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Are you properly managing dairy disease costs?

Speakers at the 2023 Illinois Dairy Summit are focused on strategies to improve profitability, starting with disease cost management.

Dr. Derek Nolan is a dairy extension specialist with the University of Illinois. He tells Brownfield producers often look at ways to cut feed and input costs but, diseases costs are often underestimated and understanding those numbers can also help the balance sheet.  

“The ones we think about a lot are those up front costs like labor, treatment and veterinary costs, but the ones we don’t think about enough are those hidden costs such as losses through future milk production and potential income from those cows. For example, looking at mastitis, an overall cost is around $250 per case. Those hidden costs account for about 87% of that.”

He says diseases like mastitis are just part of dairy farming, and while prevention efforts are needed, it is important to understand if those efforts are helping profitability.  

“There does become a threshold there is nothing else we can do; even if we adopt more management practices, we are not going to lower the disease impact any further. So, you have to look at if you adopt more management practices, are they going to be worth it? Or can you be more profitable by slimming down some of those costs?”

He says if farmers are not implementing disease management practices like teat dipping, milking equipment maintenance and vaccinations correctly, they will only cost producers more. He recommends producers take a close look at the numbers, because you cannot control what you do not measure.

The Illinois Dairy Summit hosted by the Illinois Milk Producers Association was held in St. Rose on Wednesday.