Bringing Decades of Experience to You
Our team of instructors and guest speakers are leaders in the fields of hoof trimming, veterinary science, and nutrition consulting. Not only do they communicate the scientific information in an easy-to-understand fashion, but they also provide practical solutions to hoof health issues that they encounter on a daily basis. Our staff gets results in the field.
Program Directors
Karl Burgi
A hoof trimmer, hoof-care consultant and instructor, Karl travels throughout the world teaching hoof health and lameness prevention, while consulting with dairy producers to minimize lameness. After working for many years in the dairy industry, he chose to specialize in the field of hoof health and launched his full-time hoof trimming business, Comfort Hoof Care Inc., in 1989. As he began trimming, he realized the industry needed equipment to safely and practically restrain cattle while allowing the trimming technician to perform accurate hoof care. He invented the Accu-trim® Leg Restraint System, featured on all
Comfort Chutes, to achieve the optimum heel-to-toe view of the hoof. Today, Karl continues to provide hoof care services to small and large farms in south-central Wisconsin. His passion for cows fueled his desire to learn everything possible about hoof health and to continue his education by attending schools, conferences, and networking with researchers around the world.
Travis Busman
Improving the hoof health industry by striving to keep cows healthy and productive is a passion for Travis. After working on dairy farms throughout his youth, he attended the Technical Hoof Trimming Course in 2000 and launched his hoof trimming career in central Michigan. The scope of his business serves the needs of both small, family-owned dairies and large, commercial dairies. In addition, he mentors new trimmers, extending their knowledge beyond the initial Dairyland training. Travis joined the team of instructors over ten years ago, first as an associate instructor before becoming a primary instructor in 2013. Travis truly cares about cows and people. He strives to, not only provide an excellent service, but to educate the dairy managers on practices that will keep cows healthy and productive. We are very proud and grateful to have Travis on the SAVE COWS team.
David Rowe
David has a genuine passion for dairy cows. His love of cows began at age 11 when he started milking at a local dairy farm that also showed Holsteins. He started his hoof trimming business in 1995 serving producers both large and small with various facilities and housing conditions. David obtained his British diploma in hoof trimming and is a licensed member of the National Association of Cattle Foot Trimmers. He has taught hoof care courses at agriculture colleges in the UK for the past twenty years. In 2009, he traveled to the United States to investigate hoof trimming equipment and hoof care practices. He met Karl Burgi, purchased his first Comfort Chute and was introduced to a team of people who shared his philosophy of caring about cows. David decided to further his training by attending the Dairyland Technical Hoof Trimming Course in 2012. He was invited to be a guest presenter at the 2013 and 2016 Save Cows Symposium. In 2017, David became a founding partner of Total Hoof Care, a joint venture with local veterinarians that share a goal of preventing lameness – providing preventative trimming, mobility scoring, and on-farm assessments of lameness risks. He served as associate instructor in the United States and United Kingdom before joining the team of assistant program directors here at Dairyland in 2014. This team shares the same passion for cows and hoof health, therefore is able to determine the essential components for each course, keeping this program “ahead of the curve” within the industry.
Takahito Hayashi
Hayashi has been involved in the Japanese dairy industry his entire life. In 1985, he started a hoof trimming business which serves dairies in central Japan currently providing hoof care to over 17,000 dairy cattle per year. His 47 client base ranges from 11 cows to over 1,500 cows. He has served as associate instructor for many Dairyland courses in the United States and Japan before joining the team of assistant program directors in 2014. This team shares the same passion for cows and hoof health, therefore is able to determine the essential components for each course, keeping this program “ahead of the curve” within the industry. We are proud of this international team who individually provide high-quality service in their businesses and collectively can change the dynamics and direction of the industry.
Juan Diego Cadavid
Juan Diego Cadavid brings a breadth of knowledge and experience to the Dairyland program. As a veterinarian in Colombia, lameness prevention is the cornerstone of his practice. Through his hoof trimming business, he services both large and small dairies near Medellin-Antioquia. Juan grew up with great interest in agriculture and frequently visited neighboring farms to observe cow health. This keen interest in dairy cattle was the foundation of his education choices and eventually a career. In 2008, Juan Diego obtained his veterinarian degree from CES University. In addition to his hoof care business, he teaches at CES lecturing students, fellow practitioners and dairy producers which allows him to positively impact the dairy industry in Colombia. He collaborates with the University to conduct research, evaluating lameness trends in high-production dairy cows for the Department of Antioquia.
Kimberly Evert
Kimberly grew up loving dairy cows on her family's farm in south central Wisconsin. In May of 2015 she obtained her Bachelor's in Dairy Science at the University of Wisconsin - River Falls and joined the SAVE COWS team shortly after. Since joining the team, Kimberly's career has evolved to focus on developing a marketing plan which focuses on the importance of hoof health as it is related to animal well-being in addition to managing the Dairyland Training Program. Additionally, Kimberly has presented research on proper animal handling systems at the 2019 Lameness in Ruminants Conference in Tokyo, Japan. Kimberly enjoys networking with Dairyland's team of instructors and graduates around the world.
Associate Instructors & Consultants
Jim Lewis
Jim started his career as a dairyman with a 28-cow herd and continued to expand, eventually peaking at 1,100 milking cows. In 2000, Jim was asked by the University of Minnesota, College of Veterinary Medicine to manage the Transition Management Facility in Emerald, WI where he taught senior veterinary students in the pre- and post-partum care of cows. In this position, Jim was exposed to the progressive thinking of Dr. Steve Stewart. Jim's innate ability to handle cattle in a very calm manner caught the attention of Dr. Stewart, who encouraged him to bring these techniques to the dairy industry in a way that could be learned and utilized by others. Jim continued to hone his animal handling skills, called "Stockmanship", as well as teach others in the technique. Jim has continued to provide support to dairymen and women in the management of dairies, feed management systems and stockmanship. He is often called in to dairies to provide advice and counsel on dairy expansions, loadout facilities, parlor flow, etc. that leverage the concepts of stockmanship. Jim as worked with large herds across the United States, teaching and training proper livestock handling techniques.
Nigel Cook
Dr. Cook has spent over two decades examining the impact of the environment on the well-being of dairy cattle. His primary focus has been to investigate the risk factors for lameness in dairy herds and to provide tools to help dairy producers diagnose, treat and prevent it. Dr. Cook is Chair of the Department of Medical Sciences - one of the clinical departments in the School of Veterinary Medicine with ~ 35 faculty. He is a member of the food animal production medicine group and chair of the curriculum committee. He was President of the American Association of Bovine Practitioners for 2012/2013 and continues to be a member of the Lameness Committee. He teaches in the Core Skills and Advanced Skills in Production Medicine final year elective rotations and lectures on bovine mastitis, lameness, ventilation and animal welfare. In addition, Dr. Cook manages The Dairyland Initiative: a unique web-based outreach program aimed at ensuring dairy producers and their consultants have access to all the up to date information that they need to build welfare friendly facilities for dairy cattle and prevent lameness.
Lee Erickson
Lee was born and raised on a dairy farm in the hills surrounding Eau Claire, Wisconsin. It was his love of working with dairy cows that attracted him to becoming a hoof trimmer. He attended the Technical Hoof Trimming Course in 1998 and graduated from the Advanced Hoof Care Course in 2003. His client base ranges from small to mid-size dairies with a variety of conditions and challenges. His dedication to his clients and concern for cows provoked him to always ask “why?” He believes in networking with other trimmers to find the right answers to improve cow productivity and the bottom line of his clients.