SUMMER 2026
Doug Taylor, co-owner and herd manager at Hanke Farms in Sheboygan Falls, Wis., and CentralStar Genetic Consultant Joe Schuh discuss how CowManager® has helped the dairy detect ketosis earlier, reducing DAs and improving transition cow health.
What happened when we started acting on
transiti on alerts transition
Area Sales Manager and CowManager Specialist Sawyer Johnson
One of the things I enjoy most about working with CowManager® is helping producers turn data into decisions that improve cow performance. I began working with a 4,000-cow dairy that was already using CowManager but was not yet using the Transition Monitor feature of the system. I talked with the herd about activating this feature, because it can help identify transition cows with early, subclinical health issues before calving. By treating these cows sooner, it minimizes clinical sickness after calving. This winter, we began using CowManager’s Transition Monitor to watch dry cows for changes in eating and rumination behavior. The system identifies underperforming cows compared to their pen mates.
The dairy was already locking up dry cows twice a week for routine vaccinations and movement to the close-up calving pen. Rather than creating additional work, we decided to build a treatment protocol for cows with transition alerts directly into their existing process. The practice we agreed on included any cow that triggered a transition alert within the previous seven days was treated during those routine lockups. We excluded cows with obvious lameness issues and focused on supporting rumen health and encouraging feed intake before calving. For the treatment, the farm team administered two Tri-Start Bolus. We chose this direct-fed microbial, because it supports rumen function and feed intake, giving cows extra support before calving and helping them maintain the intake needed for a successful start to their lactation.
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Table 1. Average monthly health events with and without transition-alert-driven treatment protocols Health event Milk fever Retained placenta Metritis Ketosis DA
Without transition-alert treatments*
With transition-alert treatments**
Change in cases
% Reduction
3 19 18 11 4 55
3 16 16 4 3 42
0 -3 -2 -7 -1 -13
0% 15% 11% 63% 25% 24%
*Monthly average-incidence rate during six months prior to implementing CowManager transition and nutrition alerts. **Monthly average-incidence rate during the first four months of acting on transition and nutrition alerts.
"The impact becomes even more meaningful when the results are projected across an entire year. For this dairy, the reduction equates to approximately 156 fewer health events annually, a 3.9% decrease."