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Upcoming Events
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January 5th
ISDA Annual Meeting
January 11th
I-29 Moo University Winter Workshop
in Orange City, IA
January 29th
WIDA Annual Meeting
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2017 Silver Sponsors
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Membership
WIDA has been able to a unified voice for the dairy industry in Western Iowa because of the support from our membership. Without our producers and industry partners, WIDA would not be able to accomplish our mission of advocating for our industry, engaging with our consumers, and developing our next generation of leaders. Please consider renewing your membership for 2018. Thank You to those who what already renewed their memberships.
WIDA is always looking to partner with fellow producers and industry partners. If you are not a member and would like to become one please contact Scott at 712-441-5308 or by email [email protected]
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Annual Meeting set for
January
29th
MARK YOUR CALENDARS for January 29th.Planning is underway for our Annual Meeting set to be held at 6 pm in the Triple Box Event Center in Orange City, IA. Invites are being mailed out this week. Laurie Fischer who is the CEO of the American Dairy Coalition is our guest speaker for the evening.
To ensure an accurate count for dinner, please RSVP by Jan. 17th
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I-29 Moo University Winter Workshop
The I-29 Moo University collaboration will be offering their Winter Workshop Series January 8-12, 2018. They encourage all dairy producers, students, stakeholders and industry personnel to attend.
The series focus is From Field to Bunk: Growing and Feeding Dairy Quality Forages. The workshop series will take place in five locations including: Mandan, North Dakota; Watertown, South Dakota; Pipestone, Minnesota; Orange City, Iowa and Norfolk, Nebraska.
The Iowa workshop will be held
January 11, 2018
, in Orange City at the Sioux County Extension Office beginning at 10 A.M. (400 Central Ave. NW, Suite 700, Orange City, IA 51041).
WIDA Members receive special discounts on registration fees..
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Need milk for an event? We can help!
We are still taking dairy product donation requests for our 2018 fiscal year. If you are interested in requesting dairy products for the 2018 year, please contact us at 712-441-5308 or email us at
[email protected]. We have a limited budget, but we want to try and help as many organizations as we can.
Milk can be requested on a first-come, first-serve basis by completing an application on our website at wiadairy.com. The application can be found under the News & Events section on our website.
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Beyond the Bug
By Sara M. Barber, DVM
Veterinarian with the Dairy Production Team at Veterinary Medical Center, Worthington, MN
As a veterinarian, I have a confession to make. As a profession, we have focused very heavily on "The Bug" causing the scour or pneumonia and placed a lot of emphasis on vaccines and treatments directed at "The Bug". Take rotavirus diarrhea for example. A traditional veterinary approach would be to take a fecal sample, get the rotavirus diagnosis, and recommend a pre-calving vaccine and possibly a calf vaccination along with some effective treatment options. All this is well and good but there is much more to this story. And not finishing the story can lead to disappointing results.
The health of every living thing is in a constant balancing act-including our cows and calves. At one end of the scale is animal immunity and on the other end of the scale is "The Bug". "The Bug" is whatever virus, bacteria, or protozoa present that can cause disease in an animal. "The Bug" can only cause a problem if the scale tips their way. Overwhelming exposure, constant exposure, a very virulent strain, or multiple "bugs" working together can help add weight to "The Bug's" side of the scale.
The animal's immune system needs be the heavy end of the scale to keep the animal healthy. If the animal is healthy and has a strong immune system, they can handle the challenge of a small exposure of "The Bug". However, if they are struggling with feed intake, bedding challenges, overcrowding, poor ventilation, under-vaccination, over-vaccination, colostrum challenges, bunk space, pen moves....the scale tips away from healthy immunity and makes it easier for "The Bug" to cause disease.
So to finish the rotavirus story, whenever there is a disease challenge, ask yourself "Where is the imbalance between animal immunity and "The Bug"? By digging deep and finding the stressors that are negatively impacting immunity and controlling the exposure load, long term solutions can be put into place rather than short-term fixes. It is not easy but with persistence, you will have a happy ending to that story.
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AgriPulse Article
Delaney Howell, a representative from AgriPulse is looking at doing a news story on our labor force in the Iowa dairy industry. She is looking for someone who resides in District 4, Steve King's district, who has a differing viewpoint from him in regards to migrant workers.
Understand that this is a touchy subject and should you want to voice your opinion can be shared with names not mentioned in any articles by either emailing Delaney at [email protected] or email Scott at [email protected] and he will forward your response on to her.
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Don't forget, we are on Twitter, Facebook, & Instagram too!
Connecting with our members and with consumers is part of WIDA's mission, and one way we like to do that is through our Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram pages.
Here is how you can find us:
Updates are posted weekly to our social media pages, so be sure to check them out for the latest information!
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