Herd Health
The UGA Dairy has excellent herd health in regards to their cows, via herd health procedures that are in place and address potential threats at different stages of a cow's life.
The footbaths are placed in both exit alleys so cows naturally walk through it when exiting the milking parlor.
The cows have excellent feet and legs, with only 1 cow out of 33 being culled since January for feet and leg issues (PCDart Activity Tracker)
This is also seen when on site at the dairy and evaluating the cows for mobility. Upon locomotion scoring the blue group, only 3 out of 36 cows scored higher than a 1, with only 1 Scoring as high as a 3.
The dairy uses a foot bath which is changed out at least once every 2 weeks. This also contributes to the herds foot health.
This is a huge advantage for the dairy as sound feet and legs means that the cows will get up more and stand at the feedbunk longer to eat, therefore producing more milk.
According to the manager, in the past several years, there has been no outbreak of diseases that could be detrimental to the health of the milking herd. There hasn't been a single case of Jhonnes, Brucellosis, BVD or PI affecting the milking herd, due to proper management and prevention against diseases.
There is also an extensive vaccination program for the heifers that allows these cows to be in such good health. The heifer vaccination protocol including Cattlemaster, Brucellosis and pre-breeding vaccines sets the cows up for healthy, productive lives.
Here are 2 examples of vaccines used on the farm: Cattlemaster Gold on the left and JVAC on the right.
The dairy also trims all of the cows feet annually. Out of the over 100 or so cows feet that are trimmed, the hoof trimmer never has to wrap more than 5 cows' feet each year, due to the exceptional condition of the feet.