TAKE HOME MESSAGES

• Know your cost of producing milk
• Lower milk prices in 2002 resulted in total costs exceeding total returns
• Negative margins will continue in 2003 due to low milk prices

TAKE HOME MESSAGES

• Lameness can lead to a loss of $122 per cow annually.
• Genetics, cow comfort, and feeding will impact lameness.
• Feeding programs can minimize lameness and risk to the hoof.
• Lameness scoring should be conducted monthly to assess hoof and foot soundness with a herd less than 1.4 score average.

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• Reducing herd culling rate and heifer mortality rate by 5 percent will increase surplus replacements by 30 percent per 100 cow herd.
• Adequate and timely colostrum intake is critical to improving heifer survival and proper growth.
• Monitoring heifer growth rates is essential for make important management decisions.
• Milk producing ability of 1 st lactation cows is more dependent on size than age.

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• Dairy efficiency can vary from 1.4 to 1.6.
• Corn silage continues to be a consistent and economical nutrient source.
• Managing surface spoiling on silage is critical for rumen health.
• Alternative feeds may be an economical alternative.
• Organic selenium can be an option for transition cows

TAKE HOME MESSAGES

• There is no “optimal” cull rate; from an economic perspective, unprofitable cows should be replaced.
• Cull rates are not a good monitor of herd health; there is too much lag time in the figure.
• Consider biosecurity issues when considering replacing unprofitable cows.   What is your risk tolerance to bringing in new diseases?
• Excellent transition cow management is required to reduce the economic losses associated with cows leaving the herd prematurely.

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• Selection is the most powerful tool available to the dairy cattle breeder.
• Segregation is one factor responsible for variation in daughter performance.
• Mating services appear successful primarily as a result of improved sire selection.

 TAKE HOME MESSAGES

• Crossbreeding requires more mating decisions than a traditional breeding program.
• The herd breed composition continually changes in a crossbreeding program.
• Each breed composition needs a specific breeding strategy.
• Sire selection continues to be the most important genetic decision for a producer.
• The most success from crossbreeding will result by choosing outstanding bulls from each breed.

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• Microbial degradation and fermentation of plant fiber (cellulose, hemicellulose, and pectin) in the rumen are major factors that determine the amount and pattern of nutrients made available to the host.
• A large amount of variation in substrate solubilization and utilization was explained by the effects, and interactions, of only a few species and classes of bacteria: three individual major cellulolytic organisms, hemicellulolytics, and pectinolytics.

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• Ionophores should not be fed to lactating dairy cows in the United States until they are approved by the Food and Drug Administration.
• As a result of alterations in ruminal fermentation when ionophores are supplemented, the energy balance of dairy cows is improved, which enhances milk production and efficiency of milk production.   The magnitude of these effects appears to be determined by several factors.
• Improved energy balance and its favorable effects on health and milk production appear to be the primary benefits of supplementing ionophores to lactating cows.
• Periparturient dairy cows, particularly over-conditioned cows, may benefit the most from the use of ionophores.

TAKE HOME MESSAGES

• If your cattle are experiencing unexplained infertility including and early embryonic deaths, check your herd for Lepto hardjo.
• If you find one positive cow for Lepto hardjo, vaccinate the whole herd with the new hardjo-bovis vaccine including young calves.
• Cows chronically infected with the organism may clear up if antibiotics are administered before permanent damage is done to the reproductive tract.

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• Younger cows had lower manure scores compared to older cows.
• Manure score means varied from month to month statistically.
• No differences in manure score by lactation number, milk yield, days in milk, percent fat, percent protein, milk production, and MUN were observed.

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• Clean, comfortable stalls bedded with inorganic materials increase lying time and may affect future performance of dry cows.
• Reduce heat stress and reduce photoperiod in the late dry period to improve production and health of cows as they transition into lactation.
• Management techniques that increase production may pull higher DMI during the transition, and thus decrease metabolic and digestive disorders.
• Dry period length can be reduced in mature cows to increase total production and ease the transition into lactation.

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• If not managed correctly, dairy farms can contribute to nitrogen pollution of air and water.
• The major losses of nitrogen from the farm occur via volatilization of ammonia and leaching of nitrates.
• Reducing nitrogen intake is the most effective method of decreasing nitrogen excretion in urine and improving efficiency of nitrogen utilization.
• Feeding nitrogen to achieve optimal rather than maximal milk production is the best way to decrease nitrogen pollution with minimal detrimental effects on productivity and profitability.

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• Managed intensive grazing (MIG) is a viable management tool for improving dairy profitability.
• Successful pasture-based dairy feeding systems use a combination of high quality pasture and supplemental stored and purchased feedstuffs.
• Optimizing dry matter intake and maintaining normal rumen function must be closely monitored in MIG systems.

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• USDA will require premise identification for animal agricultural sites by July, 2004.
• Unique, individual animal identification for cattle will be required by 2006.
• Identification will initially be by visual methods but that will transition to electronic methods.

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• Increasing precalving supply of metabolizable protein did not affect mobilization of nonesterified fatty acids (NEFA) from adipose tissue around calving.
• NEFA in blood increased more in response to epinephrine injection at 7 days after calving than at 14 days after calving; both were much greater than responses at 10 days before calving.
• Results highlight the potential of stressors on cows immediately after calving to result in large increases of NEFA in blood, which has been associated with increased disease incidence.

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• Under conditions of these trials, milk production, milk composition, and change in body weight were not affected by feeding supplemental fibrolytic enzymes or soluble sugars with malic acid.
• Data from in vitro testing of the fibrolytic enzymes used in these experiments indicate that cellulase and hemicellulase activities are present; however, their activities are lowered at pH and temperature conditions that exist in the rumen.

Greetings from the Department of Animal Sciences! Once again, we are proud to share with you a summary of research conducted by our faculty, students, and staff in the annual Illinois Dairy Report. The dairy research program at the University of Illinois is among the strongest in the nation. It is important that our work fulfill two criteria: 1 ) It must withstand stringent evaluation for scientific merit, and 2) It must address issues of relevance to dairy producers and consumers in Illinois and throughout the world. Our work is highly regarded by our peers in academia and industry and we believe that our findings make a difference in practices in dairy production.