Fifth generation farmer successfully using AHV (Animal Health Vision)

Stonyvale Farm in Exeter Maine has quite the history. This land has been in the Fogler family since the 1850s, and the current generation is the 5^th to run the operation. There are 9 family members involved in the dairy side of the business, including Kate Fogler, who told us of her experiences with AHV.

Kate says that they milk around 1100 cows, mainly Holstein with a few Jerseys, and they raise their own replacements, so they do have young calves and heifers on the farm as well. She relates that one day a sales rep stopped on the farm, and happened to be an old college friend. He told them about AHV products, and Kate decided to try Aspi, Quick and Extra for udder health challenges.

Udder Health Success with AHV

Fogler mentions “After administering two cows with it, we stopped using all traditional methods and went to using only AHV products and haven’t done anything different since then. We’ve been on that protocol for about a year and a half.”  

Kate also shares “ we’re always looking for better ways to do things, better ways to take care of our cows. And we feel that the AHV products allow us to do that. They also allow us to develop protocols that are very easy and user friendly for the herd. Overall, since we started using the AHV products and we’ve seen positive results from them, our cows are healthier. We have decreased the number of times we had to use traditional methods. We have also seen the positives with having less incidences of certain health challenges on the farm, and so that reflects positively financially for us.”

Trying AHV Calf Protocols

In addition to the udder health protocols used in the main part of the dairy, Kate is experimenting with Aspi and Booster in her calves for over a year. “If a calf is off feed or just doesn’t seem right, I will give them some AHV Aspi and Booster and they usually turn around in 24 hours, they just seem happier and peppier.”

AHV Easier for Staff and Takes Away Worry

She says they are thinking outside the box, and “everyone was kind of surprised” when they first started using the AHV products on how well the products worked. She says “it’s science based. Here, we have to prove something works, but then everyone quickly got on board with AHV.”  The farm uses the udder health protocols as preventative and she relates that it’s easier on our staff to give a couple boluses instead of traditional methods, and it “takes the worry away for employees that we won’t end up with a hot tank.”

AHV is Good Value

Fogler says “I think we are actually saving money. There’s more milk going into the tank and less animals leaving for somatic cell and milk quality. I think in the end, AHV is a good value and I think it’s made a positive impact on our farm.”