For Joe Bender, what goes on in the environment surrounding an animal is just as important as what’s going on inside of it. As a veterinarian and assistant professor of clinical dairy production medicine within the Center for Animal Health and Productivity (CAHP) at the School of Veterinary Medicine, Bender knows how an integrated approach to herd health can pay off in the bulk tank.
There’s no question that in order to be productive, a cow must be healthy with reproductive soundness and access to good nutrition. But sometimes, despite healthy animals, producers are still unable to meet the financial obligations of the farm. “We refer to this as caring for the ‘health’ of the farm. Healthy animals alone do not guarantee a profitable farm,” Bender says.
In fact, troubleshooting the “health” of the whole farm, rather than that of the individual cow, is the most common challenges seen by Bender on his farm visits. And these symptoms of poor health almost always take a hit on the farm’s bottom line. “Either poor production is limiting profitability or the producer is looking for ways to improve production—to increase profitability,” Bender finds. “The challenge is finding the sweet spot. That’s where our team comes in.”
Bender defines this sweet spot as finding “farm balance”: harmonizing the number of cows with adequate production to meet vital cash flow demands. This approach looks beyond making sure a farm is providing enough resources to support animal health, but also is allocating appropriate support to hired labor and practicing good environmental stewardship.
“Understanding the underlying factors that are important to support the health of the farm is where our integrated approach comes in,” Bender states. This entails evaluating all areas of the operation—replacement animals, transition cows, milk production, reproduction and culling, economics of production and environmental stewardship.
Read more at Penn Vet News.
