It doesn't take longer to keep good health records on dairies

Abstract

For those attempting to understand risks for disease and how to make genetic improvement in the health of dairy cattle, on-farm health records are generally perceived to be of poor quality and limited utility. However, a survey of WA and ID dairies found that 83% of 237 respondents were satisfied with the quality and usefulness of their health records, which were used primarily for making individual cow culling and treatment decisions. Additionally, treatment records are viewed as an important tool to avoid drug residues in meat and milk. In a study of 50 herds, only 56%, 30%, and 30% of the dairies entered treatments given when recording mastitis, metritis, and lameness events, respectively. Taken together; these facts indicate that 'Good Health Records' must address three important functions: individual cow health management decision making, drug residue avoidance and regulatory compliance, and herd health management decision making. Current user-defined dairy health records often lack the necessary accuracy and consistency required of 'Good Health Records'. Until common dairy management software define health data entry in a similar manner as that for reproduction data entry, dairies will need to implement standard health data entry protocols to achieve 'Good Health Records'. Many dairy producers are concerned that implementation of standard health data entry protocols will take too much time. The objective of this study was to determine the change in time required to capture and enter health data following implementation of standard health data entry protocols and determine the amount of feedback required to achieve protocol compliance.