Editor’s Note: This is one of a series of profiles of the Wisconsin Idea in action. See past profiles we have published.

Ken Nordlund still remembers the skeptical face at the back of the room as he and his colleagues introduced the University of Wisconsin–Madison School of Veterinary Medicine’s new Transition Cow Index (TCI) to dairy farmers from around the state.

That same face, no longer skeptical, is now sharing information with a group of Pfizer technical service veterinarians who are visiting his 800-cow dairy as part of a TCI training program. TCI is the first objective measuring tool for fresh cow health available to the industry. Previously, inconsistencies between health records from farm to farm prevented objective comparisons of commercial herds. This key test opens the door to meaningful comparisons. It lets dairy farmers compare herd management practices and determine which ones are associated with optimal cow health.

Ken Nordlund, a veterinarian in the UW–Madison School of Veterinary Medicine, leads a group of visiting technical service veterinarians on a tour of Ripp Dairy Valley, a 700-cow farm in Dane, Wis. Nordlund created the Transition Cow Index (TCI), a system that uses facility measurements to predict where farmers can make improvements in herd health and productivity.

Photo: Jeff Miller

“If I were building this barn today, I’d put in sand stalls to give the cows better footing and would add more feed bunk space for the cows,” says Chuck Ripp, owner of Ripp Dairy Valley in Dane, Wis.

Nordlund, a veterinarian with the UW–Madison School of Veterinary Medicine’s food animal production medicine team, smiles and nods knowingly.

“He’s discovered that objective measures have value,” he says. “Basically, he’s telling the group much of what we’ve researched in the last five years.”

When Ripp’s special needs barn was built six years ago, Nordlund and his colleagues were just beginning to study the effects of housing on dairy cattle. Since then, they have learned volumes about housing and how cow social interactions affect productivity.

“About 80 percent of dairy cow disease occurs in the first three weeks after a cow delivers a calf,” Nordlund explains. “TCI is an objective way to rate overall cow health. We created it based on the Dairy Herd Improvement Association (DHIA) records from half a million cows. Having the index has allowed us to learn what practices are truly effective in improving fresh cow health.”

Yet Ripp admits that he didn’t like TCI when it first came out. As owner of one of the top 10 dairy herds in Dane County, it was hard for him to accept that his TCI scores were below average.

A group of cows, animals that prefer to eat at the same time, feed at Ripp Dairy Valley. The Transition Cow Index (TCI) was founded on the idea that meeting the social needs of a dairy herd increases overall herd productivity.

Photo: Jeff Miller

But he stuck with the program, with positive results. Now he consults with the food animal production medicine team before implementing changes in the barn.

Patented by the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF) and licensed to AgSource, TCI will be offered nationally as soon as AgSource finalizes the details. Wisconsin farmers have had a head start on using the technology the last few years.

“Ken is an innovator,” says Gary Neubauer, a senior veterinarian in Pfizer Animal Health’s dairy division in Minnesota who participated in a TCI training session. “He is showing us how to ask the cow. His programs are leading the industry.”

Nordlund explains, “We’re trying to understand animal health. We study housing systems and the social aspects of cows within these systems. What are the health benefits of accommodating the social needs of cows versus the costs? Dollars are not the only thing that drives the farmer’s decision, but the lender has to approve if the farmer plans to build a new facility.”

For example, conventional new barn designs allow 16–24 inches of feed bunk space per animal, with the assumption that the cows will take turns using the space. Yet cows evolved as herding animals and prefer to eat all at the same time. Nordlund’s group has gathered data that suggests that metabolic disease is more likely with less than 30 inches of bunk space per cow.

“It’s difficult to tease out, but we’re teasing it out,” Nordlund says.

He and his colleagues are not only closing in on the answers, they’re spending time in the field, sharing their results with farmers.

“Things are a heck of a lot better,” says Loren Greenfield, owner of Hilltop Dairy, a 500-cow operation in Markesan, Wis., who had been struggling for two to three years with a high rate of ketosis and displaced abomasums (twisted stomachs) in his herd. “It started when these guys came through.”

Julie Maurer, office manager for Soaring Eagle Dairy in the Green Bay area, agrees. “To this day, we still benefit from the suggestions they made.”

Nordlund adds, “TCI gives us an objective score to evaluate and compare health management practices without having to rely on extremely inconsistent farm-generated health records. It allows us to do field research to identify what risk factors are most important and what management practices are the most effective at preventing disease.”

The reward comes when dairies implement the new systems and Nordlund gets to see the positive results.