Friday, July 27, 2007


The usual with Anna in the morning, then Ag Seminar at lunch. After lunch, Rick Grant met with the farm management students to go over the observational study we’re going to be conducting in our last three weeks. The goal is to come up with some recommendations about the freestalls. We will score the knees and hocks of the cows, and possibly score lameness for a few cows out of each pen. The scoring is based on the condition of the joins, whether they have rubs or sores from laying in the stalls or not. The lameness score is based on the ease or difficulty with which the cow moves. Then we will measure the amount of sawdust in the stalls at different distances from the fans at different times (e.g. immediately before new bedding is put in, immediately after new bedding is put in, and several hours after new bedding is put in). This is to determine the amount of sawdust blown away by the fans. Based on the condition of the hocks and the amount of bedding loss, we are supposed to recommend changes that will improve the condition of the hocks (we already know there are too many cows with sores or swelling).

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