June Workshops Focus On Feet

Preventing lameness in a dairy herd is paramount to the comfort and productivity of animals and team members. A series of management-level interactive workshops will be presented by the Professional Dairy Producers in June.

Targeting dairy managers, nutritionists, veterinarians, hoof trimmers and other key employees, the PDPW Hoof Management Workshops will explore the core factors to ensure the longevity and health of their dairy herd.

Each workshop will be simultaneously translated into Spanish; they’ll be presented June 14 at Ideal Dairy in Hudson Falls, New York; June 28 at Grotegut Dairy in Newton, Wisconsin; and June 30 at Driftwood Dairy in Baltic, South Dakota. Each workshop will begin with registration at 9:30 a.m. and conclude at 3:45 p.m.

“These workshops will take a 360 approach to preventing lameness,” says Cassandra Strupp, program manager with PDPW. “One of our key objectives is to view this issue from every perspective on the dairy to optimize the health, wellbeing and productivity of cows.”

It’ll cover a range of topics impacting hoof health and lameness, including the technical aspects of footbath design, functionality and frequencies, and their potential to alleviate foot rot and digital dermatitis. The program will also feature a critical assessment of facility design and its impact on cow comfort as well as discussions on risk factors for maturing heifers, and identifying treatments and protocols for chronically challenged cows. Attendees will leave with strategies to keep sound hoof-health records that help determine trends, manage progress and monitor programs.

The workshop will be presented by a team of leading experts in lameness and hoof-care research: Karl Burgi, founder of Save Cows Network; UW-River Falls Prof. Kate Creutzinger; University of Minnesota Prof. Marcia Endres; and Roger Olson, dairy account manager for Zinpro Corporation.

The PDPW Hoof Management Workshop is accredited and approved for continuing education (CE) credits, including up to 4.25 CEs in Dairy AdvanCE (DACE) and up to 4 CEs in ARPAS credits. Learn more: www.DairyAdvance.org

See more details: www.pdpw.org