Hachaklait Veterinary Services Israel

Dear Colleagues,
Israel has about 120,000 dairy cows kept in some 1,000 herds. More than
95% of these cows are Israeli-Holstein. Herd size varies from a few tens in
small family owned farms to up to 250 - 1,500 cows in large Kibbutz farms.
Overall average milk production in 2010 was 11,991 kg/cow. You may find
more details about the Israel dairy industry in the attached summary.
Hachaklait is a veterinary cooperative currently employing 50 vets, and has
been serving the vast majority of the Israel dairy farms for the last 90 years.
Hachaklait has been implementing an intensive Herd Health program for
more than two decades. The program was founded by Dr. Oded Nir
(Markusfeld). Our Herd Health program combines comprehensive clinical
work on the individual cow in the barn with recording, gathering, monitoring
and analyzing of the herd data. Interactions between veterinary medicine,
nutrition, management and economics are important facets of our approach
and practice.
We would like to invite you to a workshop on Herd Health organized by
Hachaklait and conducted by our Department of Herd Health. Dr. Michael van
Straten (DVM, PhD) will serve as the Scientific Coordinator of the workshop.
Michael has 14 years of experience as a bovine practitioner in Hachaklait. He
is epidemiologist and Head of the Department of Herd Health. He also
lectures at the Koret School of Veterinary Medicine, Hebrew University of
Jerusalem.
The main objectives of this workshop are to expose practicing veterinarians to
a multidisciplinary and multifactorial approach to dairy practice and clinical
entities. Furthermore, participants will have the opportunity to get "hands-on"
experience with farm data analysis and our Herd Health program. Learning
will take place mainly in class in the form of exercises and discussions in
small working groups using participant's laptops, combined with farm visits
and lectures given by prominent guest lecturers.
Veterinarians with sound experience in the care of dairy cows and an interest
in Herd Health programs are welcome to join us for an intensive 6-day
workshop from Nov. 25 th to Dec. 1 st 2012, including an extra one day tour
(Nov. 25 th , destinations will be determined at a later date).
More information on Hachaklait can be found in the English part of the
Hachaklait Website at http://www.hachaklait.org.il/english.asp
A tentative detailed program of the workshop can be seen on the following
page.
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