Animal Welfare
Flies can quickly go from a minor nuisance to a herd-wide problem, but staying ahead starts with finding and cleaning up breeding spots early.
Surveillance, reporting and veterinary partnerships are framed as critical ways to prevent a single case from becoming a national crisis.
Many calves develop pneumonia days before showing symptoms. Lung ultrasounds are helping veterinarians detect the hidden disease earlier.
Most welfare failures do not happen during the procedure, but in the time between recognizing a problem and deciding to act.
Tiny tweaks in the calving pen can add up to big dollars.
Are there ways to change calves’ environment and management to make their lives better? If so, can those improvements be made without major capital investments? Yes and yes, according to University of Florida calf researcher Dr. Emily Miller-Cushon.
Trevor DeVries reveals robotic milking boosts farmer quality of life. Explore the link between automation, mental health and reciprocal welfare in modern dairy farming.
Researchers report clear evidence of flexible tool use in a domestic cow, expanding scientific understanding of animal cognition beyond traditional species.
Proper care and early colostrum set beef-on-dairy calves up for success during their first journey.
A serious game from the University of Wisconsin-Madison is helping veterinarians and dairy teams improve animal welfare, safety and efficiency — one virtual cow at a time.
As funding for activism grows, it’s more important than ever for those of us in the farm and food community to share our own stories. If we don’t speak up about what really happens on farms, we risk letting activists tell that story for us.
Cull cow marketing is rarely an all-or-nothing decision. The nuances of each operation should be discussed when deciding to remove an animal from the herd.
Projects in the United States and Canada are eligible for Kinder Ground grants, and finalists will be asked to submit a letter of support from a trusted adviser, such as the herd’s veterinarian of record, nutritionist, or Extension agent.
Training deficiencies consistently rank among the top program corrective actions within industry evaluations. That’s why a team of veterinarians created DairyKind: an online platform that delivers on-demand training accessible in the native language of the employee.
Calf researchers and rearing experts from around the world will convene in Madison, Wis. on September 24-27, 2025, for the 4th annual Smart Calf Rearing Conference.
Fairs provide an invaluable time to engage with the public about agriculture. But watch out for detractors attempting to sway public opinion and protest these events.
The image, the smell, the emotions: five cattle producers and veterinarians from around the world share their first-hand experience with New World screwworm.
Starting calves off right with good colostrum, care and timing can make all the difference when it’s time to hit the road.
Oral meloxicam, given before or after dehorning, can reduce pain and inflammation in calves, with the timing of treatment affecting the length of its anti-inflammatory benefits, according to a study.
As the fight to keep the flesh-eating parasite out of the U.S. intensifies, the economic impact on ranchers and the industry is top of mind. “This pest will be one that leaves quite a mark on our economy,” says one veterinarian.
It is important that dairy industry stakeholders work together to further understand the complexity and underlying mechanisms of heat stress impacts and develop alternative strategies to mitigate the risks.
With heifer prices at record highs, raising replacements on-farm can be a money saver since 2024 costs are much lower than buying on the market.
The U.S. dairy industry, driven by substantial investments and shifting consumer preferences, is poised for significant growth in the coming years.
USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins says the agency is hyper-focused on poultry, but no vaccine is yet available. The agency has ‘separate work streams’ to address the virus in the ‘cattle and dairy’ industries, but dairy is not part of USDA’s primary focus for now.
Soon after the discovery of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) strain H5N1 in dairy cattle, scientists learned that milk was a primary vector in spreading the disease from cow to cow.
ENSO-neutral means conditions could be close to average, but Eric Snodgrass, Nutrien’s principal atmospheric scientist, says that doesn’t mean the weather will be normal this spring and summer with growing concerns about drought.
With lameness ranking among the most costly health issues in today’s dairy operations, a “set it and forget it” approach for footbaths is not an effective way to prevent the spread of digital dermatitis.