CANTON -- Transition cows and the critical weeks before and after calving are the focus of a four-session Northern New York Dairy Institute training course for farm personnel with the responsibility for the care and feeding of transition cows, and for cow management advisors.

The sessions will be held 10:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Wednesdays from Jan. 18 through Feb. 8 at classroom and farm sites in St. Lawrence County.

They will include on-farm, hands-on activities as well as classroom time with industry professionals who will discuss the “how” and “why” of managing transition cows. The

The presenters for the course include Dr. Tom Overton of Cornell University’s PRO-DAIRY Program, Dr. Rick Grant and Heather Dann of the W.H. Miner Agricultural Research Institute, veterinarians Dr. Mark Thomas and Dr. George Palmer, Dr. Bill Stone of Diamond V, Dr. Ken Sanderson of Balchem, and Dr. Paula Ospina, DVM, a senior lecturer with Cornell University’s Animal Science Department.

Registration is open for individual sessions at $35 per session or $100 for all four. The fee for the full course or the first session is due to the Cornell Cooperative Extension of St. Lawrence County by Jan. 10, and for other single sessions one week before that session begins. FSA borrower credits are available to those completing all four sessions.

“These classes will provide the most up-to-date information on managing cows during the critical transition period that impacts a dairy cow’s production potential and her value to the herd,” say course organizers and Cornell Cooperative Extension Dairy Educators Ron Kuck in Jefferson County and Frans Vokey in Lewis County.

For more info or to sign up, contact Brent Buchanan at Cooperative Extension in Canton at 379-9192.