Spring weather can really throw us for a loop with high temperatures one day and then a foot of snow the next. This means you’ve got to keep an eye on your livestock barns, says Courtney Halbach, the outreach specialist for The Dairyland Initiative.
The Dairyland Initiative in the School of Veterinary Medicine is an online resource for dairy farmers and industry consultants that need more information about animal housing, lameness prevention and calf health. Halbach says the biggest question she gets this time of year is about calf barn ventilation.
“Those calves — those are the future of your herd. If we keep them healthy young, they’re going to produce more for us in their first lactation,” Halbach says. “Research has shown that calves that get respiratory disease do not perform as well as their herd rates.”
It doesn’t matter how new your barn is or how much technology is inside. Anyone can raise healthy and productive calves with careful management. Halbach says paying attention to air flow, bedding and feed makes the difference.
The Dairyland Initiative also hosts workshops. A virtual workshop is scheduled for May 3-4. Both days will offer a lecture and real-world problems to solve in the barn. The content is geared toward farmers, veterinarians and other industry consultants who are looking to improve their knowledge of ventilation in adult cow and calf barn settings.
The Adult Cow Ventilation Workshop on May 3 will focus on the principles of adult cow ventilation and how to assess a system while the workshop on May 4 will cover how to design positive pressure tube ventilation (PPTV) systems for calf barns. Participants will leave the workshops with a better understanding of barn ventilation and have access to Excel spreadsheet tools for designing ventilation systems. Problem sets will be based on real-world examples. Those who attend the PPTV workshop will have the opportunity to become a Certified Consultant for Youngstock Facility Design.
Register here: https://uw.ungerboeck.com/prod/emc00/PublicSignIn.aspx
Questions? Call Halbach at 608-262-6800
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