Role of Vets in the Dairy Industry

Question 1

What amount of milk (% of bodyweight) should calves be offered per day before weaning?

Answer 1

20%
- dairy calves are roughly born around 40kg (so 8 kg of milk/day)

Question 2

Name some ways to assess transfer of passive immunity in a calf?

Answer 2

• serum total protein is most reliable
• serum IgG
• or Brit’s refractometer

Question 3

Why are cows “the foster mother of the human race”?

Answer 3

• provide meat, dairy, draft
• reproduce themselves
• eat feeds inedible to humans

Question 4

How have herd health programs evolved?

Answer 4

• early: sick cow work, routine procedures
• producers learned procedures: started to treat their own animals
• herd work: focused on reproductive performance, potentially nutrition, potentially mastitis, potentially disease outbreaks, source of info

Question 5

How is veterinary work controlled in Scandinavia?

Answer 5

• vets must treat certain conditions
• only vets can use antimicrobial therapy
• consequences: animals are commonly culled rather than treated

Question 6

What do vets in dairy & mixed practice do now?

Answer 6

• abdomen exam, injection, BCS, thorax exam, palpation for pregnancy, sedation, dystocia management, displaced abomasum surgery, oral meds, breeding soundness exam, estrus synchronization, necropsy

Question 7

What skills are most important for a dairy vet to possess?

Answer 7

pregnancy diagnosis, general surgery, physical exam, herd health management

Question 8

Which common procedures in dairy cows constitute proactive health management?

Answer 8

BSC & necropsy maybe, but none of these options are really proactive

Question 9

How is the diary industry consolidating?

Answer 9

• aging producers
• 2-3 doublings in dairies in a career
• 1000 cow dairies are becoming potentially normal

Question 10

What procedures in the dairy industry are producers learning to do?

Answer 10

pregnancy diagnosis
- milk & blood tests currently available for this

Question 11

who is significantly involved in the ProAction Initiative?

Answer 11

significant veterinary involvement

Question 12

What is the role of a veterinarian on a dairy farm?

Answer 12

• identify bottlenecks on a farm
• identify management deficiencies
• appropriately monitor leads to timely intervention
• team approach to farm management
• be the advocate for the cow

Question 13

What are possible areas of management deficiencies in the dairy industry?

Answer 13

• animal health
• animal welfare
• productivity

Question 14

Who are the team members on a dairy farm?

Answer 14

• owner
• farm manager
• vet
• nutritionist
• bank manager

Question 15

How do we gain & keep the necessary skills to maintain our vet role on dairy farms?

Answer 15

• communication skills
• remain up to date: CE critical
• evidence based interventions
• if no evidence, perform trials of interventions
• economic modelling of interventions

Question 16

Why do we as vets need to provide added value on dairy farms?

Answer 16

• we need to make a living too
• make the dairy more money than we cost them

Question 17

What is the first step to providing value on a dairy farm?

Answer 17

set goals
- who’s goals? yours & the producers
- long term vs short term
- clearly defined
- quantifiable
- how many?
- how do we monitor them?

Question 18

What are some areas where we can contribute to demonstrate added value on dairy farms?

Answer 18

• VACCINATION PROGRAMS: tailored to individual farm’s problems & production system
• SICK COW TREATMENT PROTOCOLS: we are not getting called for sick cows, gives up control over drug use & sick cow outcomes, necropsies on dead/euthanized animals
• MASTITIS: reduce antimicrobial use, 80% of dairy farm antibiotics are used for this
• PASSIVE TRANSFER & CALF FEEDING PROGRAMS: start w/ small tasks like this to gain client’s trust