NEW PRAGUE, Minn. — Join the Dairy Calf and Heifer Association for its May 21 webinar – “Economic Cost of Respiratory Disease in Dairy Replacement Heifers.” Starting at 2 p.m. Central time, Kevin Dhuyvetter, a technical consultant for Elanco Animal Health’s U.S. Cattle Business Unit, will serve as the webinar presenter.
Unfortunately, dairy replacement heifers commonly face respiratory disease. As a result, affected calves can experience decreased feed intake and rate of gain, costly treatments, mortality, high culling risk, delay in first service and first calving, and potential carryover effects into first lactation (lower milk production and higher culling risk). Thus, Dhuyvetter says the effects of bovine respiratory disease (BRD) on heifers is costly.
During the webinar, Dhuyvetter will dive into the short-term cost effects of BRD on replacement dairy heifers, as well as the long-term effects on growth and milk production. New data will be shared pertaining to BRD incidence and how this impacts the cost of raising heifers with the intent to help producers make return-on-investment-driven decisions for the years ahead if BRD is present within the herd.
“Our goal is to help producers better manage their replacement calves,” says Dhuyvetter. “Quantifying the effects of a disease will help heifer raisers make informed decisions to build the most productive dairies.”
Dhuyvetter is responsible for providing technical support to U.S. dairy and beef producers and key influencers on economic-related issues in the cattle industry. His primary focus is to analyze factors affecting profitability of dairy and beef operations, developing decision tools and analyzing herd health, production and economic data.
Prior to joining Elanco in 2014, Dhuyvetter spent 27 years with Kansas State University as an Extension specialist and research economist. Dhuyvetter worked with farm management and marketing programs, and focused on leasing and buying land, machinery costs, crop and livestock production economics, marketing and technology adoption. In addition to authoring numerous publications, he developed many decision tools for evaluating the economics of production and marketing issues.
Dhuyvetter grew up on a diversified crop and livestock farm in northwest North Dakota and holds bachelor’s, master’s and doctorate degrees in agricultural economics from North Dakota State University, Iowa State University and Kansas State University, respectively.
To register for the webinar, go to: https://bit.ly/DCHAcostofrespiratorydisease and follow the prompts. As the webinar approaches, you will receive an e-mail with information on how to log in to participate.
The American Association of Veterinary State Boards granted one Registry of Approved Continuing Education (RACE) credit for this DCHA webinar. This provides veterinarians with a convenient continuing education opportunity.
This webinar is sponsored by NUPLURA® PH, the Mannheimia haemolytica vaccine from Elanco. The Dairy Calf and Heifer Association does not support one product over another and any mention is not an endorsement by DCHA.
If you are a DCHA member and cannot attend the live program, you may access the webinar through DCHA’s online Member Center. This is a new DCHA member benefit. To access the webinar, DCHA members need to visit https://calfandheifer.org/login and enter their username and password.
For more information about DCHA’s webinars, e-mail Sue Schatz, DCHA member services director, at: sue@calfandheifer.org. Follow DCHA on social media or visit the DCHA website to learn about future webinars.
The Dairy Calf and Heifer Association (www.calfandheifer.org) was founded in 1996 based on the mission to help dairy producers, calf managers and those professionally focused on the growth and management of dairy calves and heifers. With a national membership of producers, allied industries and research leaders, DCHA seeks to provide the industry’s standards for profitability, performance and leadership, serving as a catalyst to help members improve the vitality and viability of their individual efforts and that of their business.
— Dairy Calf and Heifer Association
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