Katelyn Allen

Baltimore

Associate Editor at Hoard's Dairyman

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Articles

Lock in on lying time to limit lameness

2 months ago | hoards.com | Katelyn Allen

Lameness remains one of the top health issues dairy farms battle, and it is also a serious animal welfare concern. While it is easy to call cows that struggle to get to the parlor “lame,” in reality, those are only the severe cases. Any cow that has difficulty putting weight on a limb is dealing with lameness, reminded Nigel Cook on an episode of the American Association of Bovine Practitioners “Have You Herd?” podcast.
Prevent mastitis in your pregnant heifers

2 months ago | hoards.com | Katelyn Allen

“Just because an udder is not lactating doesn’t mean it’s not doing anything,” said Ben Enger during the National Mastitis Council Annual Meeting. The mammary physiologist and associate professor at The Ohio State University pointed out that significant udder tissue growth and development is needed for an animal to be ready to enter lactation, and the vast majority of that occurs during a heifer’s first pregnancy.
What are our options for anesthesia?

2 months ago | hoards.com | Katelyn Allen

When animals need medical attention, effective restraint makes the job easier and safer for both the person providing the care and the animal. Dairies are equipped with headlocks, palpation rails, gates, and more for this purpose. But in addition to physical and environmental measures, veterinarians occasionally use chemical measures to provide sedation, anesthesia, and pain relief.
Retail milk prices ticked upward in 2024

Jan 23, 2025 | hoards.com | Katelyn Allen

Dairy farmers enjoyed higher milk prices in 2024 due to lower milk output for much of the year, and that same market force caused retail milk prices to climb to a new high. The average price for a gallon of conventional whole milk in the U.S. last year was a record $4.39, up 5 cents from 2023. That number is based on a survey federal order market administrators collect from large grocery store chains and dairy or convenience store chains each month in 30 cities or metro areas around the country.
FMMO final decision takes effect in June

Jan 20, 2025 | hoards.com | Katelyn Allen

USDA announced last Thursday that the final rule amending Federal Milk Marketing Order (FMMO) pricing formulas passed the producer vote and will be implemented in all 11 federal orders. The changes are:Returning the base Class I skim milk price formula to the higher of the advance Class III and Class IV prices instead of using the average of the two.
DMC sign up opens this month

Jan 16, 2025 | hoards.com | Katelyn Allen

The margin for producing milk, as calculated by the Dairy Margin Coverage (DMC) program, reached a record high last fall as September’s margin was calculated at $15.57 per hundredweight (cwt.). Even without December’s data finalized yet, the margin exceeded $10 per cwt. for seven months last year. Boosted by All-Milk prices over $20 per cwt. every month and declining feed costs, the margin is a concrete indicator that most dairy farmers did better in 2024 than they did in 2023.
Stop making new Staph. aureus cows

Jan 13, 2025 | hoards.com | Katelyn Allen

Proactively monitoring your animals for Staphyloccoccusaureus is the best plan of action for controlling this mastitis pathogen because it can silently affect cows and infect others for years before clinical signs appear. Still, this can be a tricky pathogen to test for, so farmers and veterinarians must know how to get the most accurate results. Justine Britten leads Udder Health Systems, a milk quality diagnostics lab with locations in Washington, Idaho, and Utah.
Staph. aureus is a subclinical threat

Jan 9, 2025 | hoards.com | Katelyn Allen

Mastitis can be caused by many pathogens, but if you ask any dairy veterinarian or farmer which is the most damaging, the odds are good that their response will be Staphylococcus aureus. Staph. aureus is especially dangerous because it persistently infects cows — meaning that a diseased cow should almost always be considered a diseased cow capable of spreading it to other herdmates for the rest of her life.
USDA rolls out HPAI testing strategy

Dec 9, 2024 | hoards.com | Katelyn Allen

USDA announced on Friday that it will begin the national milk testing program for highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) that it first announced at the end of October. The department issued a federal order requiring that unpasteurized milk samples be collected nationwide and shared with USDA for HPAI testing.
Top bulls hold steady

Dec 6, 2024 | hoards.com | Katelyn Allen

After the August triannual genetic evaluations included multiple updates and brought new leaders to many of the Holstein and Jersey lists, the results of this month’s evaluations were largely stable. The December 2024 Hoard’s DairymanBull List with all of the top sires is now available. The most change came in the Jersey breed, where there are two new leaders for Cheese Merit (CM$).