Technical Training for Herdsmen

One-day sessions for herdsmen that offer specialized training in specific areas of cow care. Classes offered are Fresh Cow Management, Sick Cow Management, Calving Cow Management, Milking Management, Reproduction Management and Calf Management.

Herdsmen are often put in the position of making technical cowside decisions, sometimes without the knowledge or training to ensure correct decisions. Mistakes like inappropriate drug use, over treating fresh cows, incorrect sick cow diagnosis, incorrect treatments and other costly mistakes happen every day. The more herdsmen know and understand the technical details of fresh, sick and calving cows; the more they know about milking, mastitis, and the hormones that control estrus, the more valuable he/she is to your dairy.

Each class provides hands-on training/demonstration. Mornings are spent learning important principles, misconceptions are corrected and basic but pertinent facts are discussed. Afternoons are spent cowside. Herdsmen will handle, examine, palpate and work on cows. Principles taught in the morning sessions are demonstrated in the afternoon. Participants are involved doing, collecting, discussing and learning in a practical, comfortable situation.

We offer these technical training classes in English and Spanish and can be customized on an individual dairy basis. Written materials provided are also in English and Spanish.

Herdsmen classes teach and demonstrate principles, they are not intended to provide specific treatments or protocols that would conflict with current programs. Rather, principles and concepts will be taught that every herdsman must know to be good at their job. It will be up to the dairy owner, their veterinarian and herdsman to build programs from the information provided.

Herdsmen enjoy this form of training. It's not all theory and lecture. The one-day technical training classes are well attended and provide training at a comfortable level for cowside employees.