheets or to develop 09/17/ t*** 05/21 11/21, 11/26/1! of those with one or more of the first three tests over a LSCC of 4 (infected) Is this significant? I can’t be sure but there is much at stake when we fail to keep somatic cell counts in check. We have to ask ourselves; could reproductive performance be one of them 7 feed livestock feed cost data, here’s last week’s average costs of various ingred ients as compiled from regional reports across the state of Pennsylvania. Remember, these are averages, so you will need to adjust your figures up or down according to your location and the quality of your crop. Bulk Tank Somatic Cell Average Past 3 Years As Linear Score Barn Owl 2000 Nov 00 130P1M #cows 29 LSCC 2.52 SCC 466,000 WSCC 3 6 2000 60DIM #cows 20 LSCC 2.51 SCC 715,000 WSCC 522,000 X Suspended from header boards by free swinging chains to avoid cow entanglement X Free swinging feature virtually eliminates injury to cows and damage to freestalls X By decreasing cow injury, you can increase milk production Call Us For Your Nearest Dealer! LEBANON VALLEY ENTERPRISES, INC. Manufacturing • Powder Coating * Precast P.O. Box 187, Myerstown, PA,17067 • (717) 866-2030 Lancaster Farming, Saturday, December 16, 2000-A29 N „lv 1.96 bu., 3-50 cWt. “ Corn, N• y 223 bu j.72cwt. Wheat, N 0.2 2.23 «u., j LSCC Nov 99 Kov 98 2.12 105,000 228,000 104,000 238,000 2.18 130,000 130,000 38,000 137,000 141,000 42,000 X Fully adjustable in height, neck rail & brisket rail also adjustable X Available from 1-bed to 5-bed assemblies X Powder coated with a 20 year rust through guarantee Barley, N 0.3 —1.39 bu., 2.96 cwt. Oats, N 0.2 —1.36 bu., 4.24 cwt. Soybeans, No.l —4.5 bu., 7.52 cwt. Ear Com 57.61 ton, 2.88 cwt. Alfalfa Hay —105.00 ton, 5.25 cwt. Mixed Hay —106.25 ton, 5.31 cwt. Timothy Hay —108.75 ton, 5.44 cwt. 2.79 20 13 2.33 1.06 Nov 97 2.09 228,000 245,000
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