Hello everybody,

It has been a long time. I hope you all had a very happy Chinese new year of the sheep. Yep, you heard me, I said SHEEP. There are a lot of articles on the internet about how confused everybody is about the Chinese zodiac signs, especially for this year. Is it the year of the sheep? Is it the goat? Or is it the ram? After a heated discussion with my friend who is working in archaeology, he told me the sheep was the first domesticated animal of that family in China. They discovered a 4,000 year old sheep fossil. And, most of the related sculptures and paintings from that time have the appearance of a sheep. So, sheep it is. Please check out the picture I took in Chinese National Museum in Beijing. It’s a vessel from Shang dynasty 1400~1100 BC. Does it look like sheep to you? It does to me.

The traditional way of celebrating New Year in China is pretty complicated but you can summarize everything with one word, RED. Red lanterns, red fireworks, red clothes, red gift bags, basically everything is red. According to the old Chinese myths, the color red can scare off the evil monsters which like to come out and do bad things around New Year’s.

This is already the 6^th month of my Dairy Career Development Program and the 4^th month since I arrived on the DFI farm. During the last 4 months here I have been blessed to work with so many dedicated and experienced people in the farm. One of the most important things I learned about working on a farm is that there is no day off. Weekend, Christmas, New Year’s, Chinese New Year et cetera. As long as there are cows inside, there’s no break. So I believe it’s more important to love the job one is doing than any other industry. Lucky for me I love what I am doing so when they said “Han, tomorrow (New Year) let’s clean the calf barn and put out some new bedding for them.” I said OK almost automatically. After hours of work in the winter wind, the calves can lay on the new clean dry comfy bed through the New Year holiday now.

This is it, see you next time.

Another week has passed and the weather isn’t as bad as it has been here in Fair Oaks, Indiana, thank goodness. This week, I commenced looking at various parameters for my assigned focus on the transition period in dairy cows. I spent time every day collecting total mixed rations (TMR) and manure samples, and freezing them for further consistency analysis with the nutritionist. I also started to weigh and record weighback feed so that we can document exactly what the cows are eating, while beginning to body condition score dry, fresh and lactating cows and checking their rumination patterns.

Also this week, I took some straw samples to be sent to the Alltech lab for analysis. In doing so, I decided that in order to take an accurate sample, I would need to wait until they began to grind the bales in the feed centre. It was a good idea, as I ended up with a varied sample, but I also ended up with two boots full of straw and dust that I’m now trying to get out of my carpet at home. That is all part of the job I suppose!

 One thing is for sure… I have been staying very busy!

As far as curious cows go, there is definitely a good contingent of them here at Herrema Dairy. Each time I enter a pen to carry out a task I usually end up with my own little pack of cows following close behind sniffing and licking my clothes. Sometimes I can even feel a tug on my jacket or overalls. It seems like they’re trying to tell me that they want a selfie! 

Alltech has just released the results of its fourth annual global feed survey. The highly anticipated report provides a glimpse into the animal feed industry and allows us to compare output across countries, regions and species. Compiling the data is no small task. Wherever possible we collect information from local feed associations, but in many areas our global sales team works with individual feed mills to obtain the numbers.

In 2014 we saw more feed mills producing more animal feed than in past years. The estimated worth of the feed industry is now $460 billion with global production of 980 million metric tons. That's a 2 percent increase over 2013. 

A number of factors affected output, including: slow markets, shifting raw feed material costs, fluctuating governance over import/export standards and animal diseases such as PEDv in pigs and bird flu in poultry. However, the top 10 producing countries remained the same: China, the United States, Brazil, Mexico, India, Spain, Russia, Japan, Germany and France. 

To learn more, please download the survey below. You are also welcome to watch a recorded webinar with analysis and interpretation of the results by the feed survey’s director, Aidan Connolly.

Download Survey [+]

Watch Recorded Webinar [+]

Download Presentation Slides [+]

While avian influenza has created a buzz again in the media, coccidiosis and necrotic enteritis are two diseases that plague poultry operations daily. These infections, caused by harmful microorganisms in the gut, can leave poultry integrators with high treatment costs and losses in production. When it comes to maintaining a healthy flock, it’s the good bacteria and gut health that can make or break a successful poultry operation.

This is the approach Alltech has taken with their new Gut Health Management program, which uses the Seed, Feed, and Weed approach to support animal performance by promoting good bacteria, building natural defenses and maximizing growth and efficiency. Seed, Feed and Weed introduces the proper microorganisms, maintains a proper environment for them to survive and weeds the unfavorable organisms before they colonize the intestinal tract. When paired with effective biosecurity measures, this tactic allows the animals to have the best chance for optimal productive performance, even without antibiotic growth promoters.

From hatch to finish, the Alltech Gut Health Management program incorporates different nutritional technologies, analytical services and technical support to help prevent and treat the main gut health issues affecting integrators today.

“With the right intestinal ecology, the villi will flourish and nutrient absorption will be maximized, which in turn will lead to maximized growth and performance,” said Paulo Rigolin, global poultry director for Alltech. “This program supports the company’s commitment to partner with integrators to make sure their flocks are performing at their maximum potential.”

To learn more about Alltech Gut Health Management, contact your local Alltech representative.

By: Tom Kimmerer, Ph.D., Chief Scientist, Venerable Trees, Inc.

Bison graze amidst ancient trees at Alltech’s farm on Catnip Hill Road in Nicholasville, Kentucky.  Except for the fences, the scene is remarkably similar to what early settlers would have seen in 1779, when Lexington and surrounding areas were first settled.

There are more ancient trees in the Bluegrass than in any other agricultural or urban region in North America.  These trees are 200-500 years old, if not older, and make up woodland pastures -- natural landscapes of open-grown trees shading grasses and cane.  When early settlers arrived here, they did not need to clear forests in order to farm; the natural woodland pastures were ready-made for livestock farming.  After driving off the bison, the first farmers moved in with cattle and sheep, taking advantage of some of the finest grazing land in the world. 

Soon after the first livestock farms began, the thoroughbred horse industry began.  Although the thoroughbred industry is now strongly associated with the Bluegrass, the cattle industry has remained strong.  Rapid urban growth has taken up some of the pastureland, but strong land use restrictions have preserved many of the original farms.

In spite of changes in land use and farming practices in the 235 years since settlement, there are still extensive woodland pastures in the Bluegrass.  The largest woodland pastures cover thousands of acres across multiple farms.  In some cases, there are only individual trees left.  The trees are slowly disappearing not only due to old age, but also land use changes, and the fact they are not reproducing.  In another 100 years, without our intervention, they will be gone.

Natural woodland pastures are rare.  Ecologist E. Lucy Braun, in writing about the forests of eastern North America, called the Bluegrass landscape, “the most anomalous vegetation of North America.”   These are not savannas. In North America, savannas are maintained by fire and poor soils. There is no evidence, such as fire scars on old trees, to suggest that fire was ever important in the Bluegrass, and the soils are deep and rich.

Woodland pastures do exist in Europe.  There are ancient woodland pastures in England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland, Rumania and Italy. Although biologists thought for a long time that the European woodland pastures were created by farmers, it now appears that they are older than agriculture.  Wisent - the European bison - and other animals such as red deer probably played an important role in creating this landscape.

In the Bluegrass, it is likely that a combination of long-term droughts and the arrival of bison created the woodland pasture landscape.  Bison were abundant in the Bluegrass, in herds of thousands of animals.  They would graze down the grass and cane in an area and then move off, sometimes for decades.  Bison are athletic animals, often running 20 or more miles in a night, hundreds of miles in a year.  The combination of heavy grazing, wallowing, and wandering is most likely what created our woodland pasture landscape. The bison would reduce competition from grass and cane and allow trees to grow in the intervals before they returned. 

Today, we graze livestock continuously, and trees do not have a chance to become established in our pastures.  We will lose our woodland pasture landscape soon if we do not take action.  The use of tree pens planted with native species shows some promise in allowing our woodland pasture landscape to continue.

There may be some advantages to farmers to maintain woodland pastures beyond their beauty.  Shade trees allow livestock to escape summer heat, which may be more important as summers become hotter.  Large trees over productive pastures may store as much carbon as forests.  These are speculative advantages, however, as there has been almost no research on woodland pastures and livestock in the United States.. Grazing in woodland pastures in Europe is a widely accepted practice that appears to provide some benefits. 

Trees of woodland pastures are adapted to life with grazing animals.  When grazers are removed from woodland pastures, other trees and shrubs quickly create forests.  There are several woodland pastures managed as preserves with livestock excluded, and these sites are now thick with trees and shrubs. The native woodland pastures cannot exist without grazing animals.

We have only begun to learn about the management and benefits of woodland pastures. For now, the most critical need is to ensure that this rare and magnificent landscape does not disappear.

This article is based on my forthcoming book Venerable Trees, to be published in 2015 by the University Press of Kentucky.  More information on woodland pastures and the venerable trees of the Bluegrass can be found at our website, Venerable Trees.  

Text and photographs copyright 2013-2015 Tom Kimmerer.

Time flies when you’re having fun and time is sure flying in Indiana! I spent the past week assessing and working with fresh cows. I looked at their feed, environment, milking procedure on the 72 unit rotary parlour and overall management while in the fresh cow pen and of course asked lots of questions. Even after our intense 10 weeks of training I still believe there is a lot to learn and what better way to do it than to ask questions!

As well as assessing different protocols and areas of this large dairy, I also help to carry out daily tasks that need to be done such as scanning cows and feeding calves. This week while feeding calves the lights in the barn went out and I then realised that they are timed according to production. A long-day photoperiod (LDPP) is used in the lactating cow barn. This means that the cows are exposed to 16 hours of light followed by 8 hours of darkness. A short-day photoperiod (SDPP) is used in the dry cow barn. This means that these cows are exposed to only 8 hours of light followed by 16 hours of darkness. It has been proven that lactating cows exposed to LDPP show an increase in milk production and cows exposed to SDPP in the dry period can be more relaxed and produce more milk throughout their lactation. A simple yet effective way of managing a herd of cows that are indoors at all times.  

I have already learned a lot about the American dairy industry and how it differs to the Irish one. However, one of the most confusing things in this learning process is trying to adapt to the different measurements such as milk being priced per hundred weight and being measured in pounds instead of litres. It’s all part of adapting to a new culture and country I suppose.

Over the weekend I took a trip to South Dakota to visit Drumgoon Dairy where I worked last year. It was nice to see all the changes that have taken place on the dairy since I left and to see the brand new dairy which was under construction, now up and running successfully!  

I remember sitting in the library of UCD one winters day reading about the Alltech Dairy Career Development Programme, and what struck me first off was that, unlike a lot of graduate programmes, this one had structure. Each week was planned out, from what training we would receive, were we would work and what we would be doing etc. Then the plan was that on week 10 we would be on our farms, and do you know what, here I am, on farm.

I met with Siobhan in the crazy city of Bangkok and we flew down to Ho Chi Minh City to meet another Alltech employee, Yen. She was very kind and organised my visa and mobile phone. We then travelled to the farm in the Binh Dinh province of Vietnam. The first thing that hit me was the bio-security, it is very strict on this farm, and rightly so as Foot and Mouth is rampant in this country. With 878 milking cows on this plot there is no room for that kind of disease on the farm.

Together we carried out a complete farm audit, from the mixing centre to the cows BCS. I was happy to get it completed with Yen by my side as she speaks very good English. The only downside for me is that the farm workers don’t speak a word of English, so no communication goes on but I have to use my initiative and do work that I feel is beneficial to them. For example on Friday I was helping in the calf feeding process. This allowed me to gain a detailed insight into what really goes on from birth, to weaning and then all the way to 70 days of age. I can make my own suggestions in a report about where I feel changes can be made. There is lots of scope for change on this farm but as the saying goes, patience is a virtue, so I will take my time and not try to be a miracle worker.

On another note the food is a slight challenge but I am mastering the chop sticks like a pro. The weather is hot, 32 degrees, 80% humidity, it’s extremely hard on cows and calves, but this is one challenge that I know I can help with. I have a good Wi-Fi connection which is brilliant to keep in contact with home, so I am all settled in and the workers are now taking me to a local restaurant to eat god only knows what, so until next week it is goodbye from sunny and sticky Vietnam.

A wise man once said “Travel makes you wiser” and I couldn’t agree more. I spent this week working in Romania alongside Dr. Catalin Necula learning about how he implements the Alltech system on farm. Catalin took me to visit three of the farms he works with over three days. Catalin studied veterinary medicine in college but now enjoys working in the nutrition sector of the agricultural industry so as you can imagine, this was a great opportunity for me to spend some time with a very knowledgeable man.

The three farms we visited were all different in their own ways but all very impressive operations. I completed a farm audit, TMR evaluation and manure assessment on all farms as well as carrying out some urine pH and ketone tests. It was an intense week with plenty of travelling across Romania and long working days but it was all worth it. One of the farms that stood out to me most on my trip was a 300 cow herd consisting of pedigree Montbeliarde and Jersey cows. It was a well-run farm with very happy cows! After each farm visit Catalin would help me complete a farm report and optimise diets where necessary.    

What Size is the Average Dairy Herd in Romania?

As I visited large dairy farms (200 cows plus) I could not believe it when I heard that the average herd size in Romania was 3 cows. However, while travelling through some of the villages I then realised why. Lots of Romanian people own 1 and 2 cows and keep them at the side of their house where they are fed and milked. It was interesting to see different ways of dairy farming in different parts of the country. I had a busy but brilliant week of learning and practical experience with Catalin but for now it’s back to Ireland to spend next week on a dairy farm in County Cork!