The Milk Producer - March 2011 - (Page 36)

RESEARCH By Nicole Yada Calf care at the forefront U niversity of Guelph researchers are seeking information from Ontario dairy producers about their calf and heifer management, and whether they would be willing to try one of three new innovative methods for receiving new information on this subject. Project manager Vivianne Bielmann, along with project co-ordinators Tom Wright, Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA) and professor Ken Leslie, University of Guelph, are leading a program to evaluate three different approaches to extension education on the benefits of making management changes. The project is called Calf-ETERIA. It means ‘using calf health and productivity as a template for an Evaluation of Translation and Extension of Research Information for Agriculture.’ “We’re not only aiming to improve the health and well-being of calves and heifers, but to show producers that they can benefit financially through implementing this knowledge,” says Bielmann. Since financial gains from calves don’t accrue during their first two years, they are often given low priority when it comes to investing money and time in their treatment, adds Bielmann. “As such, many producers do not seek out and implement practices for calf and heifer management.” Calf-ETERIA, one of the university’s Knowledge Translation and Transfer (KTT) projects, will evaluate traditional and new educational methods to show producers how they can benefit by reducing treatment costs and from increased milk production from healthy calves. A survey was mailed to CanWest DHI members in late February. It will help establish benchmarks for feeding, housing, calf and colostrum Researchers are seeking producers willing to try new methods for calf and heifer management • traditional management club meetings; • web-based learning modules, where producers can interact one-on-one and access educational videos; • interactive learning initiatives. The intent is to provide producers with information and encourage them to implement management changes, and evaluate the success of such changes based on performance and economic information. This project is the first to evaluate the impact of different KTT approaches to positively effect change on Ontario dairy farms. The researchers are hoping at least 75 producers will volunteer to use one of the methods and record the outcome of the changes. This will help the researchers analyse the most effective methods and determine which areas need improvement. Producers who are not CanWest DHI members can access the survey at http://app.fluidsurveys.com/s/calfeteriasurvey/. The access code is calfKTT. For more information, contact project manager Vivianne Bielmann at calfktt@uoguelph.ca. Researchers want to improve the health and well-being of calves and heifers and help producers implement new management practices. management practices, as well as average age at first calving and producer knowledge of improved management techniques. Producers were also asked to participate in one of three knowledge translation and transferbased activities: Nicole Yada is a student writer with the University of Guelph’s office of research. The Calf-ETERIA project team also involves members from OMAFRA, CanWest DHI, Gencor and the Ontario Veal Association. Calf-ETERIA receives support from OMAFRA’s Knowledge Translation and Transfer program and Dairy Farmers of Ontario. 36 | March 2011 | MilkPRODUCER http://app.fluidsurveys.com/s/calfeteriasurvey/ http://app.fluidsurveys.com/s/calfeteriasurvey/

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of The Milk Producer - March 2011

The Milk Producer - March 2011
Table of Contents
Editor's Notes
DFO Chair's Message
Dairy Update
DFC Promotion
Farm Finance
Issues Update
Cover Story
Research
Applied Science
Ruminations
Markets
New 'N' Noted
Back Forty

The Milk Producer - March 2011