Charmany Dairy Herd Newsletter
Oct. 1st – Oct. 7th
Daily Events
Monday:
Am:
Pm:
Tuesday:
Am
 4th year Theriogenology Rotation Herd Check—Dr . Momont & 4th yr. Students
 Tail bleeding opportunity-need blood for Chuck C.’s lab between 6:30am-8am
Pm:

Wednesday: World Dairy Expo begins
Am:
 Tail bleeding opportunity-need blood for Chuck C.’s lab between 6:30am-8am
Pm:

Thursday:
Am:
Pm:
Friday:
Am:
 7:30 Herd Management meeting-Building 662 Charmany
 rBST injections given to 22 cows-another opportunity
Pm:
Charmany Dairy Herd Newsletter
Oct. 1st – Oct. 7th
Weekly Events
Cows due to calve:
 We still have 4 cows to freshen in October.
 Give it up for Trudy who had 1 bull calf on her own that weighed in at 101 lbs.!
 Tina 10/11/01; Char 10/12/01; Griffey 10/13/01; Sox 10/29/01(twins)
 We are in the process of considering purchase of about 10 heifers from the Rukamps. These are daughters of
Pearl, Merry, Vicky, Shelby, Griffey, Swoosh, Sox, and Sarah.
Sick Cows/Treatments/Breedings:
 It is with great pain that I have to announce that I had authorize the euthanasia of Pearl known as Pearl-Jam to
those who knew her well. Dr. Edwards and crew did a miraculous job identifying under general anesthesia a
strangulated distal small intestine and cecum, which meant that a resection would have to be done to
anastomose the small intestine to the ascending colon. I decided because of her age (7 yrs), her chronic
mastitis problems, the prognosis of a very difficult surgery, and the costs involved to not continue her surgery.
Dr. Peek also was at his best, making this diagnosis early in the am after we identified she had an acute problem
(based on our TPR protocol). Of course, Dr. McGuirk made sure Pearl had the best medical care upon
admittance to the VMTH.
 We are currently milking 0 cows in the bucket (44 cows milking), and our pickup is averaging close to 75 lbs.
per cow per day.
 Tina and Griffey are in the midst of our fresh cow protocol. We bring dry cows into the lactating herd at least 3
weeks before calving. In the dry cow barn, our cows get free choice mineral and 5 lbs of grain per day along
with refusal hay from the lactating herd. While in the barn before calving, cows are post dipped. At or just
before calving, cows receive CA-PO4 paste and Naquasone orally. Then at the 4th milking and for the next 10
milkings, the cows’ quarters are CMT’d and if a persistent 2-3 is noted, that quarter is automatically treated
with Cefa-lak on label. Fresh cows are brought up on grain slowly until 6 weeks post –fresh and brought up
slowly on protein until 3weeks post-fresh. Fresh cow stalls are cleaned out completely each day until 4 weeks
post-fresh.
 Any leaking cows such as Blackie, Sally, Kathy, Trish, Belle, and Cindy have their stalls cleaned out
completely each day and get extra shavings at the PM milking. This is an attempt to keep a clean, dry pen and
prevent our main nemesis Klebsiella from getting established. These cows are also milked first in order to
decrease the amount of milk and thus wetness in the stall. We have also added fresh cows to the list of stalls
that are to be completely cleaned out as 82% of environmental infections occur between 2-4 weeks post calving.
Lameness assessments:
Sammi and Swoosh had their feet trimmed by Dr. Nigel Cook. He relieved the pressure on the soles of their
feet, and we followed up the hoof trimming with 4% Tetracycline spray for 3 days. The cows are two of our
highest producers—Sammi was at 32,000 in the previous lactation and Swoosh is currently over 100 lbs/day.
The ability to recognize and fix problems with cows’ feet can make a huge difference in the ability to
maintain cows at high levels of production.
Project:
 We give our rBST injections on Friday mornings. If you want to give us a hand (as their can be up to 22 cows
to inject) feel free to show up any time between 6:00-7:30am. Come and give Keith Poulsen a hand.
 We have cows to vaccinate (J-5 and Scourgard)—see Erika Langfoss for schedule.
Employment opportunities:

If you are interested in gaining experience with dairy cows, we have the opportunity for you. You can join the
milking crew at the Charmany Teaching Facility and work the AM or PM milking shifts. Weekday shifts are
from 5:00 am to 7:00 am and from 4:30 pm top 8:30 pm. Weekend shifts are from 5:00 am to 12:00 pm and
from 4:30 pm to 8:30 pm. Interested students should contact Dr. Bill Goodger at 770-1448.
If you need to contact someone at the UW-SVM Teaching Herd Barn, call (608) 265-3558. Please direct
correspondence regarding the Charmany Teaching Herd or the newsletter to:
William J. Goodger, DVM, PhD
cellular--608-770-1448
Email: wgoodger@facstaff.wisc.edu
Jessica Pagenkopf, 2003
Email: jmpagenk@students.wisc.edu
(Please Continue to the Next Page and Check Out this Week’s Special Feature!!)
Charmany Dairy Herd Newsletter
Oct. 1st – Oct. 7th
**Special Feature**
Meet Red and Dr. Bill Goodger!
RED
Breed: Red Holstein
Age: 3 years 5 months (born 4/23/98)
Lactation: First
Days In Milk (DIM): 522
Somatic Cell Count (SCC): 156,000
Average Number of Pounds per Day: 55
Total Pounds Produced: 29,740
Reproductive Status: Open
Dr. Bill Goodger
Title: Associate Professor of Epidemiology
Description Herd Responsibilities: “My current
activities include coordinating the activities of the
herd with the curriculum; enhancing curricular
opportunities using the herd in student projects
and clinics; handling all the administrative
relationships the herd has with Charmany,
RARC, Departments, School, Foremost Farms,
WVMA, etc., being responsible for purchasing all
herd inputs, and assisting with both financial
management and daily cow management.”
Pictured Above: Dr. Goodger hosing down some hot cows!!
Favorite Aspect of Bill’s Job: “In my 38 years working in Veterinary Medicine, this job is both the most fun and the
most rewarding of any experience I have had (this is better than the guy who does fly fishing around the world) -This is because I think this program will make the most difference in students lives as they make career decisions.
My favorite aspect of the job is to see students taking a job seriously with both responsibility and integrity -- I can
remember many weekends when 2-3 individuals would be responsible for managing and milking the herd, who
when they started did not have any experience with cows or the associated hard work that goes with it and would
handle all the tasks of taking care of the herd at an extremely high level from running the skidsteer to treating a cow
for mastitis to removing grates covered with manure to give the barn cleaner some assistance(not a fun job).
Bill’s Favorite Cow: Red Why? “Because she is the herd's best ambassador in that she allows anyone to pet her at
any time which means that through her, everyone is all of a sudden comfortable with her, admires her and is
respectful to be in the company of a 1300 lbs animal that could be pretty intimidating if they wanted to be. For me,
this is the mechanism of how a young veterinarian begins to like what they do when they go to work each day —
bottom line: you have to really admire/respect the species you are trying to help.”
Why Bill thinks the herd makes students' educations better: “The herd gives the student more options in choosing a
species to work with in a career. The herd becomes complimentary to the VMTH'S large animal experience in that
the on-farm setting of the herd allows the student to link up their experience in the herd to what they will be doing in
practice in about 95% of their herd visits. I think at a general level, the student who works in the herd begins to
experience the level of care (going the extra mile) that their patients need and deserve when they realize the
importance of the tasks of their job -- that on a rainy day they have to spread lime so cows won't slip and fall when
they come in from the exercise yard; that gates have to be unlocked to make sure cows can get at feed and water at
all times; that in times of stress like the heat stress of this past summer cows need extra care (fresh feed, cool down
with a hose, extra work such as letting cows out at night after milking, etc.) In a lot of situations, the students
become completely responsible to get these formidable animals throughout the day, and that is an awesome
responsibility.”