Dairy Production Medicine and Herd Monitoring

Abstract

In a major shift toward preventive medical services in dairy practice, veterinarians are taking a more active role in the overall management and planning on dairies.^1,2 Veterinarians are routinely offering services like nutritional consultation, housing design, and financial advice that were considered outside the realm of veterinary medicine in the past. The dairy practitioner is adapting to the role of herd health and productivity consultant. This evolution will expand the opportunity for veterinary services to dairy farmers, and will be a profitable interchange for practitioner and producer alike. As is always the case, there is a price to pay for this new opportunity. Veterinarians will need to develop the new practice skills to complete in this arena. These areas include nutrition, computers and record systems, finances, and effective marketing of these services. We must convince dairymen to look to veterinarians for new and different services. Veterinarians need to develop effective ways to deliver these services to their clients and to charge for their efforts.^1,5