Green County DHIA Newsletter

November 2016

Upcoming Events

November 9-20 UW-Extension Soil, Water and Nutrient Management Meeting, 10am-3pm, 5201 Fen Court, Madison. Call 608-224-3716 to register.

December 31 2017 Green County Fair Steer Weigh-in, 8-11AM, Equity Livestock, Monroe

January 5 29th Annual Green County Dairy Management Seminar, 11am-3pm, Multipurpose Rooms, Green County Justice Center, Monroe

Ag Plastic Recycling Programs Still Available

Farmers from Green County and the surrounding area have the opportunity to dispose of used Ag Plastic from wrapped bales, silo bags, bunker silos on Wednesdays at the Green County Landfill. The landfill is still accepting agriculture plastics from 7AM – 2 PM on Wednesdays and is located at W2002 County SS, Brodhead WI. Only #4 plastic from silo bags, bunker covers, drip tape, greenhouse covers and bale wraps will be accepted. Plastic twine, mesh bale wraps, plastic jugs, bunker covers with a nylon scrim and all other types of plastic containers will not be accepted. Farmers are asked to shake any excess mud, gravel, dirt, stones and feed off the plastic before storing it, or bringing it to the collection site. Dairy farmers can also still enroll in a program that provides a free dumpster and on-farm pick up for Ag plastics by calling Revolution Plastics toll free at 844-490-7873. Farmers willing to pick up their dumpsters will be given first priority.

Green County Hay Auctions Several hay auctions have again started up in Green County. Hay auctions will be held every Tuesday at Equity Livestock in Monroe, every Friday at the Citco Station in Monticello and the first and third Saturdays of each month in the Carter and Gruenewald lot in Juda. All sales start at noon. If you want to check on current local hay and bedding prices they are available at the Green County UW-Extension Agriculture Web page. The auction price summaries from the weekly sales in Monticello and Equity Sales are posted each week at: http://green.uwex.edu/agriculture/

Young Calf Housing The ideal temperature for newborn calves is 50-78 degrees F. and between 32-73 degrees F. for calves one month of age. Maintaining these temperatures for young calves presents a big challenge on Wisconsin dairy farms due to both the daily and seasonal temperature extremes that we encounter in the state. As the dairy industry has evolved we’ve seen many different housing and ventilation systems used for nursing dairy calves. Originally newborn calves were housed in stall barns that were okay for the caretaker, but were not ideal for calf health due to poor ventilation and exposure to pathogens from other animals in the same building. The next change saw many young calves being moved into separate buildings with supple-mental heat and elaborate ventilation systems that met the goals for ideal temperatures, but were expensive to maintain and many times lacked proper ventilation. The most significant changes occurred when wet calves were moved outside into individual hutches. Although well managed hutches provide the calf with a good environment, the outdoor elements are not great for the people caring for the calves. In an effort to maintain a good environment for both calves and their caretakers many dairies are moving their young calves inside naturally ventilated cold buildings. Individual calf pens placed inside a cold building should have solid plastic sides (for ease of cleaning), pro-vide barriers that eliminate calf to calf contact, and be large enough for calves to turn around in the pen. The ends of the indoor pens should be as open as possible to allow air flow inside the pens. The pens should be placed on a 12” base of gravel to provide for good drainage and also be easily dismantled for cleaning. The most important component of a good calf pen is to ensure that the calves have plenty of bedding. This is important in both outdoor hutches and for pens located inside cold buildings. Nothing beats a deep and dry bedding surface of straw for bedding young calves. During the upcoming winter months there should be enough straw to allow young calves to “nest” and trap a layer of warm air around itself to reduce heat loss. The straw bed should be deep enough so that it entirely covers the calf’s legs when they are lying down and “nesting” on the coldest days. Research has shown that both naturally ventilated and negative pressure ventilation systems for young calves have limitations during the winter months. While naturally ventilated calf barns are a big improvement over the older housing systems they don’t work as well for baby calves as they do for older animals. This is due to their inability to create enough heat to generate the thermal buoyancy needed to take moisture and ammonia out up through the open ridge in the winter. Negative pressure ventilation systems are difficult to size and regulate for correct air flow in the winter because of the low exchange rates needed for young calves. Many new barns for wet calves are being designed with natural ventilation principles along with a positive pressure ventilation system. This positive system provides fresh air circulation throughout the building and into the individual calf pens throughout the year. The system forces fresh air into the building through plastic tubes running the length of the building via properly placed holes in the tubes. The tubes are attached to the fans placed in the outside wall that force fresh air into the tubes. This system ensures that there is always some fresh air exchange in the pens without causing drafts. A positive pressure system used in conjunction with a cold naturally ventilated barn has been shown to reduce the prevalence of respiratory disease in calves by effectively lowering the airborne bacterial loads in the individual pens. The diameter of the positive pressure ventilation tubes should be 1.25 to 1.5 times larger than the fan diame-ter. The system should be sized so that the air exits the holes in the tubes at 1,200-1,400 ft. /minute. Holes cut in the plastic tubes should generally range from 1 to 2.5” in diameter and be placed in approximately the 5 and 7 o’clock positions of the tubes if hung 10 feet or more above the floor. If you would like to learn more about young calf housing and positive pressure tube ventilation systems or have a positive pressure tube system designed for your calf building, contact Mark Mayer, UW-Extension Dairy and Livestock Agent mark.mayer@ces.uwex.edu or 608-328-9440. To learn more you can also go to the UW Vet School Dairyland web site at thedairylandinitiative.vetmed.wisc.edu/ The site includes pictures and videos of several well-designed calf barns along with information on how to properly design ventilation systems for calf barns.

Green County DHIA, P.O. Box 400, Monroe, WI 53566 Bonnie Moser - Office Manager - 328-9380

Field Technicians Office Phone - 328-9381 November 2016

Sue Pudwill . . . . . . . 214-6130 Jim Moser . . . . . .325-7838 Diane Foulker . . . . 325-2668 Lisa Becherer . . . 897-8476

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Green County UW-Extension Office Justice Center

2841 6th Street Monroe, Wisconsin 53566 Phone: 608-328-9440 Internet: green.uwex.edu

COUNTY EXTENSION STAFF

Mark Mayer, Dairy & Livestock Agent & Editor

Victoria Solomon, Community Resource Development Educator

Ellen Andrews, 4-H & Youth Development Educator

Vacant, Family Living Educator

Lisa Messer, Nutrition Educator

Jayne Butts, Extension Activity Assistant

Lana Anderson, Extension Activity Assistant

Mark Mayer Dairy and Livestock Agent & Editor Green County

The University of Wisconsin-Extension provides equal opportunities in employment and educational programming, including Title IX and the ADA requirements. Please make requests for reasonable

accommodation to ensure equal access to educational programs as early as possible preceding the scheduled program, service or activi-ty. If you need this material in an alternate format or other accommodations for access, please contact the UW-Extension Office at

608-328-9440, voice or 711 for Wisconsin Relay.

Robert Cramer, Jr W3224 Norton Rd, Juda President 934-1040

Craig Tourdot W3872 Hwy 11-81, Monroe Vice Pres 558-1834

John Dieckhoff W2210 Pinnow Rd, Brodhead Sec/Treas 897-3637

Jeremy Mayer N3926 County Rd N, Monroe Director 214-0070

Andrew Houlberg N4991 Spoerry Rd, Monticello Director 862-3223

Stephanie Miranda 6931 State Hwy 11 W, Janesville Director 426-1768

Green County DHIA Newsletter

UW-Extension Office Green County 2841 6th Street Monroe, WI 53566

Green County DHIA Newsletter