Join me today OTO'ers as we present our last module in our How We Learn series.  This module will focus on people.  

Much of how we learn and what we learn is dependent upon the people we surround ourselves with.  To accelerate your professional development you NEED to surround yourself with individuals at or above your current knowledge level.

Identifying these people within your network, or adding them too your network as needed, is key to continued growth.  

There are three types of people you need to focus on in your network.

1) Your Mentors

2) Your Think Tank

3) Your Mastermind

Tune in today OTO'ers to learn how to find, form and utilized people in these three independent rolls for continued professional development!

Full article at: https://www.journalofdairyscience.org/article/S0022-0302(20)30078-3/fulltext

I first want to add that this article has an immense amount of information reviewed within it. It is staggering what we currently understand and perhaps more concerning that it represents so little. Again, I wanted to state that this review is less about providing you actionable points to implement today, though some will exist in this discussion, but instead meant to facilitate discussion about the proper way to handle economic and production based reductions that today’s dairy economy demands.

Ultimate Message: The current state of the dairy economy involves cost reductions and productions. Many of the proposed methods for this involve focusing on dry cows and the dry cow ration for savings or banking of cows for later. I am concerned about the long term impacts of such changes on our current and future production animals. At the very least we need to consider and be prepared for a generation of dairy neonates that will require significantly more attention throughout their first years of life.

Late-gestation maternal factors affecting the health and development of dairy calves

Published by Angel Abuelo

Department of Large Animal Clinical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, MSU

Objective: Discuss the effects of maternal stress during late gestation on the offspring’s growth, productivity, metabolism, and health. In addition, strategies focusing on maternal interventions that improve neonatal health will be reviewed.

Location:  Veterinary School, Michigan State University

Methods: Efficient production of heifers is fundamental to the productivity and sustainability of dairy farms. However, high preweaning morbidity and mortality rates are frequently reported worldwide, imposing substantial welfare and economic implications. A major contributing factor to disease susceptibility in the neonatal stage is the inability of calves to mount an effective immune response. Appreciation is now greater that exposure in utero to several stresses (nutritional, social, metabolic, and so on) during the last stages of pregnancy have downstream carryover effects in calves' health, growth, and development. Suboptimal intrauterine conditions during critical periods of development lead to changes in tissue structure and function that may have long-term consequences on the offspring's physiology and disease susceptibility. Indeed, preweaning metabolic function and growth are associated with future milk production. Thus, late-gestation carryover effects span into the lactating stage of the heifers. Nevertheless, researchers have been studying how to minimize these effects.

Outcomes: This review will discuss the effects of maternal stress during late gestation on the offspring's growth, productivity, metabolism, and health. In addition, strategies focusing on maternal interventions that improve neonatal health will be discussed. A better understanding of the intrauterine conditions affecting calf health and growth may facilitate the design of management practices that could improve neonatal development and future cow productivity.

Access to my personal library on Trello: http://tinyurl.com/y78lthzp

Link to Legal Post-its: https://amzn.to/2xR16ZY

Today’s episode has a special place in my heart; that’s because it involves my favorite source of knowledge; books. Nothing beats that new books smell, the thrill of new knowledge, a new adventure or simply a chance to get lost in potential.

Because this is my favorite knowledge source at the end of this podcast I’ll share a special link to a digital copy of my personal library AND give each listener a chance to win my favorite book! So stay tuned OTO’vers.

Don't miss out on the free book giveaway!  Join the OTO Facebook Group at otovets.com/facebook!

Three Big Take-Aways:

1) The average American reads 12 books per year BUT the median of books read in America is 4 books, with 24% of Americans having read 0 books in the last 12 months.  Put yourself ahead today by starting a reading habit!

2) John Maxwells quote; “You see, the danger with any book is that the person who reads it will turn the last page, put down the book, and never think about it again.”  Don't become complacent with your reading; be sure to make it an active sport!

3) Begin collecting books today.  One of the few great gifts we can pass on beyond generation wealth, love and support is our personal library which is our wealth of knowledge in paper form.

I hope you enjoy today's episode OTOers!

Factors associated with dairy farmers’ satisfaction and preparedness to adopt recommendations after veterinary herd health visits

Full Article Link: https://www.journalofdairyscience.org/article/S0022-0302(19)30225-5/fulltext

Three Big Take-Away's

Published by Caroline Ritter, Cindy L. Adams, David F. Kelton, Herman W. Barkema

Objective: Assess dairy farmers satisfaction with veterinary advisors and their perceived preparedness to adopt veterinary advice. This was to be done by looking at the effect of specific predictive variables on satisfaction and preparedness for compliance.

Location:  Calgary, Canada. University of Calgary

Methods: Audio-video recordings of 14 dairy veterinarians during 70 herd health and production management farm visits were analyzed using the Roter interaction analysis system. Demographic data, farmers' satisfaction, and farmers' preparedness to adopt advice were obtained by using questionnaires.

Outcomes: Overall, farmers were satisfied with their veterinarian's communication during farm visits and 58% of farmers felt “absolutely” prepared to follow veterinary recommendations. Based on multivariable regression analysis, farmers' satisfaction was positively associated with their level of education and the amount of talk the veterinarian dedicated to counseling the farmer. However, satisfaction was negatively association with the ratio between veterinarian talk and farmer talk. In addition to various demographic variables, farmers' preparedness to adopt veterinary advice was positively associated with their satisfaction. Other predictor variables for farmers' preparedness to follow recommendations included increased veterinary counseling and frequent herd data discussions, whereas there was a negative relationship between number of farmer questions and dominance of the veterinarian during the farm visit. Identification of factors influencing farmers' satisfaction and preparedness to adopt advice will make veterinary communication more effective and could inform training of veterinarians in communication.

Carry On OTO'ers!

Today, we continue our new mini-series, How We Learn, in the Thoughts from the Truck segment.

Today's, episode focuses on the core of how we learn from Podcasts.  I challenge you the listener to review if you're making true progress when you're listening to OTO or other podcasts.  Are you simply listening or do you have an active learning plan?

In this episode we talk about how to create change in your life before you consume content and how to create an environment of active learning when you listen to podcasts.

Remember OTOers, "People of accomplishment rarely sat back and let things happen to them.  They went out and happened to things," Leonardo da Vinci.

You can view the complete article at https://www.journalofdairyscience.org/article/S0022-0302(20)30076-X/fulltext

Symposium review: An abundance of replacement heifers: What is the economic impact of raising more than are needed?

Published by M. W. Overton and K. C. Dhuyvetter

Objective: The main objective of this study was to evaluate the economic outcomes of a combined weight-based and genetic culling program at different ages via three different models.

Methods: With current market values for prepartum heifers at $1,300 and estimated raising costs ranging from $1,700 to $2,400, dairies that continue to produce quantities of heifers in excess of anticipated needs with plans of selling the extras on the open market are likely to experience significant economic loss. Adult cow herd turnover is the key driver behind the number of heifers needed to calve; however, mortality, disease, fertility, and elective culling losses throughout the heifer-raising period determine the total number of heifers that must be retained and raised to meet anticipated needs. A convenience sample of 50 US dairy herds revealed an average heifer inventory of 102% of total milking and dry cows. In this data set, the mean annualized adult herd turnover was 39%. With a mean stillbirth risk of 5.7% in calving heifers, a culling risk of 10.2% by 13 mo of age, a reproductive failure risk of 6.8% in breeding heifers, and an additional culling risk of 6.4% in pregnant heifers, only 74% of calving events with a heifer birth yielded a heifer that entered the lactating herd. Much of this heifer removal was elective, and making the correct culling decisions at the appropriate time yields the best return for the herd. To demonstrate how a herd might approach the elective culling issue, a records-based exercise with 2 large Holstein herds was performed to estimate the cost versus benefit of 3 different elective culling approaches, using a combination of genetic potential and growth performance as the selective criteria.

Outcomes: However, the culling of heifers results in economic losses, because the revenue received is less than the cost incurred during raising. Selective culling of heifers soon after weaning yielded the best results in both herds, but despite the predicted improvement in lactation performance of the retained group, the cost associated with removal was greater than the benefit predicted. Culling a group early and then culling a second group just before calving yielded the largest loss. Moving forward, herds should breed more carefully to produce better-quality heifers from more superior dams and sires and consider the use of beef semen in inferior animals. However, to reduce the risk of not producing an adequate supply of replacement heifers, dairies should add an additional buffer to their anticipated needs. Using the assumptions within this project, having 10% extra calving events with a heifer birth would allow the annualized adult herd turnover to rise from 39 to 43% in case economic conditions or health status of the herd should change. If these heifers are not needed, the selection criteria outline could be used to help identify more valuable animals to retain.

Welcome back OTO'ers!

Today I want to introduce a new mini-series to the Thoughts from the Truck segment.  This mini series is going to focus on how you can utilize the knowledge you collect (OTO Episode 5) and turn it into an actionable learning experience.

Over the course of the next weeks we will discuss how you can take information from books, podcasts/media, articles, web-pages and your peers and begin to transform it into learning and action.  Today's episode will focus on the knowledge we obtain from our peers and will specifically focus on introducing the power of a peer group called a mastermind.

Masterminds are groups of 2 to 6 like minded individuals who come together in the spirit of helping each other.  These groups often learn together, either through a common source like a book or through facilitated lessons by a host.  This learning acts as a primer for a later event which is known as a HOT seat.  During this time participants share successes and problems they have encountered in their career and seek the advice and counsel of their peers in learning from and addressing the problem.  Finally, at the end of the group members form accountability plans and share them with their co-members encouraging them to complete actions that address their problems or implement what they learned at the mastermind. 

Masterminds are great way to accelerate your career.  They allow you to tap into the experience and ideas of your peers as well as find solutions to problems you may never have thought of before.  By leveraging your peers through a mastermind you will be able to learn faster, grow faster and ultimately accelerate your career well beyond its normal rate.

Full article available at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23234490

Today more than ever we are seeking tools and answers for our producers. These are unprecedented times with unprecedented decisions. I have been involved in many calls, discussions and interactions that have sought a solution to theses problems. The ultimate conclusion is that there is not one single answer.

For some producers there will just be pain and potential loss, some extreme hardship they can persevere through and others will be able to make it through unscathed. But each operation has many tough decisions ahead and we are responsible for helping them make these decisions. It is for this reason I present this study today as a means to help you, help each of your producers come to the realization of what they need.

Pain, fear, depression and anxiety are powerful emotions and can cloud the human mind to available options in a time a crisis. It is my hope that you can use the information in this study to cause a shift in your client’s mind and help them come to the unique solution that might only work for their operation but WILL WORK and WILL GIVE THEM A PLAN!

Ultimately, we as consultants may not be able to provide any plan for an operation, much like a placebo pill we will have no solution, BUT the act of saying the operator can create a plan to survive may cause a mental shift and thus lead to a positive impact or solution being generated on our clients operations.

Article Summary:

Mobilizing unused resources: Using the placebo concept to enhance cognitive performance

Published by U.W. Weger and S. Loughnan

Objective: The main objective of this study was to explore whether the placebo principle can be used outside the medical setting to enhance cognitive performance.

Hypothesis: The author hypothesized that participants in the placebo condition who believed that they had been exposed to the correct answers would subliminally score higher than participants in the control condition.

Location:  University of Witten-Herdecke Germany and University of Melbourne Australia

Methods: To do so, we employed a modified placebo induction—a bogus priming method that we told participants would unconsciously enhance their knowledge and that they should hence trust their skills in an upcoming knowledge test.

Outcomes: Participant performance was indeed enhanced, compared to a group that did not think the priming process would improve their knowledge. The study documents the relevance of the placebo effect outside the medical and therapeutic setting.

Many of us are experiencing unprecedented amounts of free time.  COVID shutdowns, layoffs and closings have provided us with many hours we otherwise would have filled with work or social activity.  How we utilize this time will be key to our future success.

This is why reflective thinking is so key.  Too many times we get caught in the day to day grind; we having a list, check it off and move on to the next days list.  We never pause to reflect on what its working, the direction we are headed or if it aligns with who we are.  This is where reflective thinking comes in.

Join me today as I share my own recent story about reflective thinking, discuss why we need to make it a regular practice and provide you with five key tips that will make you a successful reflective thinker.

Catch our High-Fertility Cycle Action Points infographic by joining the OTO community at otovets.com/facebook!

Find the complete article at: https://www.journalofdairyscience.org/article/S0022-0302(19)30282-6/fulltext

The high-fertility cycle: How timely pregnancies in one lactation may lead to less body condition loss, fewer health issues, greater fertility, and reduced early pregnancy losses in the next lactation

Published by E. L. Middleton, T. Minela, and J. R. Pursley

Objective: The main objective of this study was to gain a greater understanding of the association between previous calving interval and body condition change during the first 30 DIM and their relationship to subsequent fertility and health variables and sex ratio at birth. A secondary objective was to describe how body condition changes and other measurements in first-parity cows were associated with fertility and health variables.

Hypothesis: The author hypothesized that time to pregnancy in the previous lactation would be associated with body condition change, health, and fertility variables in the subsequent lactation.

Location:  Michigan, MSU Dept of Animal Science

Methods: Dry cows and heifers (n = 851) from a single farm entered the study approximately 25 d before the due date. They were evaluated and given a body condition score on a 1-to-5 scale with 0.1-point increments weekly until parturition. Body condition score was assessed within 1 wk of parturition and then again 27 to 33 DIM. Previous calving interval, gestation length, periparturient health events (giving birth to twins, dystocia, retained placentas, ketosis, metritis, and displaced abomasum), sire net merit ($), and milk data were used for each cow as recorded in PCDART (Dairy Records Management Systems, Raleigh, NC) by the herd managers.

Outcomes: Longer previous calving intervals were related to greater body condition at parturition and body condition loss during the first 30 DIM. A 75% greater proportion of cows with a calving-to-pregnancy interval shorter than 130 d maintained or gained body condition during the first 30 DIM compared with cows with calving-to-pregnancy intervals longer than 130 d. Multiparous cows that maintained or gained body condition (n = 144) had greater pregnancies per AI following first service compared with cows that lost body condition (n = 577) during the first 30 DIM when health events were considered or removed. When cows with health events were considered, multiparous cows that maintained or gained body condition had a greater percentage pregnant by 130 DIM compared with cows that lost body condition (67 vs. 55%; n = 522). Cows that lost body condition during the first 30 DIM regardless of health events experienced greater pregnancy loss (n = 224) between 35 and 60 d after first AI (0.0 vs. 6.7%) compared with cows that maintained or gained body condition (n = 69) during that period. Based on data in this study from a single herd, maintaining a cycle of pregnancy before 130 DIM may reduce the amount of body condition lost after the next parturition, enhance subsequent pregnancies per AI, and reduce the possibility of early pregnancy loss. We refer to this phenomenon as the high-fertility cycle.