UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- The Department of Dairy and Animal Science in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences has a new resource of information for dairy producers, nutritionists, veterinarians, consultants and other professionals who have access to the World Wide Web.
The Dairy Cattle Nutrition web site can be reached by pointing an Internet browser (such as Netscape or Internet Explorer) at http://www-das.cas.psu.edu/dcn.
"We have updated information and recommendations for the best possible practices for feeding and managing dairy animals," says Jud Heinrichs, Penn State professor of dairy and animal science. "The site offers a great deal of current and detailed information about topics ranging from nutrient requirements to feeding recommendations. We also have printable growth charts, dry cow publications and a section devoted to the Penn State Forage and TMR Particle Size Separator."
For the dairy producer, nutritionist, veterinarian, consultant and agricultural professional, the Dairy Cattle Nutrition site has more than 20 on-line Penn State dairy-related publications, three slide shows and printable tables and charts to help with nutrition and feeding management of calves, heifers and cows
In addition, the Dairy Cattle Nutrition site has a section of more than 60 free cow images and a "send someone a virtual cow" service, which allows the sender to create a virtual greeting card with a cow's image and mail a notification about the new card to another e-mail recipient. "We wanted to provide something for the general public--or for people who love cows," says William Stotler, the site's designer. "We wanted the site to have something for everyone."
The Dairy Cattle Nutrition web site is divided into three main areas that may be of interest to feed professionals.
The first area, "Dairy Cattle Nutrition and Feed Management," contains publications that explain rumen function, how to feed and manage dry cows and how to score animals on the body-condition scoring scale. An on-line slide show titled "Body Condition Scoring" can help producers see how to score animals properly. The site also features printable tables for nutritional values of concentrates and forages, which feed professionals can use for ration balancing.
The second area, "Dairy Cattle Forage Quality and Feed Management," has a link to an extensive section about the Penn State Forage and TMR Particle Size Separator, a publication about how to harvest and utilize silage, and several other publications, such as "Prevention and Control of Nitrate Toxicity in Cattle," "Using Neutral Detergent Fiber to Set Forage Intakes for Dairy Cows" and " Mold and Mycotoxin Problems in Livestock Feeding."
The third area, "Dairy Calf and Heifer Management," has publications that explain how best to feed and manage dairy calves and heifers. This area also has two slide shows that illustrate various feeding and management practices.
The site also has contact information for reaching Penn State dairy specialists, in case aproducer has a question that is not answered by the on-line materials.
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EDITORS: For more information, contact William Stotler at 814-865-0978 or Chuck Gill Chuck_Gill@agcs.cas.psu.edu 814-863-2713 814-865-1068 fax