Magazine

I have the good fortune of speaking with farmers from across the country each and every day. These discussions help me understand what is happening on the farm and key concerns of farmers from all [Read More …]

The Four Factors to Watch in the Market

There are four important drivers in the current dairy market outlook. Slowing U.S. milk production growth, Chinese import demand, government programs, and the ongoing pandemic. I’m going to start with the most bullish, which is [Read More …]

Don’t Take Your Milking Parlor for Granted: Why Parlor Audits are Extremely Important

The milking parlor is perhaps one of the most used areas on a dairy farm, but it can be taken for granted and overlooked. Yet the parlor is the “heart” of your operation. It’s the [Read More …]

What’s Up With This Measurement Acronym?

In previous articles I have often stated that if you measure something, you can understand it. If you understand it, you can control it, and of course, if you have the ability to control something, [Read More …]

Effects of Repeated OPU Procedures on Fertility in Cattle

Do the benefits of OPS-IVF outweigh the potential risks? According to the American Embryo Transfer Association, 448,826 bovine embryos were transferred into recipients in 2019, 68% of which had been produced by in vitro fertilization (IVF) methods. [Read More …]

Is Your Heifer Reproduction Program Making the Grade?

Heifers are the most fertile animals on any dairy. Yet, heifer rearing costs are often a dairy’s second largest expense. The cost of rearing heifers increases as the days to first conception increases. By fine-tuning [Read More …]

A new study from Dr. Frank Mitloehner’s lab at UC Davis looks at reducing enteric methane using essential oils

Could Agolin be a tool to fight climate change in dairy cattle? Whether or not you subscribe to the ability of essential oils to ease your stress, lighten your mood or give you a feeling [Read More …]

Forage Sorghum Advantages

In a recent webinar with Alta Seeds, the author provided updated research on the renewed interest in forage sorghum. The practice of growing sorghum for forage is expanding into new regions, as farmers and livestock [Read More …]

Driving Dairy Demand in Schools With Smoothies

At school, food choices are critical – fueling students’ energy, resiliency and ability to concentrate and be successful in the classroom. Dairy offers so many key nutritional benefits that families and schools rely on to [Read More …]

Comparing Federal Orders

This post will compare parameters for each of the Federal Milk Marketing Orders. While a lot of milk is being de-pooled in the Federal Orders, most of the milk is still paid by Federal Order [Read More …]

Five Tips to Curb Dairy Feed Costs

Manage feed and animal inventories to maximize ration performance and widen your margin. As farmers across the country navigate drought conditions and rising feed costs, many are looking at ways to stretch feed inventories. Small [Read More …]

Pneumonia: An Underestimated Threat to Adult Dairy Cows

The risk of pneumonia doesn’t stop with calves Pneumonia is like a thief in the night. It’s hard to detect, but it steals from your bottom line and the losses can be devastating. “Once animals [Read More …]

CA: Gimmicks at the Expense of Dairy Farmers’ Future Sustainability

Our Western United Dairies organization has been fighting the California Air Resources Board (ARB) and their attempt to include enteric emissions – methane from cow burps – as part of our farmer’s baseline compliance for [Read More …]

Find Profit Opportunities in Your Herd Through Genetic Selection and Validation

My goal has always been to help show dairy farmers and veterinarians the positive impact that strategic genetic investments can have on animal health, welfare and their bottom line. With our most recent peer-reviewed validation [Read More …]

Repackaging Dairy’s Benefits to Meet Gen Z’s Tastes

Do you remember the TikTok trend involving feta cheese from earlier this year? A video of a recipe involving a block of feta, cherry tomatoes and pasta went viral in February. It was seemingly popping [Read More …]

Dairy Shrine Awards 39 Scholarships to Dairy Students

National Dairy Shrine (NDS) is excited to announce the recipients of its NDS student scholarships and recognition awards for 2021. A total of 39 scholarships totaling $44,500 will be presented to students at this year’s [Read More …]

Are You Focused on Winning?

Do you ever wonder when your next “win” will be coming your way? I know I often asked that question earlier in my career. It has been said that we normally find what we are [Read More …]

Producer Milk Pricing Fundamentals are Concerning.

Milk production is reaching record levels. Chart I graphically shows the increase based on 12-month moving averages. While the 12-month moving averages are best for seeing long-term trends, the most recent monthly increases in milk production [Read More …]

McGarry Family Recognized with Vermont’s Top Dairy for 2021

Ed McGarry always knew that he wanted to be a dairy farmer. It’s a passion shared by his wife, Diane, and youngest son, Brian, who operate McGarry Dairy, a 115-head Holstein operation in West Berkshire, [Read More …]

Cows And Herds of the Future

There have been dramatic changes in the dairy industry over the past 50 years. The U.S. is producing 60 percent more milk from 30 percent fewer cows than in 1967. This is because each cow [Read More …]

Feed Cost Considerations

Feed cost is the most important and expensive input cost on a dairy farm. For a combination of reasons, feed costs have risen sharply since the fall of 2020. At Central Grain in Sauk Centre [Read More …]

Don’t Return Starch to the Field

Improve starch digestibility and avoid feeding turkeys with a few key strategies. The goal of feed efficiency constantly drives nutritionists to closely monitor and formulate rations with starch digestibility in mind. While this feed factor [Read More …]

CA: Dairy Delivers Methane Reduction

More incentives are needed to maintain progress and reach target by 2030 California’s climate policies are ambitious. More than $13.8 billion has been allocated to date, to support a wide variety of projects that accelerate [Read More …]

Lifetime Net Merit Revised in August for Balanced Selection, Profitable Dairy Cows

Lifetime Net Merit (NM$) has driven genetic progress since 1994 by promoting a balanced selection of all available, economically-important traits to maximize profitability of dairy cows. Developed by the USDA-ARS* researchers and calculated by the [Read More …]

Chicken and Cheese – One Example of Untapped Checkoff Possibilities

More than 2 billion chicken sandwiches head out the doors of leading quick-serve restaurants (QSR) in the U.S. each year without a slice of cheese. This is roughly 80 percent of a booming category that [Read More …]

Impact of Nutrition on Herd Health and Welfare

We are all aware of how critical nutritional management is to overall herd health and productivity. We are also learning more and more about how the connection between nutrition and efficiency begins at birth. It’s [Read More …]

How Much Canola Meal Can I Use in My Rations?

With all the research invested in determining the nutrient content and availability for dairy cows, the question that I get asked the most by both nutritionists and dairy producers is “How much canola meal can [Read More …]

Biuret Feed Additive Can Offset Rising Feed Prices

In today’s current environment with feed prices steadily increasing, dairy producers are seeking effective solutions to optimize production efficiency of their herds. Feed conversion provides the greatest opportunity for producers to capture additional margins. Supplementing [Read More …]

Improving Efficiency with Silage Inoculants