Assistance programs in nutrition management for dairy farms

Successful veterinary nutrition programs have evolved over the years from little more than the use of a specific product to a ration formulation service to today's total nutritional management assistance program. A dedication to providing this total service, merged with technical help from outside consultants and sealed with experience, yields a package that is indeed valuable to the dairyman. A common thread among successful herd management assistance veterinarians is their willingness to spend time with their clients in discussing all of these areas as well as others not covered. Clients are quite willing to pay for this total service. They are not willing to pay for fragments of the total package. The dilemma of many practitioners is the fact that they do not seen to have enough time to devote to this type of program, even thought they realize they should be providing it. The poultry (and, to some extent, swine)industry faced this dilemma in past years. The unfortunate results were that very few veterinarians are now intimately involved. Dairymen are going to purchase a total service from someone in the future. No one is in a better position to offer this than the local practitioner.