Dairy Science Digest
Episodes
DSD 6.12 | Brachytic corn for increased production
16 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
DSD 6.12 | Brachytic corn for increased production The brachytic gene mutation results in corn that is shorter in stature but an improved digestibilit...
Spotify DSD 6.11 | The sweet spot - Insemination timing for peak profit
23 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
DSD 6.11 | The sweet spot - Insemination timing for peak profit With changes in the marketplace, coupled with increased reproductive performance of yo...
DSD 6.11 | The sweet spot - Insemination timing for peak profit
17 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
DSD 6.11 | The sweet spot - Insemination timing for peak profit With changes in the marketplace, coupled with increased reproductive performance of yo...
DSD 6.10 | Summary of Social Housing for Calves
16 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Individual housing for pre-weaned calves has long been gold standard, since it was first introduced in the 40s. However, interest has emerged around p...
DSD 6.9 | Surplus calves are a perishable commodity
16 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
DSD 6.9 | Surplus calves are a perishable commodity This robust beef market is having a direct impact on the bottom line of dairy calf buyers and poss...
DSD 6.8 | That is where you should put your money
19 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
DSD 6.8 | That is where you should put your money For years researchers have sought out to better understand control mechanisms for a successful trans...
DSD 6.7 | Diagnosing heifer mastitis
15 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
It’s always exciting to watch a group of replacement heifers develop and anticipate their performance in the milking string as the top genetics of y...
DSD 6.6 | How much variation is allowable?
16 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
DSD 6.6 | How much variability is allowable? Timing of insemination is still one of the most common question Dr. Paul Fricke, Extension faculty for t...
DSD 6.5 | Performance of High protein Corn coproduct
16 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
For decades, ethanol production has generated affordable biproducts to feed. A new distilling method has generated a product with ~50% protein. Dr. Bi...
DSD 6.4 | A dynamic rumen, preweaning
17 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Most dairy farms are trying to push the envelope from the conventional 4L of milk replacer per day to a higher volume to support lean structural growt...
DSD 6.3 | Big Picture Management Decisions Matter
31 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
DSD 6.3 | Big Picture Management Decisions Matter Timeless dairy management decisions, such as voluntary waiting period & days dry, have recently...
DSD 6.2 | Bump colostrum quality with ease
16 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Colostrum, the life-giving liquid-gold first milk that builds the calves’ immune function. The dairy industry has made amazing strides on colostrum ...
DSD 6.1 | Management to create the invisible cow
15 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
DSD 6.1 | Management to create the invisible cow If you pause and think about a list of cows – chances are the list that pops into mind is a grou...
DSD 5.12 | Takes time to Make Time
16 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Ever heard the adage, “It takes money to make money”? Well, the research highlighted this month shows that it also takes time, to make time. Dr. Z...
DSD 5.11 | Subtle Sync changes to synergize estrus with ovulation
18 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Reproductive physiologists are always trying to improve conception rates for the dairy herd. Double ovsync is one of the best tools in our toolbox to ...
DSD 5.10 | Rumen friendly fatty acids in High Oleic Beans
16 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
DSD 5.10 | Rumen friendly fatty acids in High Oleic Beans Soybeans and dairy cows have walked hand for decades. These oil beans are known specificall...
DSD 5.9 | Undegradable NDF clogging your herd?
16 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Despite decades of dedicated research, the rumen still remains a bit of a ‘black box’. This month we feature an article from Dr. Gonzalo Ferreir...
DSD 5.8 | Magnesium matters
19 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Seems like calcium and phosphorus gather up all the attention, but there is growing awareness of the importance of magnesium – the “runner up mine...
DSD 5.7 |Machine learning to find SARA prevalence in your herd
19 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Subacute Ruminal acidosis, commonly referred to as SARA, could be robbing your herd of production. When pH dips too low for too long the biology of th...
DSD 5.6 | Heat stress changes to the Mammary Gland
16 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
When your bulk tank volume takes a plunge through the last bout of heat, do you ever wonder exactly WHY? What is it in the udder that changes to caus...
DSD 5.5 | Avoid generations of production losses
16 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Florida researchers began a generational study in 2007 that is still years in the making. It all began with the investigation of the impact of heat st...
DSD 5.4 | Reconsider Choline for lasting returns
20 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Choline, a pseudovitamin, is required by all mammals including the dairy cow for many essential functions. Research in supplementing rumen protected c...
DSD 5.3 | Slight modifications of CIDR Sync - help or hinder?
15 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
DSD 5.3 | Slight modifications of CIDR Sync - help or hinder? In this time of heifer inventory shortage – getting heifers pregnant (in a timely fas...
DSD 5.2 | Stop fresh cow subclinical mastitis in its tracks without withhold
16 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Getting the fresh cow off to a strong start has ripple effects for her entire lactation. Subclinical mastitis rarely gets treated due to an unawarenes...
DSD 5.1 | Energy saved is energy earned
16 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Efficient production is the name of the game, and the key to an efficient cow is her rumen microbiome. The highlighted research this month focuses in ...
DSD 4.12 | Mature mamas sail through transition with beef cross calves
15 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Beef on dairy is here to stay. These cross animals generate a revenue stream for dairies as it lubricates the parallel industry of beef production. Mu...
DSD 4.11 | Reproduction Revolution
16 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Over the past 30 years the reproduction status of dairy has improved substantially, largely due to research around reproduction synchronization. This ...
DSD 4.10 | Prevent Early Embryonic Losses
16 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Pregnancy is the key to profitability, ensuring your herd remains in the most profitable phase of production. However, these early embryos are delicat...
DSD 4.9 | Is your starch locked up by Zein proteins?
19 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Corn silage is such piece in your ration. Much work has been done by corn breeders to create the most ideal plant with high yields, digestible forage ...
DSD 4.8 | How does grass-based milk impact human nutrition?
16 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Research in Ireland is focused around better understanding the intersection of management and cattle nutrition on the quality of the milk produced wit...
DSD 4.7 | Ketosis and Antioxidant ability - Chicken or the egg?
16 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
DSD 4.7 | Is there a relationship between Ketosis and antioxidant ability For years, dairy producers have worked towards best understanding all the ch...
DSD 4.6 | Accounting for accelerated genetic improvement
15 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Producers are becoming increasingly willing to make strides in the herd’s genetic progress through using embryo transfer (ET). We’ve seen a 12% in...
DSD 4.5 | Achieve Efficiency with Low N Rations
16 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Protein is expensive. Farms decreasing protein to save cost or save the environment creates a need to tweak a few things to keep your herd’s rumen r...
DSD 4.4 | Early Estrus Settles Cows
16 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
What if you were able to tell within the first 10-14 days of lactation, if a cow would settle to first service – two months later? What tools are be...
DSD 4.3 | Financial thresholds of successful dairies in NY
16 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The dairy industry is capital intensive. Maintaining strong relationships with your lender, based on YOUR farm’s financial data, will help navigate ...
DSD 4.2 | How to anticipate colostrum changes
15 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Colostrum: the liquid gold of life for newborn dairy calves. While it’s fairly universally understood how important colostrum is, we occasionally en...
DSD 4.1 | Fueling the appetite of your herd
15 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
A good rule of thumb many nutritionists work by; when the cow increases intake - every 1 pound of feed increase will result in 2.5 additional pounds o...
DSD 3.12 | One minute delay is costing you
16 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
On-farm data mining from your parlor equipment could help you identify bimodality in your herd. Bimodality refers to delayed milk ejection during the ...
DSD 3.11 | Ultrasound assessment of pneumonia
15 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Bovine respiratory disease (BRD) is a costly concern primarily during the calf phase production. This is especially relevant to veal production, when ...
DSD 3.10| Fetal programming effects of Choline
16 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Fetal programming is an emerging topic. This month listen in to learn more about how feeding Choline to your transition pen could transform the metabo...
DSD 3.9| Turn methane from a liability into an asset
16 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
While it is a fairly unpopular topic among most dairymen, the carbon neutrality goal for 2050 has been declared by leaders of the dairy industry to en...
DSD 3.8 | The high fertility cycle
16 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
This month Drs. Keith E. Latham and J. Richard Pursley join us from Michigan State University to discuss their research comparing cows that maintained...
DSD 3.7 | Is She Settled?
14 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
How much would you value knowing that she’s bred earlier than convention? Canadian researcher Dr. Jean Durocher and his team at DHI was approached b...
DSD 3.6 | Not your Grandfathers Sorghum
16 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
This timely edition addresses questions about the feasibility of Forage Sorghum and Sorghum Sudangrass for your lactating herd. There have been numero...
DSD 3.5 | Modeling biometrics benchmarks for a successful transition cow management
16 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The transition period has been investigated for nearly 4 decades. Over this time, much has changed in dairy industry including herd management and gen...
DSD 3.4 | Under the hood
15 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The final frontier for ruminant nutritionists - understanding all the intricacies and nuances of the microorganisms in the rumen. We know the rumen is...
DSD 3.3 | Financial Resilience – the individual cow effect
21 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Positive Profit. Every herd is chasing financial resilience. It is especially relevant on our minds having just completed our schedule Fs and planning...
DSD 3.2 | Unleashed Energy
15 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The hurdles of the transition period were first identified nearly 3 decades ago. Since then, researchers have been working towards improved understand...
DSD 3.1 | Don’t waste your GnRH
16 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Settling the problem breeder is an achievement every dairy manager wants to better understand. This month’s topic focuses in on the role of GnRH inj...
DSD 2.12 | New Rx for Dehorning?
16 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Dehorning, the task no one loves. This month pain expert Dr. Michael D. Kleinhenz, from Kansas State, describes research his team conducted to test th...
2.11 | Measuring Fat During the Transition Period
15 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
As the dairy cow transitions from dry to lactating, she experiences numerous changes. This month we learn more about the biological details of fat met...
DSD 2.10 | Impact of on farm feed in your AMS
15 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
To help save feed costs, many producers have turned to on farm feed as a resource. However, what is not well understood is the impact of this choice f...
DSD 2.9 | Educating Consumers
16 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
This month we’re going to navigate a bit away from production practices and talk about consumers understanding of our products. By better understand...
DSD 2.8 | Consider Cobalt
16 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Essential trace elements are “essential” because the diet is the only source. However, sometimes because they are trace, we tend to forget about t...
DSD 2.7 | Timing of Prefresh Vaccination matters
26 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Timing is everything - by shifting your prepartum vaccination program by one week, can make big difference in the success of your transition program. ...
DSD 2.6 Doesn't cost a thing
16 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Heifer development, one of the most expensive enterprises on the farm, all expense with delayed return. This month, Dr. Jolet Van Niekerk summarizes a...
DSD 2.4 | Reproductive Success for late calving grazers
16 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In this edition of Dairy Science digest Dr. Matt Lucy, Editor in chief of the Journal of Dairy Science Communication and Reproduction physiologist fro...
DSD 2.3 | Fresh Cow Ration - Protein Matters
16 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In this edition of Dairy Science digest Dr. Bill Weiss, from The Ohio State University, discusses work he and his co-author Alex Tebbes recently compl...
DSD 2.2 - The Future of Milk testing | pregnancy, disease and efficiency
15 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In this edition of Dairy Science digest Professor Mike Coffey, a researcher from the Scotland, describes the advancements with inline milk sampling. H...
DSD S2E1 Solar Panels in your dairy system
15 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
This episode we learn from Dr. Bradley Heins, from the University of Minnesota, all about integrating solar into your dairy grazing operation. He has ...
DSD8: Flashmate for Heat Detection
16 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
On this episode of Dairy Science Digest Fayth Kumro, MS Animal Sciences from the University of Missouri discusses Flashmate. This heat detection devic...
DSD7 - No magic body weight target for success
15 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Dairy Science Digest's Reagan Bluel interviews Dr. Chad Dechow, Geneticist from Penn St., to discuss the sweet spot in heifer development for the 7th ...
Dairy Science Digest 6: Aspirin for dystocia
16 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Can a few bolus' of aspirin really make a difference? Listen here to hear the research of Dr. Adrian Barragan, of Penn State University, discussing ho...
Beef on Dairy - sire conception rate
15 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Dairy science digest #5 interviews Taylor McWhorter, from Georgia, to discuss considerations when selecting beef sires for your breeding program. Spec...
Dairy Science Digest - Tricks for workforce development
17 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In this edition of Dairy Science Digest, Stan Moore from MI State provides us insight to what employees (both hired and family) need to feel committed...
Dairy Science Digest - Calves born to Heat stressed dams are preprogrammed for failure
15 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In this edition Reagan Bluel interviews Dr. Jimena Laporta, from the University of Florida, about heat stress in your dry cow herd. We've learned, fro...
Dairy Science Digest-Does Repro Technologies fit in your herd?
15 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Dairy Science digest is a monthly podcast developed to share current research in Dairy Science. The "need to know" info to help manage your herd. This...
Dairy Science Digest - Perfecting the Goldilocks diet, using molasses
14 May 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Dairy Science digest is a new podcast developed to share current research published in the Journal of Dairy science. Only the "need to know" info to h...