Guest Blog

As a young farmer, I dreamed of raising super-excellent crops to feed our dairy cattle, especially since I had very limited acreage. A couple years after I started farming here, I had a dairy analyst in to mate my dairy cows. The man also did a little part-time farming on the side.

We all know dairy farmers are some of the smartest, most innovative and creative people in the world. Who else gets to do everything and be everyone? We get to be accountants, doctors, teachers, chefs … heck, some of us even have a bit of interest in robotics, microbiology, genetics, nutrigenomics and environmentalism.

For the last year and a half, I have worked part time as a waitress. Initially, it was to earn extra cash and get ahead on my loans. Little did I know it would totally change my perspective on advocating for the dairy industry.

“What would you do differently?” This is a question we were frequently asked after completing construction of our new dairy facility. While you may spend months or even years planning out a new project, you won’t know what you’ve missed until you’re in full-fledge operation.

For some reason, our collective addiction to feed additives and precision feeding has come so far that we tend to ignore some of the basics. We have the ability to add anything we want to any mix and dial in our intakes three places to the right of the decimal point, but what good is all of that if you are mixing the wrong ingredients in the first place?

Animal care is a big deal to dairy farmers. If cows aren’t happy, they don’t produce as much milk for everyone to enjoy. Which is why farmers spend a lot of time and effort making sure their cows have the right nutrition, environment and veterinary care. Thanks to dairy industry professionals like Dr. Noa Roman-Muniz, farmers have access to solutions to constantly improve cow care. What sets her apart is a dedication to animals through people and their communications with each other.