meta Transition Cow Conference: Diving into Details that Define Excellence, April 7, 8, 9 :: The Bullvine - The Dairy Information You Want To Know When You Need It

Transition Cow Conference: Diving into Details that Define Excellence, April 7, 8, 9


This one-day workshop is designed to help take cow management skills from excellent to exceptional. This Conference is for dairy cow experts pursuing the latest research, insight and techniques for furthering transition-cow management abilities. Professional Dairy Producers® (PDPW) is bringing the dairy industry’s transition cow “dream team” to three upcoming one-day Transition Cow Conference workshops:

  • Tuesday, April 7, Fox Valley Technical College, D.J. Bordini Ctr., 5 N. Systems Dr., Appleton, Wis.
  • Wednesday, April 8, Southwest Wisconsin Technical College, 1800 Bronson Blvd., Fennimore, Wis.
  • Thursday, April 9, Sleep Inn & Suites Conference Ctr. 5872 3rd Ave., Eau Claire, Wis.

The insight and research presented at these one-day workshops will help dairy owners, herdspersons, dairy veterinarians and professional dairy nutritionists take their cow management skills from excellent to exceptional.

Dr. Gary Oetzel, University of Wisconsin, will kick off each of the workshops with a general session where he will share the most recent research findings on how to measure, prevent and manage two critical conditions that threaten fresh cow health and milk production: hypocalcemia (low-blood calcium) and ketosis (high-blood ketones). He will also address herd-level incidence of hypocalcemia, economic returns from oral calcium supplementation, new ketone monitoring options and how to measure returns from early detection and treatment of ketosis as well as provide take-home strategies for preventing hypocalcemia and ketosis.

Transition Cow Conference participants will also rotate through three, one-hour afternoon sessions:

  • Transition with Ease, Dr. Phil Cardoso, University of Illinois. Cardoso will share how transition cows should be fed, plus how results should be measured and managed. He’ll challenge how participants think about body condition scores and dry matter intake monitoring. In addition to discussing nutritional strategies, Cardoso will analyze tools such as direct-fed microbials and rumen-protected methionine.
  • Timed Trimming for Transition, Karl Burgi, professional trimmer. This dynamic session will change how participants look at hoof care, a dairy’s fresh pen and individual cow care. Burgi will cover lameness culprits and why timed, functional hoof trimming works, plus explain the best trimming and hoof management solutions for the high-maintenance cows. This hoof care guru will do more than talk, as he’ll demonstrate using actual hoof specimens.
  • Managing for Optimal Immunity, Dr. Amelia Woolums, University of Georgia. Woolums’ session will arm participants with ways to prevent illness and boost a dairy’s bottom line. This expert will delve into what happens—when and how—to the cow’s overall immune response system during the transition period and provide fresh insight on preventing respiratory outbreaks and other costly health issues in milking herds. She’ll also discuss the timing of vaccinations during transition and the entire production cycle, with emphasis on vaccination to prevent respiratory disease in adult cows.

While keeping the entire transition management package together consistently on a daily basis can be challenging, the information provided by these four authorities will help Transition Cow Conference attendees achieve an optimum blend of their desired outcomes as well as greater potential for profitability on the dairy.

PDPW’s Transition Cow Conference is an accredited training program with the University of Wisconsin School of Veterinary Medicine (UW-SVM) and veterinarians may receive up to 5.4 CEUs for the training. The training has also been pre-approved by American Registry of Professional Animal Scientists (ARPAS) for up to 4.0 CEUs for the training.

Registration for the one-day Transition Cow Conference workshops is open to dairy owners, herdspersons, dairy veterinarians and professional dairy nutritionists seeking the latest research, insight and techniques for furthering transition-cow management abilities. Individuals can obtain additional information about the workshops—as well as register—online at www.pdpw.org or call PDPW at 800-947-7379.

Professional Dairy Producers of Wisconsin is a dairy-producer founded organization that provides educational programs and services to fellow dairy producers. PDPW’s mission is “to share ideas, solutions, resources, and experiences that help dairy producers succeed.”


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