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Short Course Information Please Note: The NMC short courses have limited enrollment. Registration is based on a first come, first served basis. The deadline for the NMC short course is May 20. Be aware that the course may fill up before the deadline, so early registration is recommended. The courses are held concurrently so you may only sign up for one course. Payment must accompany registration. There will not be on-site registration for the short course unless there is space available after the deadline. If you don't pre-register, you must check with the NMC office to find out if space is available. Click here to see if there are still openings in the short courses. Short Course 1: Animal Welfare Evaluation for Mastitis Control and Improved Milk Quality (on-farm workshop) Instructors: Jim Reynolds and John Champagne, University of California School of Veterinary Medicine, Davis, CA Date and Time: Wednesday, May 27, 10:00 am - 5:00 pm Course size limit: 20 people Course fee: $75 This on-farm course will demonstrate how to evaluate a dairy for overall animal welfare with specific attention to mastitis and milk quality. The class will review the effects of cow housing, freestall design, maintenance and usage, stocking densities and cow handling on factors that affect mastitis and milk quality. The class will focus on cow observations to determine if cow housing and handling is appropriate regarding welfare. The cow observations will include hygiene scoring, locomotion scoring and body condition scoring. Animal handling will be observed for cattle in the housing area and moving into and out of the milking parlor. Parlor management, time spent in the parlor, and cow behavior in the parlor will be assessed, as will milk let-down and detection and management of mastitis cases. There will be discussion of euthanasia programs for cases of severe mastitis. The goal of this seminar is for participants to leave with a better understanding of how welfare assessments are conducted and how welfare and cow care and comfort is related to mastitis control, 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 no previous experience evaluating dairies for animal welfare. If you enjoy a seeing things from a different perspective this course will hopefully open your eyes to utilizing basic welfare concepts to satisfy the welfare needs of the cows and improve milk quality and profitability. Lunch and transportation to and from the dairy will be provided. Short Course 2: Understanding the Interactions Between the Milking Machine and the Dairy Cow Instructors: Paul Rapnicki, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN and Steve Stewart, Valley Ag Software, Woodbury, MN Date and Time: Wednesday, May 27, 1:00 pm - 5:00 pm Course size limit: 30 people Course fee: $50 The goals of milking are to milk cows rapidly, completely, gently and cleanly. Properly performing personnel and properly functioning equipment are both necessary to achieve these goals consistently. This seminar will provide an overview of the basic equipment concepts that play a role in successful milking management. Understanding these concepts will assist in logically evaluating some of the potential effects of equipment. The target audience for this course is milkers, parlor managers, and other dairy professionals interested in understanding the role that milking equipment and milking management play in the production of quality milk. No equipment knowledge is required. Participants will be provided with the NMC publication "Procedures for Evaluating Vacuum Levels and Airflow in Milking Systems" along with additional references. Short Course 3: Problem-Solving Case Study: What Did and Didn't Work to Resolve Mastitis Concerns on a 600-Cow Dairy Instructors: Ernest Hovingh, Bhushan Jayarao, and David Wolfgang, Penn State University, College Park, PA and John Shapira, Straley Veterinary Associates, Bellefonte, PA Date and Time: Wednesday, May 27, 1:00 pm - 5:00 pm Course size limit: 25 people Course fee: $50 A 200-cow Pennsylvania dairy had very good udder health for many years. Following expansion to approximately 600 lactating animals, the herd experienced a number of mastitis and milk quality challenges. Over time, a holistic farm approach has emerged which has greatly reduced mastitis and improved milk quality. The herd now experiences few clinical cases and SCC is maintained in the 150,000 - 200,000 range. The herd veterinarian, herd owner, and herdsman will be present at the workshop to participate and discuss their impressions on what really made a difference and what was only a minor contributor in resolving their mastitis problems. This course will include hands-on demonstrations of on-farm culturing for common mastitis pathogens and several other interactive mastitis control tools. Lectures will be short and held to a minimum. The course is designed to be interactive between participants, demonstration herd team, and instructors. Veterinarians, progressive dairy producers, extension personnel and other allied industry professionals should find the program interesting and informative. Participants will receive a CD with all materials and references, plus a hard copy of handouts for notes and exercises. Short Course 4: Tools to Assess and Monitor Subclinical Mastitis Control Practices Instructors: Sandy Costello, Penn State Cooperative Extension Lewisburg, PA and Rob Goodling, Penn State Cooperative Extension, Lebanon, PA Date and Time: Wednesday, May 27, 1:00 pm - 5:00 pm Course size limit: 20 people Course fee: $50 This intermediate-level workshop will focus on use of a risk assessment tool to collect, assess, and report milk quality contacts, milking management, environment, animal health, biosecurity, culling and treatment control practices on-farm. Participants will also learn to download udder health information from PCDART user reports and Herd Summary Report into Excel to monitor and evaluate herd milking cow subclinical infections - new and chronics, dry cow transitions - chronics, new major and minor infections, cleared infections, and 'clean' cows, and heifer calving transitions - new major and minor infections. A basic to intermediate level knowledge of MS Excel and PCDART are needed. A consultants' version of PCDART will be available if needed. Actual case farms of varying sizes will be used to demonstrate concepts. At the end of this workshop participants will have tools to conduct an on-farm mastitis risk assessment, provide a systematic report back to the farmer, and evaluate impact of dry cow control, milking cow, and/or heifer calving on herd (new and chronics) subclinical mastitis. This short course is targeted toward consultants, and extension educators that perform mastitis risk assessments on-farm. Producers with advanced level knowledge will also find the short course beneficial for fine-tuning mastitis risk assessment on their own farms. Participants must provide their own laptop with MS Excel installed to run programs used in this workshop. Short Course 5: Integrating Therapy into a Quality Milk Program Instructors: Gary Neubauer, Pfizer Animal Health, New Ulm, MN and Ron Erskine, Michigan State University, E. Lansing, MI Date and Time: Wednesday, May 27, 1:00 pm - 5:00 pm Course size limit: 35 people Course fee: $50 This intermediate-level course will provide a better understanding of antimicrobial therapy in dairy cattle, emphasizing therapy of mastitis. The foundation of this perspective will be the use of evidence-based therapy and prudent antimicrobial use. The basics of applied pharmacology will be presented in a discussion/seminar format, followed by practical guidelines of the "facts and fictions" of mastitis therapy. Additional tools and resources will be introduced to help with monitoring milk quality programs. The discussion session will be followed by interactive participation, using ARS (audience response system) Technology, to explore problems that arise when deciding on appropriate therapy. This will allow for an ad hoc agenda, that will personalize the topics and issues that are of concern for participants. A handout of the
PowerPoint discussion session, as well as the "facts and fictions"
of mastitis therapy will be provided at the meeting. Participants are
strongly encouraged to bring questions, experiences, and potential scenarios
of antimicrobial use, as this will serve as the material for the interactive
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