The Nutritionist

The energetic and knowledgeable Dr. Marcia Endres gave an excellent presentation on management techniques and nutritional considerations when working with robotic milkers. In the recording process the sound quality for the afternoon session was very poor; for that reason it was left off.

Dr Gordie Jones spoke of his experiences as a veterinarian, nutritional advisor, and herd owners in working with transition and fresh cows to ensure they have healthy, productive, and successful lactations. Gordie gave some wonderful answers to the participants looking for solutions to their cows’ metabolic problems.

He also recommended the New Large Herd Dairy Management e-book available through ADSA

Dr Alfredo DiCostanzo from the University of Minnesota talks about about using backgrounds, the process of utilizing available feedstuffs, to control the growth and sale date of growing animals to better adapt to market variables.

Dr Cardoso continued our theme that focuses on the giving nutritionists the best tools for helping cows emerge from the transition period ready to have a productive and reproductively successful lactation. He took the multiple language aspect to the extreme, occasionally answering in Spanish. The questions were many, the audience very engaged by the presentation.

In response to requests from listeners, Dr Cardoso has agreed to share a PDF of his presentation and a paper Co-authored by Mateus Toledo on feeding rumen-protected methionine. Those resources can be accessed here.

https://agmodelsystems.com/the-nutritionist-2018-webinar-series-dr-phil-cardoso-transition-nutrition-in-relation-to-reproductive-health-may-9-2018/

Dr Ale Relling from The Ohio State University, delivered his presentation on the role of the dam’s nutritional status in predicting calf growth and rate of gain.

Dr Overton provides the midpoint in our unit that focuses on the transition period. In the past the dry period and transition cow was relegated to the corner of the barn with little attention given once she stopped milking. The resultant metabolic syndromes that nutritionists managed at freshening gave evidence that more attention should be paid to the diets of cows between lactations. Tom continues our focus on the transition cow and her diet with a discussion of the steps nutritionists should take to help ensure the dry cow emerges ready to perform optimally during her next lactation.

Dr Laura Hernandez spoke about her recent and ongoing research into the role Serotonin plays in Calcium metabolism. The next three webinars will focus on Transition cows as we are joined by Tom Overton and Phil Cardoso in April and May. Co-hosting duties were shared by Paula Turiello, translating into Spanish and broadcasting in Argentina, and Tom Long, our partner in China translating into Mandarin. Marcelo Hentz Ramos from Brazil was unable to join us.

Dr. Chris Chase offered a very interesting presentation on the effects nutrition can have on the immune system. The first webinar of 2018, it was a continuation on the mini-unit on immunology and nutrition begun by Drs. Lance Baumgard and Michael Ballou in 2017. We were joined by Paula Turiello, translating into Spanish and broadcasting in Argentina, and Tom Long, our new partner in China. Tom translated into Mandarin. Marcelo Hentz Ramos from Brazil was unable to join us.

In addition to an excellent presentation, the question and answer period was terrifically informative.

Heather Dann is a research scientist at the William H. Miner Agricultural Research Institute in Chazy, NY where her research has focused on dairy cow nutrition and management. Most recently, she is looking at ways to use milk analyses for real time management decisions.

Dr Michael Ballou from Texas Tech University discussed strategies to improve the immunological function of dairy cattle. He covered stress, the impact on immunity, and methods to control stress and improve response.