Clinical Mastitis “We have a client who milks 2,100 cows that struggled with parlor throughput and udder health. The outcome of their previous process was a parlor that struggled to milk all cows within 24 hours, a SCC of 350,000, and 4% clinical mastitis. By reviewing the process and maximizing the potential of their parlor and employees, they gained two hours per day of milking time, reduced the SCC to 160,000, and the clinical mastitis rate to 1.5%. The morale of the parlor staff improved and the value to this farm is over $150,000 per year!” Action Plans “Dairies have so many resources at their fingertips. The challenge can be taking all those recommendations and ideas and putting them together with the current systems on the farm. We work with farms that are using multiple information sources (i.e. pharmaceutical companies, nutritionists, feed companies) and help them prioritize these recommendations, create action plans to incorporate them into current processes, monitor results, and maintain forward progress.” Pre-Wean Performance “The product of the calf-raising department is a healthy calf that is the correct age and weight when going to the heifer growing department. Engaging staff in the process of defining the value stream of calf milk and grain feeding defined the system and allowed it to be standardized. This reduced variation between employees and engaged employees in a continuous improvement culture. The outcome was an improving pre-wean average daily gain by 15% and reducing poor performers by 85%. Their death loss has always been under 2% but defining this waste and improving this process is worth $300,000 per year to this 2,100 cow dairy!” Post-Wean Pneumonia “One of our clients has continually struggled with heifer post-weaning pneumonia and stalled growth rates. By evaluating all the contributing factors and addressing them systematically, growth rates improved and treatments were reduced by 50%. The farm did not have to make any capital investment to achieve this level of performance. It happened by making the best use of the employees and resources they already had invested in. A value of $400,000 per year to this 2,000 cow dairy!” Consistent Performance “A 1,200 cow dairy struggled for several years with calf health and performance. They tried many things over that time period with seasons of improved performance. However, it never stayed consistent. Pre- wean death loss would swing from 1%-11%, averaging 5%. Since working on Lean management with Foundation Livestock Service, they have continued to make incremental gains and have taken out the peaks and valleys of “seasonal performance”. Pre-wean death loss has been a consistent 2% for 12 months and employee productivity is up. In death loss alone, this is a $21,000 value to the dairy per year.” Longevity and Existing Resources “A consistent plan and monitoring results in long-term consistent performance. A 1,500 cow Jersey Dairy has had a 2% pre-wean death loss and less than 5% scour rate for 3 years. Comparing to industry averages of 5% death loss and 15% scour rate, this performance has a value of $15,000 per year. They also have had no turnover in their calf employees for 3 years” Accurate Performance Data “Often when we start with clients, performance data has been tracked inconsistently or not tracked at all. Creating simple systems for recording health events and entering the data correctly and consistently provides the information needed to establish baseline performance and effectively monitor changes. These farms often don’t know what their potential is and it is exciting to help them define their potential and goals.” Utilizing Existing Resources “During the process of establishing goals for each area of the farm, they found poor heifer reproductive performance and a 14% stillbirth rate on first lactation heifers. By reviewing the value stream including animal flow, pen usage, and employee training, the stillbirth rate was reduced to 6% and heifer pregnancy rate increased by 10%. This is a value of $65,000 per year to this 1,100 cow dairy!” Starting Cattle “When starting cattle, it is important to consider many factors and make a plan specific for each group with the information that is available. Coordinating nutrition, housing, and a health plan before the cattle arrive can get these cattle off to a good start. We have been able to help clients monitor success of programs and make continuous improvements with many different types of cattle.”