Participants learn from industry experts, cardiologist and university professors.
After a 12-year hiatus, National Mastitis Council (NMC) returned to Canada for its regional meeting, held June 20-22, in Guelph, Ont., Canada. The event attracted nearly 250 dairy processors, veterinarians, producers, suppliers, researchers, milking equipment dealers and students, and was organized in cooperation with the Ontario Association of Bovine Practitioners (OABP) and Dairy Farmers of Ontario (DFO).
“We hosted a fantastic NMC Regional Meeting in southwestern Ontario,” said David Kelton, the 2018 NMC Regional Meeting program chair and NMC board president. “The joint efforts of NMC, OABP and DFO provided a great group of organizers, volunteers, sponsors, short course instructors and speakers. Diversity among participants, instructors, presenters and participants fostered insightful discussions about our common passion – mastitis and milk quality. I hope we don’t have to wait another dozen years to have such an impactful milk quality event here in Canada.”
The 2018 NMC Regional Meeting kicked off with seven short courses, which addressed udder health records, planning and implementing a robotic milking system, milking system function, milking time evaluations, DairyComp, evaluating critical control points during milking and milking system slug analysis.
An evening banquet featured Andrew Samis of Queen’s University, Belleville, Ont. A physician – with expertise in cardiovascular health – debunked the myth that saturated fat, including butter, impairs human health.
The General Session addressed solutions to emerging milk quality issues. Speakers discussed animal welfare, robotic milking, free fatty acids, bedding management, composted bedded pack dairy production systems, antimicrobial use, selective dry cow therapy and changing the mindset toward antimicrobial use.
Forty individuals participated in the dairy farm tour. The group visited three dairy farms – Larenwood (Chris, Grant and Dan McLaren), Drumbo, Ont.; Dual Lane (Kloepfer Family), Ingersoll, Ont.; and Kelderview (Bart Op den Kelder & Family), Ingersoll, Ont.
NMC thanks its regional meeting sponsors who contributed to the program’s success. The Gold sponsor was GEA Dealers, Komoka, Ont. Silver sponsors were AKTIPULS, Tara, Ont.; CanWest DHI, Guelph, Ont.; HIPRA, Ottawa, Ont.; Norwell Dairy Systems, Drayton, Ont.; and Vetoquinol, Lavaltrie, Que. Bronze sponsors included Bayer, Mississauga, Ont.; Boehringer Ingelheim Ltd., Burlington, Ont.; Ceva Animal Health, Cambridge, Ont.; Dortmans Bros. Barn Equipment Inc., Strathroy, Ont.; Elanco Animal Health, Guelph, Ont.; Kane Veterinary Supplies, Cambridge, Ont.; Merck Animal Health, Kirkland, Que.; New-Life Mills, Cambridge, Ont.; Solvet, Calgary, Alb.; University of Guelph Animal Health Lab, Guelph, Ont.; and Zoetis, Kirkland, Que. The Generous sponsors were EastGen, Guelph, Ont.; and PortaCheck, Moorestown, N.J.
The National Mastitis Council 58th Annual Meeting is scheduled for Jan. 29-Feb. 1, 2019, in Savannah, Ga. Next year’s NMC Regional Meeting will be held in conjunction with the American Association of Bovine Practitioners annual conference, Sept. 12-14, in St. Louis.
NMC is a professional organization devoted to reducing mastitis and enhancing milk quality. NMC promotes research and provides information to the dairy industry on udder health, milking management, milk quality and milk safety. Founded in 1961, NMC has about 1,000 members in more than 40 countries throughout the world.
