Dairy Farm Nursing

Last week was a scheduled  appointment for Dr. France, our veterinarian, to come to the dairy farm for herd health examinations. My favorite part of  any herd health  check-up day is finding out if the cows are pregnant. I'm sure this is because I worked as a nurse in a women's clinic and cared for many pregnant women before working full time on the dairy farm! Proper management of the cow's health and pregnancy status is important to the production of high-quality milk and the sustainability of our family dairy farm.

After being milked and before entering  the feed barn, ten cows are walked into the  management area that allows Dr. France to examine the cows with as little stress as possible for the cows. As soon as the group of ten are examined, they will walk on to the feed barn to eat and then to rest in the pasture.

Even though I don't wear my nursing uniform to work anymore, as the dairy farm nurse I prepare for herd health and the doctor's arrival by gathering the breeding and health information about each cow from our computer records. During the herd health exams, I am looking at each cow as they enter the exam area, providing information about each cow to the doctor and then recording the exam results that will be added to the computer records to manage the care for our cows.

As a dairy farm nurse, I  love  caring for  these pregnant mamas....

and their babies...

 

 and providing  high-quality milk for you!