The Joint ARPAS ADSA Symposium was held this summer in Palm Beach, Florida, entitled “From Birth to Lactation.” The presenters were Marcos Marcondes, Washington State University, Pete Erickson, University of New Hampshire, and Jim Drackley, University of Illinois.

Marcos Marcondes began the session with his presentation, “Connecting the dots: Calving ease, age at first calving, and enhanced cow production.” Dr. Marcondes used data from the Holstein Association to evaluate the impact of heifer growth on these traits. Pete Erickson was next with his presentation, “Factors influencing colostrum production in multiparous Holstein and Jersey cows at multiple locations.” Dr. Erickson discussed data on the nutrition and management of dry cows regarding colostrum production including breed differences between Holsteins and Jerseys. Jim Drackley spoke about weaning stress in dairy calves and discussed several studies regarding how to reduce stress. The title of his presentation was “The weaning transition in dairy calves: Why so traumatic?” These presentations will be submitted for publication in the ARPAS Applied Animal Science journal.

The symposium was well attended and the audience was engaged, resulting in the presenters being asked many questions.