Resources: UW Milk Quality weekly video series
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Milking Systems and Parlor Management is a new weekly series featuring academic papers, manuals and other resources to improve milk quality and dairy profitability.
The series is a component of a new University of Wisconsin-Madison College of Agricultural and Life Sciences website. Dr. Pamela Ruegg, dairy science professor and Extension milk quality specialist, and Dr. Doug Reinemann, professor and director of the UW Milking Research and Instruction Lab, have teamed up to offer updated information and decision-making tools.
The Milk Quality website http://milkquality.wisc.edu offers resources for producers, veterinarians, Extension agents, researchers and industry representatives.
“Producing high-quality milk is not a one-person job,” said Ruegg. “It takes a team-based approach to be able to evaluate, manage and meet milk quality goals. Including extension and agricultural professionals helps farmers achieve goals more rapidly and increase farm income.”
The website is updated weekly with articles and news releases covering various topics on milk quality. Spanish-translated educational materials will also be available.
Recent video library additions include:
• Parlor Routine Training: Milk parlor trial-and-error verses a well planned training program for staff.
• Cow Acclimation: Introducing the herd to a new milking facility.
• Training Staff for Crowd Gate Management: How to train workers in proper crowd gate etiquette to reduce frustration during cow entry and exit.
• Crowd Gate Management: Techniques to avoid overcrowding and maintain good cow flow at the gate.
• Entering and Exiting the Milking Site: How gentle physical encouragement is more effective for cows entering and exiting the milking site.
• Methods of Cow Prep and the Effect of Prep Lag Time: Milk prep processing and timing, the importance of prep lag time and methods of prep sequencing.
‘Best in Class’ updated
The Best In Class Dairies, part of Merial’s efforts to provide dairy producers with information and tools needed to maximize efficiency and profit, is updated with new resources and features. Enhancements include new English and Spanish environmental mastitis training modules, as well as new site content in Spanish.
BestInClassDairies.com also features a series of audiovisual training modules. The newest module, “A Tale of Two Ladies,” offers helpful tips and object lessons about how dairy operators can minimize serious losses resulting from environmental mastitis by focusing on how to identify risk factors and prevent infection.
