What are some things that should be top of list for our dairy farmers? And heck, this even goes to beef producers as well, but what should be top of mind?

Well, when we, we talk about, um, taking care of mom in the dry period, I think it's a forgotten phase.

It's people, you know, tend to put them where they fit, and they feed them what they can, and they, uh, in facilities that are not ideal sometimes.

So when we look at that, it's really about thinking about it that as you dry them off, you're starting the next lactation.

So if you can treat them just like they're still lactating, you are way ahead, and you can make sure you're treating them that same way with cow comfort, whether that's heat abatement, bedding, uh, pen space, bunk space.

All of those things matter just like as they were still lactating, and you'll be way better off.

So that's my encouragement.

So what should we be thinking about calf health as you start to integrate and bring them together?

Are there any misconceptions about Mycoplasma bovis that are important to address?

Yeah.

I think the most common one is that I don't have it, right? That is one of the [chuckles] one of the biggest ones, right? Like, once you start looking for it, right, you might not have overt Mycoplasma, right? That is what we talked about, that, that classic textbook Mycoplasma break in at 30 days, head tilt, swollen joints, uh, chronic BRD affecting a large proportion of, of the calves.

But if you start to sit there and you look at calves long enough, you know, after you let them calm down because they're not used to you and, and you being a new person, you let them calm down and y- you really look at them, you can see, you know, okay, all right, there's a lot of head shaking in this group.

There's a lot of calves that are itching at their ears, and it doesn't seem to be connected to ear tags.

And I'm seeing just more BRD treatments than I like to see.

Performance isn't quite as good as I want it to be.

Joe, considering the subclinical endemic nature of Mycoplasma bovis, what are top prevention strategies our listeners should know about?