Speakers gathered online for seminars and a panel discussion during the 2020 Herd Health and Nutrition Conference April 5th, 2020.
Due to Covid-19 and social distancing restrictions, the 2020 Herd Health and Nutrition Conference moved to an online webinar format on April 5th, 2020, instead of being held in its traditional home of Syracuse. NEAFA would like to thank Cornell PRO-DAIRY for the great job that they did in making the switch to an online conference, securing the speakers, handling the webinar logistics, and assuring that conference sponsors were appropriately recognized. “NEAFA is extremely pleased about the smooth transition from a traditional conference to a virtual experience,” said NEAFA President John Clark. “NEAFA values our conference partnership with PRO-DAIRY and we very much appreciate the strong support from our industry sponsors.” Attendance reached an all-time high of 424 attendees, with twenty-nine different sponsors. Next year, the conference will be held April 5-6, 2021 at the Doubletree Hotel in East Syracuse, NY. Due to the success of this online format, a hybrid approach is being investigated for next year.
The one day program included seminars from industry leaders and educators, including Bill Weiss of The Ohio State University, on energy and protein interactions, Phil Cardoso, University of Illinois, on new perspectives in transition cow management, Luiz Ferraretto, University of Florida, on optimizing the role of starch as an energy source in dairy cattle diets, and Trevor DeVries, University of Guelph, on feed bunk management. The day wrapped up with a panel discussion on feed bunk management moderated by Corwin Holtz of Holtz-Nelson Dairy Consultants with Bill Bullard of Brigeen Farms, Inc., and Amos Smith of Lawnel Farms, Inc. answering questions on how they manage feed on their respective farms.
Weiss kicked off the day with his talk on how protein and energy interact and their ability to limit milk production. Weiss believes that the “industry has gone too far in recommending low protein diets. Lower protein diets give you less energy, but the other thing that worries me is the uncertainty of feed. You’re never certain exactly what’s in the diet, and there should be some sort of cushion. We should aim for 17.5%, because at 15% there’s no spare room.”
Dr. Cardoso continued the day by discussing key nutritional strategies and feeding management during the pre-calving and post-calving periods. He believes that the impacts of the transition program should be evaluated in a holistic way that considers disease occurrence, productivity, and fertility.
After a short break for lunch, Dr. Ferraretto addressed starch and its importance to dairy cows and strategies to optimize its digestibility and utilization by lactating animals. This lead into DeVries’ talk on bunk feed management, a prelude to the panel discussion for the day. DeVries addressed how dairy cow production, health, and efficiency are optimized when they eat a consistent diet, both in time and composition. From a feed bunk management perspective, this includes ensuring rations are delivered accurately and precisely, as well as by ensuring cows have good continuous access to that feed. DeVries joined in on the panel discussion with Bullard and Smith as well.
The panel discussion took on a global perspective on feeding management during Bullard and Smith’s discussion. “I think it comes down to the ability to measure parameters that you otherwise may not be able to,” said Smith. “I remember being a student at Cornell years ago now, and in my nutrition class, we were talking about data. Whether you’re in a feeding system or collecting data in the field, if you can’t measure it you can’t manage it. You need to know what’s actually happening to make good management decisions. Which is why we invested in feedwatch and weighrite. They both tie so nicely in with dairy cows, and they work well together. Without that data piece, it makes things harder. I attribute a lot of our success over the years to using the tools that we’ve invested in.
Bullard added that consistency is also key. “The consistency of the feed going on the mixer, you need to make sure that every load, every feed is the same. We try to make sure that the same feed is dropped within a couple of minutes of when they were done the day before. It’s important to keep the same routine day in day out.” The panel also touched on adding feed pushups, keeping bunks covered and minimizing top exposure, labor efficiency, and maintain scales and mixer calibrations, among other topics.
NEAFA would like to thank all of our speakers, sponsors, and participants for their flexibility during the pandemic. We hope to see everyone, either in person or virtually next year as well.