We had a surprise a little while back, new visitors – or maybe I should say new residents – living on our farm.

Ultimately, return on investment determines the value of any probiotic during a particular segment of an animal’s life or through life cycle feeding. What did we gain by spending the money to feed the effective probiotic or what did we "not lose" by feeding it?

In fact, I’d say the dairy industry leads the way in many aspects of using measurement tools to make decisions. However, there is one area where we can learn from other industries: tracking our own learning and development.

Illness and death of animals is frustrating, no doubt. It has been said, “If you’re going to have livestock, you’re going to have deadstock.” While it may be a cliché, it is an unfortunate reality.

Spoiler alert: It did not.
I sincerely thought I had a leg up on the non-farming set of expectant mothers with my experience caring for lactating animals that had the same gestational length as me. I really, truly did.