List of Modules (2013-15 cohort)
The Ohio Dairy Health and Management Certificate Program
(Description of Typical Modules)
Module 1: Dairy Reproduction and Record Interpretation
- Overview of the estrus cycle and its control
- Dairy records interpretation and trouble-shooting
- Evaluating and monitoring reproductive performance
- Ultrasonography and uterine structures
Module 2: Advanced Dairy Reproduction
- Strategies to improve fertility in dairy herds
- Designing and implementing protocols
- Breeding soundness evaluation (BSE)
- Replacement heifer management
Module 3: Leadership and Personal Effectiveness
- Working with Hispanic labor
- Personal effectiveness and programming
- Team problem-solving
- Record keeping systems
Module 4: Dairy Cattle Nutrition
- Basic and applied principles
- Feed components, analysis, and interpretation
- Metabolic changes of transition cows
Module 5: Advanced Dairy Cattle Nutrition
- Ration formulation through lactation cycle
- Monitoring feeding programs
- Prevention, management, and control of nutritional pathologies
- Calf feeding programs
Module 6: Economics of Dairy Business
- Understanding basic concepts
- Setting production and economical benchmarks
- Factors affecting business decisions
Module 7: Dairy Farm Economics
- Production, costs, and profitability
- Business plan and cash flow
- Dairy herd expansion
Module 8: Milk Quality Program and Monitoring
- Milk systems, equipments, and parlor efficiency
- Monitoring milk routine and milk quality assurance
- Udder health and mastitis control programs
- Bacteriology, sampling, and diagnostics
Module 9: Preventive Medicine and Animal Welfare
- Dairy facility and cow comfort
- Production medicine, diseases, and diagnostic testing
- Implementing SOPs
- Manure management
Module 10: Calf Care and Replacement Heifer Management
- Neonatal health management
- Facilities, biosecurity, and barnyard epidemiology
- Reproductive programs
Module 11: Dairy Grazing Systems and Economics
- Understanding grazing systems
- Designing and implementing grazing strategies
- Management and monitoring
- Economics of rotational grazing
International Educational Trip:
- Gain awareness and a competitive advantage on how dairy production is accomplished in other regions and countries
- Opportunity to visit public universities; research and extension units; and exchange experiences with colleagues, dairy farmers, and researchers
- Understanding global trends on dairy production
