On The Cover:
Building a Legacy - Everyone is a team player at Heritage Hill Farms
The Heritage Hill Farms team has been formally working together for more than a decade, building on the legacy of previous generations as the team fine-tunes its own approach to farm management and daily operations.
More from this issue
FSRs: An essential team member
FSRs are a valuable member of a team of professionals involved in the complex business of dairy farm management
Mitigating disease outbreak
Outlining the role DFO and other agencies play in monitoring and responding to the Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI)
Getting unbiased advice
Veterinarians are a great resource to help you achieve your herd health goals
How workplace culture drives employee engagement
In a competitive job market, attracting potential employees to work in the dairy industry can be challenging. However, hiring employees is just one part of the equation; retaining employees and reducing employee turnover is the other part.
Veteran hoof trimmer says Hoof trimming is improving as a field to the benefit of the dairy industry
“We want to improve toes, not step on toes,” jokes Vic Daniel.
As president of Vic’s Custom Clips Inc., a hoof trimming company, Daniel has made improving toes a life-long project.
Optimize Your Herd Health Management Visit
Herd health management (HHM) visits allow conversations to occur between veterinarians and farmers, providing the opportunity to shift management from a reactionary approach of treating sick animals, to proactively optimizing health and welfare through disease prevention. Most Canadian dairy farms have regularly scheduled HHM visits with a veterinarian one to two times per month; however, little is known about their structure or how to optimize the visit. Drs. Herman Barkema and Caroline Ritter evaluated HHM visits on dairy farms in Alberta and Ontario, as well as video and audio recording 70 visits to understand more about them.
Building Future Rural Leaders
Are you a young person looking to develop your leadership skills while networking across the province, participate in community betterment projects locally and have fun at competitive events throughout the year? Then the Junior Farmers’ Association of Ontario (JFAO) may be just what you’re looking for. Its mission statement is ‘To Build Future Rural Leaders, Through Self-Help and Community Betterment.’
How Dunmatt Farm Improved Animal Care Lessons learned from Ontario dairy farmers
Located just outside of Ottawa, Dunmatt Farm is a 200-cow dairy farm nestled in Dunvegan, Ontario. The operation began 30 years ago when Josef and Karin Odermatt emigrated from Switzerland to Canada. Dunmatt Farm started out as a tie-stall operation with only 30 cows and has since grown to be a much larger free stall operation run by Rony Odermatt, his parents, Josef and Karin, and his sister, Sharon.
