To treat or not to treat
Just as in human medicine, antibiotics can serve as a useful treatment tool when a dairy animal becomes sick. Still, just as in human medicine, we must do our best to avoid the overuse of specific antibiotics which could lead to the development of resistant bacteria.
Using antibiotics appropriately on the farm also has implications for keeping residues out of milk and meat. Further, dairy managers must consider the cost of the treatment and if it will provide maximum effectiveness for the animal’s condition. All of these factors lead to a question farmers face often: Do I treat or not?
Almond hulls a top choice in California
Dairy cattle are great upcyclers, making valuable milk and meat from feedstuffs that would often otherwise be wasted. To take advantage of this asset, dairy farmers are able to feed their animals by-products from a variety of sources, including other areas of agriculture and even human food waste.
That was evidenced clearly by the 58 unique by-product feeds California dairy producers reported using in a recent survey organized by University of California Cooperative Extension specialists. In that survey, 138 of the 156 responding farms were feeding some by-product in their ration, reported Jennifer Heguy during the Golden State Dairy Management Conference.