Knowledge - UK

AltaU is back

Admin — Fri, 21 Jun 2024 15:13:19 GMT

AltaU is an intense, 5-day course designed specifically for owners and managers of progressive dairy herds.

A full class of eighteen progressive dairy owners and managers from six different countries gathered at the URUS Office in Madison, WI, March 18-24 to build on their dairy management knowledge and skills at AltaU.

During the intense five-day school, participants dug deep into topics like replacement heifer development, reproductive management, genetics and herd inventory strategies, cow comfort and nutrition, milk quality & parlor management, dairy economics, and leading a team.

Each participant was challenged to identify the top three priorities they’d like to focus on first once they returned to their home operation. Alta team members will be partnering up to support the implementation of these changes.

This was the 45th AltaU session held since it began in 2010 – and the first one held in the US since 2019. In total, more than 640 dairy owners and managers have graduated from AltaU. The next session is being planned for November 2024.

Want to learn more about AltaU? Speak with your Alta advisor or head over to the AltaU page.

Improved Management with Farm Data

Admin — Mon, 10 Jun 2024 09:00:00 GMT

Harness your farm data to manage the high-performing cows of today and increase your bottom line.

The dairy industry’s concept of the ideal cow has changed immensely over the past four decades. Advancements in genetics, management practices and data collection have all played a role in shaping the modern cow – one that produces more milk than ever before with less resources.

As cow’s have evolved, so have herd management tools, allowing farmers to optimize cow performance in innovative ways.

Keeping Sustainability in Mind

According to data from the Council on Dairy Cattle Breeding, today’s cows, on average, produce more milk with a higher fat content and a lower somatic cell count (SCC) than ever before.

Herd management software helps connect farm data such as health events, production, and sustainability. Software like DairyComp, used in conjunction with herd monitoring systems like Alta COW WATCH, can show an overview of herd performance and highlight trends. These tools help farmers quickly identify health events impacting their dairy and create solutions to tackle those challenges.

“In addition to increasing production and improving milk quality, we’ve gained a deeper understanding of the impact a cow’s health events have on the dairy, the more health events a cow has, the more resources she uses, which impacts production and overall sustainability of the business.” – Taliah Danzinger, VAS senior manager dairy intelligence.

Reproduction Revolution

The industry’s approach to reproduction has taken giant leaps forward, with developments in areas like genomics, in-vitro fertilization, and the rise of beef x dairy breeding.

New herd management tools like Reproduction Insights in the VAS PULSE Platform and Alta COW WATCH have also improved how farmers monitor performance, providing another way to analyze reproductive health through intuitive dashboards and point-and-click metrics.

“Just a few years ago, a 30% pregnancy rate was considered a significant accomplishment,” says Danzinger. “Today, that benchmark has been surpassed by the 80th percentile of AgSource herds exceeding 500 cows. What was once unattainable is becoming the norm.”

Leveraging Farm Data

Data management tools like CowVAL in DairyComp make it easy to compare cows within your herd and determine, based on various factors, your highest and lowest-performing cows. HealthVAL, another tool available to DairyComp users, provides context based on health events and allows you to compare benchmarks to similar-sized herds. Health insights available through Alta COW WATCH enhances these tools by allowing you to monitor individual cow health and detect illness much more quickly.

“How we manage, feed and house a genetically well-built cow changes what she can and will do,” says Danzinger. “For 40 years, we have evolved how we manage our herds – changing what we feed, how and when we milk and who we breed and cull. Dairies that take advantage of data management tools can easily implement changes and push their herds further, faster.”

To learn more about how DairyComp and Alta COW WATCH work together to provide you the data to take your herd to the next level, speak to your Alta advisor or fill out this contact form to have one follow-up with you.

Detect Ketosis Sooner

Admin — Mon, 20 May 2024 09:00:00 GMT

If you own an activity monitoring system, you know the efficiencies you can gain on farm. Time, labor and decision making to name a few. But, with any piece of technology, there are likely more uses and efficiencies to gain – ones that can help you maximize your return on investment. One area to advance efficiency in is ketosis detection.

“Ketosis monitoring is a natural next step in maximizing the capabilities of an activity monitoring system,” says Eveline de Pont, product owner of Nedap, the company that developed the technology behind Alta COW WATCH. “With activity monitoring, each cow can be monitored individually through the transition period, and you can compare potential problem cows to the group, to learn if it’s a pen-wide management issue or a ketosis case. Farmers looking at this data have been able to successfully decrease ketosis for better ROI.”

The results of early detection and prompt treatment (prior to clinical signs) can quickly add up. Ketosis alone can cost a 1,000- cow dairy with a 30% ketosis rate about $87,000 or €73,500 a year. By lowering the ketosis rate by just 5%, the dairy could save $14,500 or €12,250 per year.

Monitor individual transition cow activity.

Your activity monitoring system tells you a lot about each cow, including a cow’s chewing activity. Chewing activity (eating + rumination) can be a good indicator for ketosis. Look at a cow’s chewing activity 10 days before she calves compared to 10 days after she calves. You should see natural peaks and valleys. Chewing time crashes are normal at calving, but cows should begin to rebound within a day or two.

In a real-life example, the accompanied chart shows the chewing time difference between a healthy cow (Cow 1) and a cow with ketosis (Cow 2). Cow 1 bounces back quickly to normal chewing time after calving. Cow 2’s chewing time drops significantly the day before calving and stays depressed until day 6, when she receives treatment for ketosis.

Why didn’t this cow get treatment until day 6? She wasn’t showing clinical signs of ketosis. And even though an alert was sent about Cow 2’s increased inactivity (reduced chewing time), she wasn’t treated. In an ideal situation, Cow 2 would have been evaluated and treated as soon as the alert was sent (day 1), and she would have bounced back faster.

“For successful early detection and treatment, there has to be a mindset shift,” says De Pont.

“We have to get comfortable with letting the data tell us there is an issue versus waiting for clinical signs to appear. You have to fully put your trust into the activity monitoring system to reap the rewards.”

Compare the individual cow to its group.

Another ketosis indicator is how the cow is doing in comparison to her pen mates. Look at how a cow’s chewing time compares to the rest of her group. If the whole group is experiencing activity or rumination issues, check the pen and the pen’s ration. There could be a management issue at hand that needs to be dealt with, like nutrition or environment. If the rest of the group appears healthy compared to individual cow data, you might be dealing with a cow with ketosis.

This chart is an example of what a monitoring dashboard could look like. The orange line represents the average chewing time for a group of healthy cows. The red line represents an individual cow consistently chewing about an hour less than her pen mates, starting seven weeks before she calves. This is not normal and can indicate ketosis.

“A group or pen data pattern shows all cows are experiencing the same environment, nutrition and management,” says De Pont. “So, when data shows you a cow is off pace with the rest of the group, you can hone in on other factors, like disease, that can be specific to an individual.”

“If there’s one thing I’d recommend to farmers to get more from their activity monitoring systems – it would be to trust the alerts you receive and act on them,” says De Pont.

“Alerts exist for a reason and are there to help you catch things that go unnoticed by the human eye. Catching a disease like ketosis early can help you capture additional ROI from your activity monitoring system.”

To learn more about Alta COW WATCH and its unmatched range of features speak to your Alta advisor or learn more here.

Successful transition cow management with data

Admin — Mon, 13 May 2024 09:00:00 GMT

The importance of transition cow management is well-known. But until recently, there have been unknowns about early disease indicators which impact the health of transition cows and heifers.

Activity monitoring systems like Alta COW WATCH have changed the game. The ability to track individual cow activity during the dry period and early lactation has given us a wealth of insights and data – data which has recently been used to identify potential red flags during the transition period for early intervention. Let’s explore some instances where activity monitoring data can be used as an indicator for transition cow success.

Eating time data and time to first service

Launched in the Netherlands in 2016, the “Sense of Sensors in Transition Management Study” uses activity-monitor sensor data and regular veterinary check-ups to develop early indicators and benchmarks for a successful transition cow period. The study recently uncovered a relationship between eating time during transition and earlier first service, which could have an impact on your dry cow feeding strategy. Dry cows with longer eating time four weeks before calving were ready to be bred back sooner than cows who ate for less time. Cows with longer eating times three to four weeks after calving were also ready to be bred back sooner. Activity monitoring systems enable farmers to monitor individual cow and overall herd eating time. These systems send alerts when a cow’s eating time drops or when it’s lower than the herd average. The alert empowers the farmer to intervene, adjust the feed plan, call a veterinarian or pencil out a new dry cow feeding program. Early intervention can result in improved eating time and cows that breed back sooner.

Eating activity and milk production in transition cows

Eating data from activity monitoring systems can also indicate a healthy lactation. Low eating time in transition cows during the dry period can be an early indicator for lost body condition, low milk production, diseases and/or longer time to first insemination during lactation. Feed plan adjustments can be made based on eating time data and desired milk production. On one farm in the study, fresh heifer milk production was underperforming compared to older cows. Activity monitoring data showed cows spent 24% of the day eating, which is normal. Upon ruling out eating time as an issue, the farmer dug deeper and observed that older, more aggressive cows at the feedbunk were sorting the roughage. As a result, fresh heifers weren’t getting the right nutrients. Activity monitoring data showed immediate desirable changes after the farmer changed his feeding strategy to eliminate sorting. The changes included increased rumination time, increased lying time and less competition at the feedbunk. Younger cows received a better balance of nutrients to help maximize milk production. Average milk production for first-lactation cows increased by 4%. In this real-life example, activity monitoring data told the farmer fresh heifer eating time was normal. Normal eating time pointed to a potential feed nutrient issue, which he identified visually and was confirmed with sensor data. The data also enabled the farmer to monitor the immediate impact of the management change. This demonstrates how sensor data generates value when paired with farmer knowhow on feeding strategy, feed management and pen characteristics.

Chewing activity and ketosis, hypocalcemia incidence

Activity monitoring data on chewing activity (eating and rumination) can be used to detect early signs of ketosis and hypocalcemia in transition cows. Cows that chew less throughout the entire dry period are at higher risk of developing these metabolic diseases. Based on benchmarks established in the study, activity monitoring in transition cows can detect subtle changes in eating and rumination activity which are consistent with ketosis or hypocalcemia, before visual symptoms appear. In one real-life example, the cow chewing activity dropped significantly the day before calving and remained depressed until she received treatment for ketosis, which wasn’t visibly diagnosed until day six. Activity monitoring systems will show you when depressed chewing data lasts longer than a day or two. Farmers can then determine if there is a pen-wide management issue or an individual case of ketosis. Early detection and treatment of ketosis and other metabolic diseases before clinical signs can result in significant cost savings. Ketosis’ impact extends beyond early lactation, so it’s important to catch at-risk cows early and intervene for lactation-long productivity.

If you want to learn more on how Alta COW WATCH can help your transition cows, speak to your Alta advisor or fill out this form and an advisor will be in touch with you shortly.

Save Time & Money with Automated Activity Monitoring

Admin — Mon, 06 May 2024 09:00:00 GMT

Have you ever wondered how automated activity monitoring could help you not only save money, but also time on your dairy operation?

Imagine starting each day with a list of cows that need attention. You wake up and open an app on your phone, tablet or computer, and the list is waiting for you. Activity and feed intake for cows #555, 579 and 790 suddenly dropped, which could be an early sign of mastitis. Chewing activity for cows #345 and 567 has suddenly dropped, which could be early warning signs for ketosis or hypocalcemia. You can start your day with forward-looking insights like these before you step one foot out of your bed in the morning.

“Automated activity monitoring systems collect data on every cow 24/7,” says Rudy Ebbekink, marketing manager at Nedap Livestock Management, the company that developed the technology behind Alta COW WATCH. Besides heat signs and the cow’s location, Alta COW WATCH monitors eating, rumination, and inactive behavior. “The system compares live data to past data on the animal and the rest of the herd. When incoming data is different than what would be expected based on previous data, the system can send an alert to your phone or laptop for intervention.” This applies to attentions related to individual cows, but certainly also to groups.

Here are three ways activity monitoring data gives you useful information on individual cows and herd trends.

Reduce treatment time of mastitis

What if you could detect acute mastitis and other common diseases earlier? Mastitis is among the most contagious and costly diseases affecting dairy farms. In fresh cows, a case results in an average loss of $475 (406 euros or 357 pounds) and in the UK only, around one million cases of bovine mastitis occur each year, causing 200 million pounds of losses in production and treatments every year (Science Daily 2008). In the United States for example, mastitis costs dairy producers about 2 billion dollars per year. Automated activity monitoring data can help you detect early signs of disease and intervene faster, improving outcomes and preventing diseases from spreading throughout your herd.

One of the first signs of acute mastitis, for example, is lack of appetite. And, when the data indicates a sudden drop in eating and rumination time compared to cow or herd historical data, the system alerts you that the affected cow needs attention. If a cow does have acute mastitis, the health alert can help you identify and diagnose it before more obvious symptoms appear like swelling, hardness, redness, and heat.

“There are two categories of health attentions,” says Ebbekink. “One category is ‘urgent attention’ which means this cow requires immediate attention. The second category includes cows with more subtle, less sudden changes in behavior. These are the animals that you can focus on during your regular pen walks.”

Cows on health attention lists should be evaluated and sent into treatment protocols or isolation for monitoring.

Drive transition period success

Automated activity monitoring data can also provide useful insights into the transition period from 60 days pre-calving to 30 days post-calving. Cow chewing activity, including eating and rumination, can be used to detect early symptoms of ketosis and hypocalcemia. It can also help determine future reproductive success.

“Cows that eat less during the dry period and the fresh period are at higher risk of ketosis and hypocalcemia,” says Ebbekink. “When chewing activity suddenly drops, the system will generate an alert and add her to a list of cows in need of attention. And, by identifying cows with a higher probability of ketosis, you can intervene and prevent lower milk production and lost body condition throughout lactation.”

A multi-year study on transition cow activity data by Utrecht University, Wageningen University and Research Centre, and Vetvice Consultancy in the Netherlands has also uncovered benchmarks for future reproductive success. Cows with higher eating times three to four weeks after calving are ready to be bred back sooner.

If a cow isn’t eating as often as she should, you can check on her and treat her accordingly. If multiple cows in one pen are experiencing similar issues, you can evaluate your nutrition program and environment. Making the necessary adjustments can help cows get bred back sooner.

Stay ahead of feed quality issues

Mycotoxins infect up to 25% of feed crops in the world, resulting in billions in lost revenue and the loss of up to 1.1 billion tons of feed annually. And, mold and mycotoxin issues in the feed are often challenging to diagnose because visual symptoms can be vague and varied.

Automated activity monitoring data can help identify symptoms of mycotoxins, including lethargy (increased inactivity), reduced feed intake and reduced rumination. Data collected on individual cows and overall herd averages enable you to determine when an issue – like mycotoxins in feed – is affecting a group of cows or the entire herd. Alta COW WATCH triggers a group alert when a certain percentage of the cows in a group is showing abnormal behavior of any kind. Reports on the groups eating pattern as well as eating, rumination and inactivity day totals provide insight into feeding and nutrition issues and management.

“The goal of activity monitoring data is to alert you when there’s an issue before visual signs appear,” says Ebbekink. “We want to be able to pinpoint cows and groups in need of attention faster and more accurately, so that intervention can happen sooner.”

If you want to learn more about how Alta COW WATCH can save your dairy operation time and money, reach out to your Alta advisor or fill out a request form and an advisor will reach out to you shortly.

Why Activity Monitoring Matters for Reproduction

Admin — Mon, 29 Apr 2024 14:54:45 GMT

Understand your cows’ estrous cycles with 24/7 activity monitoring and performance insights from Alta COW WATCH.

If an open cow costs €1,70 per day, then a single missed heat can cost you €36. In today’s dairy economy that’s a lot of money to use someplace else, especially if multiple heats are missed.

“When heats aren’t detected, it leads to more time and labor spent tracking, sorting and breeding cows,” says Elles te Winkel, account manager at Nedap, the company that developed the technology behind Alta COW WATCH. “Alta COW WATCH helps dairy farmers catch cows in heat for timely insemination.”

Here are two reasons Alta COW WATCH can get more cows pregnant faster and keep money in your pocket:

Track cow activity 24/7

Although you can visibly detect a cow standing to be mounted, it is not fail-proof and it’s not realistic to monitor cows 24/7. There are only 1.5 mounts per hour per cow and each mount lasts 4-6 seconds. The average duration of standing heat is 15 to 18 hours, but it can be as low as 4 hours. That’s a very small window to catch a heat.

Heat activity of cows tends to be lowest during feeding and milking times – the times you or your staff are most likely with the cows. Cow activity is at its highest while you’re probably sleeping. Approximately 70 percent of mounting occurs between 7 p.m. and 7 a.m., when cows have limited distractions.

“Alta COW WATCH takes on the full-time job of heat detection,” says Te Winkel. “These activity monitoring systems also rely on other indicators, like sniffing and chin resting, to make sure heats don’t get missed. Data can also provide actionable insights about the optimum time to inseminate for the highest chance of conception.”

Quickly find cows not showing heat

Sometimes a cow won’t show a heat because of environmental or metabolic factors, like floor surface, sore feet or legs, heat stress or ketosis complications. Also, she simply may not be cycling (annovular).

With Alta COW WATCH, you can act proactively by finding these problem cows quicker, then solving the cause of the fertility problem or providing an effective treatment to resolve it – ultimately, getting them bred faster.

“Instead of missing the heat altogether and waiting for the next cycle, the activity monitoring system gives you insights to dig deeper into why a cow didn’t come into heat,” says Te Winkel. “Insights from data can help you make a management decision to get a cow bred as quickly as possible, regardless of why she isn’t showing heat.”

Using an activity monitoring system allows you to catch cows in heat and take early action when there’s a problem. The result? Improved reproductive outcomes and money in your pocket.

To learn more about how activity monitoring systems like Alta COW WATCH can improve your reproduction speak to your Alta advisor or learn more here.

Cattle Heat Stress Monitoring Made Easy

Admin — Mon, 08 Apr 2024 08:00:00 GMT

Heat stress monitoring doesn’t just make your cattle more comfortable, it improves your profitability.

According to a 2023 study in Frontiers of Veterinary Science, “the United States have reported losses of approximately $1.5 billion per year in lactating cow(s) due to heat stress.” Thanks to advances in dairy herd management technology, you can now proactively monitor and respond to heat stress before it affects your bottom line.

With Alta COW WATCH and Nedap Now’s new heat stress detection feature, all this information is available in the palm of your hand.

New Feature Alert – Nedap Now Heat Stress Monitoring

Enhance your farming operations with the integrated Heat Stress Detection feature in the Nedap Now Herd app. This new feature is designed to support proactive herd management by accurately monitoring and responding to heat stress conditions, ensuring the well-being and productivity of your livestock.

Features at a Glance

Real-Time Insights

The Nedap Now Herd app’s new heat stress monitoring page offers a comprehensive overview of your farm’s heat stress levels across different pens on your farm, updated in real-time. Monitor the situation at a glance and take immediate action to mitigate risks.

Enhanced Farm Management

With the “pen notes” feature, you can log heat stress events for detailed analysis later.

Advantages for Your Farm

Responsive Care: Heat stress monitoring allows you to implement cooling measures at the right moment, maintaining optimal conditions for your herd.

Eligibility and Usage

This new feature is compatible with IFER(P)4 and IFER(P)9 tags from 2021 and later, requiring the latest Velos version.

To learn more about how Alta COW WATCH and Nedap Now software improves farm profitability, speak to your Alta Advisor or contact us for more information.

Improving Reproductive Efficiency

Admin — Tue, 02 Apr 2024 10:00:00 GMT

Why is reproductive efficiency important?

Reproductive efficiency programs give options to a dairy! Farms that consistently turn open cows into pregnant cows minimize the number of replacements they need to grow or maintain their herd size. Additionally, more cows in the “next” lactation add greater milk production potential while maximizing replacement investment.

Have we made progress for reproduction?

Absolutely! Over the last 20 years, dairy cattle reproduction has experienced a real turnaround. In fact, the average pregnancy rate improved by about 10 points, and days open decreased by more than 30 days!

What role has genetics played in improving reproduction?

Despite tremendous gains, much of the progress in reproductive performance comes from improved reproductive technologies such as Ovsynch, Double-Ovsynch, activity monitoring, and other techniques.

Why aren’t we making genetic progress for DPR?

There are two major challenges with Daughter Pregnancy Rate (DPR) as a genetic selection trait.

Of all reproductive traits available, DPR has the strongest negative correlation or “resistance” to production. Of course, production continues to be a primary value driver of genetic selection today.

DPR is a conversion of days open, where 4 days open = 1.0 preg rate, assuming a 60-day voluntary waiting period (VWP). This made sense in 2003 when DPR was first introduced when average days open was 154. But it doesn’t make sense for most progressive dairies today.

Why is days open not an ideal trait to improve reproduction today?

As farmers become more confident that each insemination will result in a pregnancy, they tend to increase their VWP for first service. This is a step they make strategically to increase days open to achieve ideal results for other metrics like peak milk. This trend reveals a “Goldilocks” level for days open and for DPR. This is also known as an intermediate optimum trait. This at least partially explains why little or no genetic improvement has been seen over the last 20 years for DPR.

What are the best options to improve reproductive efficiency today?

Choosing a unit of semen that is designated as Alta CONCEPT PLUS or 511 CONCEPT PLUS is a simple and proven way to improve conception rates today by 2-5% for conventional semen and 3-7% for sexed semen!

There are several genetic traits that make sense to explore to improve reproductive efficiency.

Cow Conception Rate (CCR) and Heifer Conception Rate (HCR) are traits calculated from direct pregnancy diagnosis data. Introduced in 2009, positive values for CCR and HCR demonstrate improved efficiency of insemination by improving the ability of the female to conceive.

Can CCR and HCR replace DPR?

CCR and HCR better align with the goal to maximize every insemination. Improving conception rates allows dairies to manage their insemination plan more precisely, whether for cows or heifers, using dairy or beef semen, or as sorted or conventional semen type.

It’s important to note that since CCR and HCR were added to the Net Merit (NM$) index in 2014, both traits have proven the ability to improve both genetic and phenotypic output – unlike DPR. Further, both traits demonstrate less genetic “resistance” to production. Many top sires showcase leading levels for production while also improving CCR and HCR.

Terminology Resources

Want to learn more about DPR, HPR and the other terminology used throughout this article? Check out this great resource Proof Terminology Explained.

If improved reproductive efficiency is your goal, talk to your trusted Alta advisor about including CCR, HCR, and Alta CONCEPT PLUS sires in your breeding strategy. Don’t have an Alta advisor yet? Fill out this form or send us an email, info@altagenetics.com and we will have one reach out to you.

Written by Phil Bachman, PEAK Global Product Specialist

The Two-Fold Calcium Approach of RumiLife® CAL24™

Admin — Tue, 12 Sep 2023 14:20:07 GMT

Calcium Matters for Fresh Cows

Dietary calcium like like RumiLife® CAL24™ is essential to dairy cattle for bone health, metabolic processes, and most importantly, milk production. Immediately before and after calving, a cow’s need for calcium suddenly increases in preparation for milk production. This drastic increase in calcium demand over a short period of time causes a temporary calcium deficiency known as hypocalcemia. This condition may persist and can lead to subclinical or clinical milk fever, along with an increased risk of dystocia, retained placenta, lethargy, decreased feed intake and ketosis, and ultimately, reduced milk production.

Choose your Calcium Supplementation Carefully

Oral calcium supplementation is a well-proven strategy for reducing hypocalcemia and its associated risks. However, there are only a handful of calcium sources that provide “bioavailable” calcium to the dairy cow. The bioavailability of any nutrient is simply how much of that nutrient is actually absorbed from an ingredient, out of the digestive system, and into the cow for use. So, when using oral calcium as a strategy to reduce hypocalcemia, our choice should be highly dependent on how bioavailable the calcium source is in order to meet the calcium requirement of the cow who has just calved.

Because of its high bioavailability of calcium, many products rely on calcium chloride to provide the rapid boost in blood calcium that is needed to counter hypocalcemia and its risks. However, care must be taken when using predominantly calcium chloride-based products. Calcium chloride goes into solution rapidly, resulting in a quick increase of available calcium to the animal. While this may be beneficial immediately after calving, it does not address the cow’s calcium needs at the most critical time (24-48 hours after calving). Even more concerning is that calcium chloride in high concentrations can damage the mucosal lining of the rumen and abomasum as well as cause a spike in both blood calcium and chloride ion because it is so bioavailable. This spike in blood chloride levels is known to cause metabolic acidosis, and the spike in blood calcium levels can cause normal calcium metabolism feedback to be shut down, causing a quick return to a hypocalcemic state. Further, to best support the sustained need for calcium up to 24+ hours after calving, calcium chloride-based supplements are administered once after calving with a second – and sometimes third – dose provided 8 to 24 hours later. That means additional animal handling for the farm.

Fight Milk Fever with the Calcium Combo of RumiLife® CAL24™

What makes the unique, once-and-done administration of RumiLife® CAL24™ possible is that it does not solely rely on calcium chloride as an available source of calcium. Instead, RumiLife® CAL24™ uses a two-fold approach, supplying a diluted and safe level of calcium chloride for an immediate release supply, as well as the unique ingredient CalMin – a source of calcium that is nearly 100% bioavailable and releases slowly over 24+ hours.

What gives CalMin its slow-release property, is that it is derived from the skeletal remains of a red seaweed algae grown off the coast of Iceland. This gives CalMin a porous, lattice-like structure that protects it from immediate breakdown by the rumen environment. Instead, it dissolves slowly, offering a smooth and sustained release of calcium to the animal, meaning you only need to give it once after calving and not handle the animal additional times.

So in total, the careful formulation of diluted and safe levels of calcium chloride alongside CalMin in RumiLife® CAL24™ is a winning combo for providing the cow with precise amounts of calcium up to 24 hours after calving in just one, two-bolus dose.

For more information about RumiLife® CAL24™, visit https://altaukdev.wpengine.com/products/rumilife-cal24/.

Take Ownership of Your Genetic Decisions

Admin — Wed, 07 Jun 2023 17:27:07 GMT

The genetic decisions you make today will define your milking herd more than three years in the future. Genetic selection is powerful, but only if you make informed choices and stick to a plan that fits your needs. Genetic plans should be assessed regularly to make sure you are harnessing the full benefits to create your best future herd. A good way to review your strategy is to ask:

Does the index I use to select sires reflect my goals?

Your herd has needs that are one-of-a-kind, so it only makes sense that you have a genetic plan that fits your specific requirements and goals. Generic industry indexes like NM$ are created from complex calculations that optimize selection for the average farm. Your herd is far from average, so why even consider putting your future into the hands of a formula that doesn’t address your specific goals?

The only way to ensure your genetic decisions are focused on meeting the needs of your operation is by using a customized index. These tailor-made indexes allow you to maximize profitability by balancing traits strategically and taking into account:

How your farm generates revenue. Your farm has a different payment structure for production
and incentives on quality and quantity of milk than other farms. A custom index allows you to
optimize your selection for production traits that will directly increase your milk check.

Health and efficiency challenges. A customized index allows you to strategically put emphasis
on traits that address your largest health and efficiency challenges, helping to lower your overall
costs without sacrificing production.

What kind of cow fits best in your operation. From robotic parlors to pasture grazing, every
dairy across the world looks different from the next, including yours. A custom index allows you
to put direct focus on traits, like Stature, that make cows a better fit for your type of operation.

One of the best parts of using your own index is that you can update and revise it as your needs and goals change. If you don’t see your custom index working for you today, consider these three areas and work with your trusted Alta advisor to revise your plan to align with your goals.

What am I gaining or giving up with my genetic decisions?

Genetic traits are intricately correlated with each other. Some traits are also highly transmittable to the next generation, while some are mostly influenced by management practices. This means you must carefully consider what each trait selection means and recognize that the genetic inputs you choose today can have multiple implications, good or bad, in your future herd.

When choosing what traits to focus on in your custom index, it’s critical that you consider:

Economic impact. Improvement in the selected traits must generate more revenue or lower expenses. If you can’t check this box, the trait shouldn’t be included in your index – plain and simple.

Genetic parameters. Selected traits must have variation within the population and be transmittable to the next generation. Genetic improvement for very low heritability traits, such as health and fertility, are possible along with better management practices. However, appropriate emphasis should be placed on these traits within your index so you don’t significantly lose progress for milk components. Selection for one economically important trait may negatively impact your ability to improve others, so you must choose traits wisely! It’s often helpful to use traits that favorably improve others at the same time, such as Productive Life.

The Bottom Line

Your best chance at achieving your goals will be to create an index and choose traits aligned with your unique needs. Always focus your selection and mating decisions on how they will affect your bottom line and help you become more profitable. While you’re building your genetic plan, make sure you consider all positive and negative consequences of selecting traits over others and ensure you aren’t missing out on major opportunities.

You have a lot of decisions and considerations to make when it comes to genetics…

Partner with your Alta advisor and Alta BLUE LINK to make these complicated genetic decisions simple and guide you towards what’s best for your future herd.