Why is longevity an important metric for the modern dairy herd?

The exact definition of longevity varies among studies, with productive life often discussed as the time a cow remains in the herd from first calving until culling or death (Brickell and Wathes, 2011;...

Figure 1. Examples of the most commonly used bedding type, starting clockwise from the top left: sawdust, sand, straw, recycled manure solids

Bedding material for dairy cows: effect on udder health and milk quality

Before exploring bedding materials, it is important to understand how bedding is used. Dairy cow lying areas can be designed in two ways: Loose housing: a large bedded area where cows can choose...

Genetic selection to reduce lameness in dairy cattle

Preventive medicine and health planning are the cornerstones of farm animal veterinary practice. Genetic selection is preventive medicine in its purest form – by choosing to breed animals with a low...

A survey of colostrum management practices on UK dairy farms

Dairy farmers were invited to participate on the social media platform of a large pharmaceutical company (MSD Animal Health). Data were collected under University of Glasgow ethics licence (number:...

Figure 2. An overview of the different factors impacting the cost of heifer rearing.

Economics of heifer rearing on dairy farms

Research from 101 farms across Great Britain reported that the cost of rearing a heifer from birth to first calving varied significantly between farms, from £505.10 to £2147.50 per heifer reared...

Figure 1. Improving foot health includes having a thorough understanding of environmental and management factors. The Healthy Feet Programme gives structure for veterinary surgeons intending to make environmental assessments for cows in all systems, whether housed, as here, or grazing, or mixed.

Developments in managing dairy cow foot health

While lameness has been named as the number one issue by the UK's Ruminant Health and Welfare Group, there are other stake-holder groups that also have an important influence. One conse-quence of...

Figure 1. Failure of transfer of passive immunity (FPTI) has been found to affect between 21 and 48% of UK dairy calves. Maximising provision and intestinal absorption of IgG is essential for calf health.

Transfer of passive immunity in dairy calves

The definition of FTPI has often been stated to be a serum IgG concentration of less than 10 mg/ml. While calves with serum IgG concentration below this cutpoint are consistently found to be at...

Figure 2. Mobility scoring is not required to find mobility score 3 cows, such as this one which is obviously lame in her back left foot (reluctance to bear weight). However, this herd had an overall lameness prevalence of 28%, predominantly mobility score 2, and this could only be ascertained by carefully observing all of the cows walking on a firm surface.

Perceptions of lameness in dairy herds

Around 30–32% of all adult dairy cows are lame at any one time (Atkinson and Fisher, 2013; Griffiths et al, 2018; Randall et al, 2019). That equates to 560 000 cows in GB being lame and therefore in...