May 6 Session

Date & Time:  Thursday, May 6 from 1-5 PM CST             

Program Title: Practice Building Opportunities in Youngstock Management

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Program Description: You will discuss approaches for conducting disease investigations and managing outbreaks in heifer replacement programs, with real life case examples including respiratory disease, Salmonella dublin, and Clostridial bloats. Explore the development of practical evidence-based protocols for managing scours in the field. Learn from experts who will present real-world models for developing and delivering comprehensive youngstock consulting services to your client farms, when working with both replacement heifer operations as well as beef calf ranches. Finally, research updates will be provided by UMN faculty. You will have plenty of time throughout the program, and in a speaker’s panel at the end of the program, for in depth questions and discussion with all of our speakers.

1:00-1:05 pm-Welcome and Introductions

1:05-2:00 pm-Prove It! Rethinking Your Approach to Disease Investigations in Youngstock Programs
In this session you will review general approaches to outbreak investigations and insights gained from specific occurrences of GI and respiratory disease in pre-weaned calves. Discuss the importance of case definitions and the utility of necropsies. Describe methods to facilitate necropsy use on farms as a means to clarify antemortem diagnoses and treatment successes and failures.  

Craig McConnel, DVM, PhD
Craig McConnel grew up on a diversified crop and livestock farm in central Idaho.  He received his DVM from WSU in 2002. Following an internship in ruminant medicine at the University of Sydney, he completed a Master’s degree investigating infectious bovine keratoconjunctivitis pathogens in Australia. Craig’s research interests led him to Colorado State University where he completed a PhD exploring the epidemiology of adult dairy cow mortality.  In 2010, he joined Charles Sturt University’s School of Animal and Veterinary Science in Wagga Wagga, Australia, as a Lecturer in Ruminant Health.  Craig returned to Colorado State University in 2013 as an Assistant Professor in Dairy Population Health Management.  In 2016, Craig moved to WSU and is an Associate Professor in Veterinary Medicine Extension.  He is the course coordinator for Veterinary Epidemiology and continues to pursue his varied research interests including the impact of dairy cow diseases on animal well-being and productivity.

2:00-2:10 pm-Break

2:10-2:50 pm-Fecals Matter: Tales for the Tail
Take a deep dive into current research findings related to GI disease impacts on the fecal microbiome and GI epithelial cell gene expression. Those results will be used to discuss the importance of disease classifications, breed differences, and variable treatment impacts. We will wrap up with a foray into evidence-based literature related to the use of pre- and probiotics for calf GI disease.

Craig McConnel, DVM, PhD

2:50-3:00 pm-Break

3:00-3:30 pm-End-to-End Consulting: It is More than Giving Advice!
Our CalfCare Program will be presented as an example of the end-to-end consulting solutions offered by DairyExperts consultants to calf raising operations. It is based on providing comprehensive solutions that include identification and resolution of bottlenecks, building processes to organize work and support employees, daily monitoring and weekly audits, and decision-making support through field trials and cost-benefit analysis.

Alfonso Lago, DVM, PhD, DABVP-Dairy
Dr. Lago is the Director of Contract Research and Dairy Herd Management Solutions at DairyExperts, Inc. which is a dairy cattle research, consulting and laboratory firm based in Tulare, California. He founded the company in 2012 and moved into new state of the art research, educational, and laboratory facilities in 2020. Growing up in north-west Spain, Alfonso studied veterinary medicine and stayed in dairy cattle practice for three years. Thereafter, he moved to the United States where he did a Residency Program in Dairy Production Medicine at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a Ph.D. in Veterinary Population Medicine / Epidemiology at the University of Minnesota.

3:30-3:55 pm-Thinking Outside of the Box on Young Calf Service Offerings
How your expertise and practice can be a valuable resource to the calf ranch and dairy. Amber will aim to provide you with practical, real-world approaches to caring for calves, all with the goal of maximizing your impact on client herds.

Amber Hazel, DVM

Dr. Amber Hazel hails from Lanesboro, Minnesota where her family milks 300 dairy cows and raises small grains and forage. She graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2008 with her bachelor in Animal Science and her Doctorate in Veterinary Medicine, again from Minnesota, in 2012. Upon graduation, Dr. Hazel focused on dairy and dairy beef veterinary medicine in SW Minnesota, NW Iowa, and the I-29 corridor for 4 years. Thereafter, Dr. Hazel transitioned into industry as a Regional Calf and Heifer Specialist for Purina Animal Nutrition, serving as a resource to cooperatives and producers in the state of MN.  In October of 2019, Dr. Hazel transitioned to a new territory in I-29 corridor and NW IA. There she currently supports customers who typically range between 1000 – 10,000 head of cows, focusing on newborn calves up to 6 months of age. To Amber, there is nothing more rewarding than watching producers succeed from recommendations she provides and supplying them with the tools they need to help their calves thrive.

3:55-4:00 pm-Break

4:00-4:30 pm-University of Minnesota Faculty Research Updates

Corn Quality and Calf Health
Whole corn is consistent, stable and is the primary source of energy in many calf starters.  Damaged corn has the potential to create a long list of storage, consumption and health problems.  This session will revisit strategies to maintain corn quality in feeding programs. 

Jeremy Schefers, DMV, PhD
Dr. Jeremy Schefers, DVM, PhD is a livestock diagnostician at the University of Minnesota Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory.  His professional interests include the most aspect of livestock health and production.

New Consensus Standards for Monitoring Transfer of Passive Immunity in Dairy Calves
The traditional serum immunoglobulin G cutpoint (IgG > 10 g/L) for successful transfer of passive immunity (TPI) was originally established based on the relationship between serum IgG and mortality risk in calves.  However, when it comes to the relationship between serum IgG and risk for morbidity, higher is better. We will present new consensus standards for herd level monitoring of serum IgG in dairy calves, as well as corresponding serum total protein and serum brix readings.

Sandra Godden, DVM, DVSc
Sandra is a 1993 graduate of the Ontario Veterinary College, University of Guelph. After working for two years as an associate veterinarian in mixed practice in Eastern Ontario, she returned to Guelph to complete a DVSc degree specializing in dairy production medicine.  From 1998 to present she has been a member of the Department of Veterinary Population Medicine, University of Minnesota where she is involved with professional student teaching, applied research and outreach activities in dairy production medicine.  Sandra is a past president of the National Mastitis Council. Her major academic interests currently include applied research in mastitis control, colostrum and calf health management. 

Effects of an Immune Stimulant on Health of Heifer Calves in the First 60 Days of Life
In this session we will present results from an on-farm clinical trial investigating the effects of a non-specific immune stimulant on heifer calves. In this trial we measured average daily gain, occurrence of respiratory diseases and diarrhea, as well as mortality of dairy calves during the first 60 days of age. Calves in this clinical trial were transported within the first week of life.

Luciano Caixeta, DVM, PhD

Luciano Caixeta is an Assistant Professor of Dairy Production Medicine at the College of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Minnesota. Luciano was born and raised in Brazil where he was involved in beef cattle production from a young age. He obtained his DVM degree from the College of Veterinary Medicine at the Universidade Federal de Goiás (EVZ-UFG) in his home town of Goiânia, Brazil. Upon completing his DVM training, he moved to Cornell University where he completed a residency in production medicine and a clinical fellowship at the Cornell University Hospital for Animals. He also obtained his PhD degree in animal sciences from Cornell University. Before joining the U of M in 2017, Luciano was a clinical instructor in Dairy Population Health Management at the  Colorado State University for 2 years.

4:30-5:00 pm-Speaker Panel Q & A

Join all of today’s speakers to discuss information presented throughout the day to better build your opportunities in youngstock management.

Session Coordinators: 

Whitney Knauer, DVM, PhD, Assistant Professor, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Minnesota  

Sandra Godden, DVM, DVSc, Professor, Interim Associate Dean of Graduate Programs, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Minnesota