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• Organic selenium supplemented cows were 57 ng/ml higher in blood selenium compared to inorganic supplemented animals.
• Milk selenium levels were also elevated with organic selenium compared to inorganic supplemented cows

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• Variation in soybean meal composition exists both within the U.S. and among different countries.
• Within the U.S., soybean meals produced in northern soybean growing zones had lower concentrations of amino acids and higher concentrations of dietary fiber than those produced in central or southern growing zones. Differences in soybean meal quality also exist in other countries.
• When fed to pigs, soybean meals produced in Argentina and Brazil resulted in total amino acid digestibilities less than that of a standard soybean meal produced in the U.S., while soybean meals produced in China, India, and the U.S. were similar in digestibility to the standard U.S. soybean meal.

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• Illinois dairy producers are allowed to compost dead animals under the new rule.
• Compost site must be located at least ¼ mile from nearest residence that is not a part of the facility.
• Decomposition of a mature dairy cow will take approximately 6 to 8 months.
• Illinois composting rules can be reviewed at: http://www.agr.state.il.us/Laws/Regs/DeadAnimalDisposalReg.pdf

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• In high yielding environments in northern Illinois, 2-year data from ten “grain” hybrids averaged 8.4 bushels of corn (15% moisture) per ton of 35% DM silage.
• Silage quality factors were not highly correlated with grain yield or silage yield.
• Grain yield was not a good predictor of silage yield.

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• Know your cost of producing milk
• Total costs still exceeded total returns in 2003
• Higher milk prices in 2004 should result in positive margins for producers

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• Milk production reached an early peak 3 or 4 days after an injection of rbST, decreased slightly, and then reached a second (higher) peak at 8 to 10 days.
• The concentration of bST in blood reached an initial peak on the first or second day after injection of rbST; additional (and usually higher) peaks occurred later.
• Changes in milk production after injection of rbST generally follow those in blood concentrations of bST after a 2 or 3-day lag, a response consistent with the time required for metabolic adjustments.

The Department of Animal Sciences, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, provides for the management of scholarships and dairy production awards to outstanding incoming freshmen or transfer students. Each award requires acceptance and enrollment in the Department of Animal Sciences, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC).

The 2004 University of Illinois dairy judging team was comprised of six seniors and coached by Gene McCoy, David Miller, and Jennifer Stamey. Ryan Aberle, Amanda Tiedemann, and Bill Jansen participated in the 11th Accelerated Genetics contest held in Viroqua, WI, on September 18th. The team was 15th out of 21 teams overall placing 3rd in Ayrshire and Guernsey breeds.

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• An edible silage cover made of starch and salt can applied to bunker or pilo siloes reducing dry matter losses compared to plastic or uncovered horizontal silos.
• The new cover avoids disposal of plastic and the need for tire weights.
• Commercial applications are anticipated in the near future.

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• Large variation exists in the effects of rumen undegradable protein (RUP) onpassage of nitrogen (N) fractions and amino acids to the small intestine of dairy cows.
• A portion of this variation is caused by the source of crude protein (CP) in the control diet, proportion and source of RUP in experimental diet, effect of RUP on ruminal outflow of microbial protein, degradability of the RUP source, and the amino acid content of RUP outflow from rumen.

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• Non-specific inflammatory responses around the time of calving have been observed in cows with fatty liver.
• An inflammatory response was observed around the time of calving for cows in this study, regardless of their dietary energy intake during the dry period.
• Evidence for alteration in the onset and duration of the inflammatory response was observed for cows whose energy intake was restricted in the dry period compared to cows fed excess energy or cows fed to their energy requirement.

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• Cow comfort is very dependent on stall design, which significantly impacts udder health, hock sores, hoof integrity and milk production.
• Design the stalls for the largest cows in the group.
• Sand base freestalls provide the highest level of cow comfort and cow health when taking all factors into consideration.

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• Information is available on the “farmdoc” website for anyone interested in the dairy industry at: http://www.farmdoc.uiuc.edu
• The “Finance” section allows comparison of your dairy farm performance to all of the dairy farms in Illinois participating in the Illinois Farm Business Farm Management Association (FBFM) program.
• The “Management” heading contains articles under the heading of Illinois Farm Economics: Facts and Opinions.
• “Farm Analysis Solution Tools” (FAST) are Microsoft Excel based spreadsheet tools.

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• Monensin (Rumensin-trademark) should be added to lactating and dry cow rations with the approval by FDA in November, 2004.
• Corn distillers grain (wet and dry) continue to be one of several economical by-products to consider as part of your 2005 feeding program.
• Evaluating forages using neutral detergent fiber digestibility (NDFD) is a new test to evaluate energy content and performance.
• Producers need to consider organic selenium and direct-fed microbials (DFM) as additional research results emerge.

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• Miscanthus was less extensively degraded in the rumen than corn stover.
• Miscanthus is a lower quality feed than corn stover.

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• Feed or dairy efficiency reflects the amount of fat-corrected milk yield produced per unit of dry matter consumed with an optimal range of 1.4 to 1.7 pounds of milk per pound of dry matter.
• Days in milk, age, growth, body weight change, forage quality, and environmental factors will impact feed efficiency values.
• Dairy managers should monitor changes in feed efficiency as feeding and management changes occur on their farms to evaluate the impact of the change.

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• Six bags of corn silage in the fall of 2003 were harvested with one control bag and five inoculated bags comparing nutrient and fermentation profiles.
• Two bags of alfalfa haylage were harvested in the spring of 2004 to evaluate forage quality with an untreated section and the remaining section of each bag treated with a commercial inoculant.
• Alfalfa haylage had pockets of mold that was evaluated for quality.

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• Consistent and persistent timed insemination programs can improve reproductive efficiency.
• Reproductive parameters typically analyzed through DHIA records will not show improvement for at least one year after implementation of timed AI programs.
• PreSynch and CoSynch alone improved reproductive efficiency at the University of Illinois Dairy, but increase emphasis on improving heat detection is warranted.

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• L-Carnitine is the naturally-occurring compound required for oxidation of long-chain nonesterified fatty acids (NEFA).
• Postruminal infusion of L-carnitine enhanced NEFA oxidation in the liver of feed-restricted lactating cows leading to lower liver triglyceride and blood NEFA.
• The potential for L-carnitine to prevent and treat fatty liver in transition dairy cows is currently being investigated.

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• Low-energy diets during the early (far-off) dry period show promise in decreasing health problems in fresh cows.
• Addition of chopped straw to a TMR is a popular method to decrease ration energy density while allowing cows to eat all they want.
• Several factors may impact the success of this approach, and those factors are summarized in this article.

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• A new online marketing tool developed by University of Illinois Extension will give the Illinois dairy industry access to a powerful source of marketing information.
• MarketMaker is an interactive website designed to locate producers, buyers, sellers and distributors of Illinois food products and to improve knowledge of where food consumers are located and how they make food related purchasing decisions.

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• Illinois is currently enrolling animal production units for premise ID http://www.agr.state.il.us/premiseid/
• Premise ID is the foundation for individual animal identification which may begin by July 2006
• Individual identification will initially be by visual methods, but that will transition to electronic methods

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• Nutrition during the far-off period can impact transition cow success.
• Do not overfeed cows during the far-off dry period.
• Restricting intake is impractical in a group-fed situation.

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• The rumen undegradable protein (RUP) content of a feed is not constant.
• Both linear and nonlinear adjustments of tabular RUP values based on maintenance energy and protein intakes improved the ability to predict passage of protein to the small intestine of cows eating different amounts of feed.
• A nonlinear equation was concluded to be better than a linear equation for predicting RUP passage to the small intestine because it maintained predicted values in the biologically valid range of 0 to 100% of crude protein in feed.

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• Excessive energy intake during the far-off dry period decreased liver oxidation and increased esterification of palmitate.
• These changes are likely to increase liver triglyceride accumulation postpartum.

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• The protein requirements of high producing cows eating large amounts of feed can be met with diets that contain 16 to 17% crude protein if the source and amount of crude protein and carbohydrate are properly matched in the diet.
• Gross efficiency of crude protein utilization for milk production can be improved by decreasing crude protein in the diet to 16 to 17% without significantly decreasing lactational performance if the source and amount of crude protein and carbohydrate are properly matched in the diet.

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• Passage of feed protein to the small intestine of lactating dairy cows fed protected soy protein supplemented diets that contain 18% crude protein may be increased compared with solvent-extracted soybean meal (SSBM) supplemented diets without significantly affecting the supply of microbial protein.
• Significant improvements in the supply of methionine and lysine, especially methionine, should not be expected when SSBM is partially replaced with protected soy proteins in the diet.

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• The decision to treat a cow should be based on severity code and predetermined protocol.
• When treating mastitis, options include oxytocin and frequent milking, intra-mammary therapy, anti-inflammatory agents, fluid therapy, and/or systemic antibiotic therapy.
• An example protocol for treating clinical mastitis is outlined for dairy managers.

The Department of Animal Sciences is once again pleased to share the annual Illinois Dairy Report. The efforts of faculty, staff, and students in both Animal Sciences and Veterinary Medicine are more relevant than ever to the dairy industry and we are proud to showcase their research on the following pages. Our programs of research, teaching, and outreach in the dairy area are world-class and our faculty and students are frequently recognized for their contributions to these important missions.

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• Selection is the most powerful tool available to a dairy cattle breeder.
• Greater selection intensity can improve conformation.

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• Perchlorate is a contaminant of water supplies in parts of the Southwestern US and recently has been identified in milk purchased from supermarkets.
• Any lactating animal ingesting perchlorate has the potential of excreting the chemical in the milk, including lactating cows or lactating women.
• Currently there is limited evidence that ingestion of perchlorate by humans at levels of exposure found in milk would have adverse health effects, however this remains an area of controversy.

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• Labor availability and parlor capacity are key factors when considering a change in milking frequency
• Increases in early lactation milking frequency may provide a better return when labor supply is limited than 3X milking
• Cow movement and time budgets must be optimized for any increase in milking frequency to succeed