The seventh annual Dairy Cattle Welfare Council symposium proved to be a remarkable success. With record-breaking attendance, the highest annual membership, and unprecedented sponsorship, the council demonstrated its commitment to increasing farmer participation and fostering industry-wide communication on dairy cattle welfare.

Dairy farmers realize the importance of reducing the risk of creating drug residues in milk and dairy beef and take that responsibility of prudent antibiotic use seriously, taking precautions every day to ensure that milk or meat from antibiotic-treated animals does not enter the food supply. T

Selective dry cow therapy (SDCT) is an effective way to use antimicrobials judiciously on dairy farms while decreasing treatment costs and maintaining herd health. In the Netherlands it has been enforced since 2014 and the national somatic cell count (SCC) has decreased.

Since pre-industrial times, global surface temperatures have risen considerably and most of the warming occurred in the past 40 years.

In modern society’s regulatory climate, the public increasingly influences day-to-day management procedures. Your “Big Brother” managers have hardline opinions. Their operating guidelines come in the form of propositions, government-led regulations and processor demands.