Too often mastitis consultants look specifically at the milking facility and ignore the other important aspects of dairies that have large effects on cow health, milk quality, and productivity. Dairy producers and herdspersons often fail to identify these issues because they work around them 365 days a year. The focus of this course will be the honing of the individual's observation techniques with a whole dairy focus. This course will develop your ability to recognize when the abnormal becomes normal, and to offer common sense advice to dairies.

The class will be split into two evaluation teams of no more than nine people each. Participants will have the opportunity to observe all areas of a dairy. Time will be spent visually appraising the milking equipment and its overall installation and maintenance. An assessment of the overall cow comfort, cow handling techniques and cow traffic patterns will also be made during the complete farm walkthrough. After performing a thorough evaluation of the facilities, each team will interpret what they see and relate their observations to the overall milk quality of the dairy. Additionally, the groups will be given guidance on how to prioritize and present their findings to decision makers. The goal of this seminar is for participants to leave with a better understanding of how all areas of the dairy are interrelated to both the milk quality and overall dairy profitability, and to appreciate how to begin to better "see" what's actually happening on a real dairy.

This course is targeted toward people with some experience in evaluating dairies. If you enjoy a challenge and an opportunity to advance your skills, this is where the manure meets the alley scraper!

The course will include some classroom time at the hotel prior to leaving for the farm.

The discussion session will be followed by interactive participation, which will personalize the topics and issues that are of concern for participants. Participants are strongly encouraged to bring questions, experiences, and potential problems that they have encountered, as this will serve as the material for the interactive session. A handout of the PowerPoint discussion session, as well as other material will be provided at the meeting (and will not be needed to be reviewed before the course).

This intermediate-level course is targeted towards veterinarians, herd managers/producers, extension specialists and other dairy professionals. Participants should have experience with mastitis case recognition and pathogens, administration of antimicrobial drugs to dairy cattle, and herd management that plays a role in preventing new infections, including milking and the environment of the cow.

This workshop will also include a hands-on session to help participants practice the laboratory techniques used to culture milk samples. A discussion session with interactive participation will follow, to personalize the topics and issues that are of concern for participants.

This intermediate-level course ia targeted toward veterinarians, herd managers/producers, extension specialists, technical field staff, and other dairy professionals who deal with mastitis control programs. No previous experience with laboratory techniques or procedures is required. Participants are encouraged to bring questions and experiences they have encounted, as this will be incorporated into the discussion. Course handouts will be provided.