The continuous evolvement of dairy industry in countries like New Zealand, with increased dairy conversions and intensification, has resulted in remarkable economic development, though at the cost of environmental degradation. The increasing use of nitrogen fertilizers to sustain increasing number of cows has increased the risk of enhanced nitrate leaching and methane and nitrous oxide emission...

Antimicrobial resistant (AMR) bacteria are increasing threats for human and veterinary medicine. Faecal Escherichia coli (E. coli) from preweaned dairy calves is often resistant to multiple antimicrobials and calves may therefore serve as reservoirs for these bacteria and their resistance genes. This thesis investigated the prevalence, risk factors, and spread of resistant E. coli on Swedish da...

Structural best management practices were implemented throughout the Cannonsville Reservoir Watershed (CRW) in an effort to reduce P losses to the reservoir. Yet long-term water quality control efforts within CRW are hindered by continuous P build-up in the soils resulting from dairy farm P imports exceeding exports. Addressing the P imbalance problems and maintaining economic viability of the ...

Heat stress causes infertility in farm animals and represents a major source of economic loss. In response to heat stress, managers can attempt a variety of approaches to improve reproduction. These approaches usually involve modifying the environment (i.e., attempting to cool cows during reproduction), modifying the genetics of the animal (i.e., breeding to heat tolerant breeds) or intensifyin...

We analyzed how three different dairy management systems –continuous grazing, confinement and management intensive grazingcompare across nine sustainability indicators set by the Dairy Stewardship Alliance. A self-assessment survey comprising animal husbandry, biodiversity, energy, community health, farm financials, nutrient, pest, water and soil management was assessed twice across the same fa...

Respiratory disease and diarrhea are the 2 most common diseases that result in the use of antimicrobial drugs in preweaned calves. Because the use of drugs in food animals, including dairy calves, has the potential for generating cross-resistance to drugs used in human medicine, it is vital to propose farm practices that foster the judicious use of antimicrobials while assuring animal health an...

Most dairy farms in Wisconsin continue to follow a fairly generalized formula of how to produce milk. Cows and replacement heifers are fed primarily homegrown feed from crop rotations comprising alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.), corn (Zea mays L.), oats (Avena spp.) and soybean (Glycine max L. Merr.). Protein and mineral supplements are purchased to compliment dairy diets. However, the dairy indust...

There is growing interest among the public in farm animal welfare and a need for methods to assess animal welfare on farm. A survey on calf rearing practices that might affect dairy calf welfare was performed via a 1-h interview on 115 dairy farms (mean +/- SD: herd size=52.5+/-20.9 cows; milk production=8,697+/-1,153L) distributed throughout the province of Quebec. Despite frequent recommendat...

Consolidation in US agriculture has led to fewer, larger farms. In the case of dairy in the Northeastern US, higher concentrations of animals near large population centers pose water quality problems that can be attributed to excessive soil nutrient levels. While new environmental policies and regulations are being developed and implemented to help manage such problems, research to determine th...

This paper reports on a study to answer the research question; why do dairy farmers adopt (or not adopt as the case may be) centre pivot irrigation (CPI) in the Central Goulburn Irrigation District (CGID) of southeastern Australia? Twenty-two dairy farmers were interviewed. Ten of these farmers had adopted CPI, four were considering adopting, and eight of the farmers were not planning to adopt ...