Dairy Alliance

The Professional Dairy Managers of Pennsylvania and Penn State Dairy Alliance are partnering to offer a series of technical training workshops on transition cow nutrition and calf and heifer nutrition at sites across the commonwealth. These workshops are for dairy owners, managers, and employees.

Each workshop features a management session with guest speakers in the morning, followed by lunch and then hands-on training on a local farm that demonstrates best-practices in transition cow and calf nutrition.

Hours: 9:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.

Fee:  Discounted rate for PA dairy producers and their employees - $30
PA dairy producers and their employees are eligible for this discount, thanks to a grant from the PA Department of Labor and Industry.

Non-discounted rate for other participants - $75

Transition Cow Nutrition: Options, Ideas, and What Works

March 4, 2008 - Huntingdon County
Petersburg Bethel Presbyterian Church , R.D. 1, Petersburg, PA
With afternoon session at Mowrer Farms

March 5, 2008 - Chester County
Cochranville Fire Company, 3135 Limestone Road, Cochranville, PA
With afternoon session at Glenville Farms

Guest speakers:
Stephen Abrams, PhD, Nutrition Professionals, Inc.
Charles Gardner, DVM, Cargill Animal Nutrition          

The transition period is one of the most important and most stressful in the life of a cow. Clearly, nutrition plays a key role in maintaining high milk production and in minimizing metabolic disorders and health-related problems. Is there room for improvement in your transition program? Are you interested in learning new ideas that are working well at the farm level? In this workshop a nutrition professional will provide highlights of sound transition nutrition program.Pairs of producers and their nutritionists will provide insight into "what works" in an interactive round table discussion.

 

Calf and Heifer Nutrition

March 6, 2008 - Bradford County
Smithfield Township Fire Company, Main Street Extension, Milan, PA
With afternoon session at Gorrell Dairy, Milan, PA

March 7, 2008 - Blair County
The Park at Morrison's Cove, 201 S. Walnut Street, Martinsburg, PA
With afternoon session at Kulp Family Farm

Guest speakers:
Jud Heinrichs, PhD, Penn State Dairy Alliance
Jeff Durkin, Goodnature Products

The agenda for these calf and heifer sessions features: using pasteurized waste milk for dairy calves, including the economics, various systems possible, nutrition, calf health, use, maintenance, and quality control of the systems. The second component will cover increasing feed efficiency in heifers with an emphasis on maintaining normal growth and limit feeding higher concentrate (byproducts) to growing heifers. These diets have a goal of increasing feed efficiency and reducing manure amount and ammonia production.

Registration Fee:

Register online with your credit card.
Or, complete this registration form and mail or fax it to the Dairy Alliance office.

For More Information:

Email askdairyalliance@psu.edu
Or call, toll-free, 888-373-7232