PRESS RELEASE: March 2, 2012
Winter Dairy Management Calf Conferences in NNY March 21 and 22
How does a dairy calf’s pre-weaning daily rate of weight gain impact her milking performance as an adult? How can you improve your barn’s ventilation to protect calves’ lungs? How has raising their calves in groups and free-access milk-feeding systems benefitted Northern New York dairy farmers?
“If you feed calves right early, you can add 1,700 lbs of milk in their first lactation,” says Cornell University Dairy Nutrition Extension Professor Dr. Larry Chase.
Chase and a full line up of educators, veterinarians and farmers using group housing systems will share their experiences and knowledge at the 2012 Winter Dairy Management Conferences in Carthage and Chazy, NY, on March 21 and 22 respectively. The 10:30am to 3pm sessions, organized by Cornell Cooperative Extension associations of Northern New York, will be held at the Carthage Elks Club on March 21 and at Miner Institute in Chazy on Thursday, March 22.
Cornell PRO-DAIRY Dairy Housing and Waste Management Engineer Curt Gooch will present advances in draft-free ventilating for barns to protect calves’ young lungs.
Gooch says, “The success in group-housed dairy animals has always hinged on a viable ventilation system and it is even more important with calves which are susceptible to the drafts common in the winter months in Northern New York.”
In Carthage, veterinarian Dr. Mark Thomas of Countryside Veterinary Clinic, Lowville, NY, will talk about how group feeding and housing of calves mimics nature. In Chazy, veterinarian Dr. Bob Ceglowski of Rupert Veterinary Clinic, Rupert, VT, will share how group feeding and housing moves calf raising closer to “nature’s way.”
In Carthage, Mary Kelly of Kelly Farms, Renssalaer Falls, NY, will share how converting to group housing has benefitted her dairy business. In Chazy, Mark and Jenny Cary of Woody Hill Farm in Salem, NY, will offer their farm as a case study for finding success with group calf systems.
In Chazy, Animal Science Extension Specialist John Conway of Cornell’s PRO-DAIRY Program will compare mob feeders, robotic autofeeders and farm-fabricated self-feeders, and Kim Morrill, Ph.D., the new Cornell Cooperative Extension Dairy Specialist for St. Lawrence, Franklin and Clinton counties, will talk about how baby calf rate of gain affects lifetime performance in the milking herd.
A ready-made “warm box” will be on display at both events.
The $30 registration fee includes lunch and how-to materials from the sold-out December 1, 2011 Dairy Calf Group Housing Symposium in Syracuse.
Register for the Carthage conference by March 16 with Ron Kuck, CCE Jefferson County, 315-788-8450. Register for the Chazy conference by March 17 with Kim Morrill, CCE St. Lawrence County, 315-379-9192. # # #