I know it isn’t January, but I’m going to talk about New Year’s resolutions. Now, I don’t do resolutions, but I do set goals each year. Usually, I try to do something or travel somewhere new, and I try ...
The dairy checkoff has spent the last several months doing everything possible to move farmers’ milk and quickly get it into the hands of consumers. Working with partners in foodservice and retail, and ...
You’re busy milking cows, harvesting crops and wondering what keeps other folks happy on Labor Day weekend while you do what you love. With that in mind, Progressive Dairy looks at issues in the news impacting ...
Retail dairy prices and their relation to milk prices are frequent questions at dairy farmer meetings. Using two dairy products found in almost every dairy case, natural cheddar cheese and whole milk, ...
Labor is a cost. That is a well understood statement by anyone who is a businessperson or is an employee. But what truly are the costs associated with employing people?
What are the costs associated ...
I recently learned from a large-scale producer that catchy headlines get him to click on farm management articles on his smartphone. I figured if it works to get attention online it should probably work ...
Do you remember your first job? If you’re like roughly half of us in today’s workforce (myself included), you were most likely in your teens, and the job was part time. And if you’re like me, while you ...
As a dairy business consultant, I’m frequently asked two questions:
1. With components contributing most of the pay price, and the high cost of trucking and marketing milk, should I be focusing more ...
Spring and fall are busy times of year for agriculture operations, whether preparing fields for the new cropping season or harvesting those crops. In many cases those two times of the year also involve ...
It is clear that digital technologies are the future of dairy farms, and the current coronavirus pandemic will accelerate their adoption. With the advent of COVID-19, it has never been more critical to ...
“Big data” is completely transforming the way we do business and is influencing most other parts of our lives. Almost everything we do is leaving a digital trace (or data), which can be used and analyzed ...
Data is rapidly changing our world in all parts of our lives. Dairy is no exception to this phenomenon. A data revolution is underway in the dairy industry.
We hear many buzzwords to describe this ...
The ability to make more informed management decisions is one of the most useful outcomes of cow monitoring and robotic milking systems.
Thanks to this technology, you and your team can discover nearly ...
There is a saying in the information technology industry: If you need to perform a task more than twice, you should automate it. Dairy producers who have adopted automated milking systems have taken this ...
Scours is responsible for 56.5% of mortality among pre-weaned dairy calves, making it the leading cause of calf death and sickness. How can you make sure your calves’ health, growth and productivity are ...
Dairy herd management is very data driven with exceptional progress made in the use of data from areas such as feeding, parlor operation, milk production and herd health to make timely decisions influencing ...
It is a moving target that changes. Not only does the presence of mycotoxins change year by year due to field conditions, plant stress, moisture or drought, the conditions within a bunker or forage bag ...
The pandemic rages on, and the modern soothsayers spew propaganda over the airwaves. No one is quite sure what to believe. The death toll rises, and fear mounts in epic proportions.
Some are afraid ...
Compact equipment technologies have changed dramatically over the years. Today, manufacturers are designing highly productive machines and adding more sophisticated features, like remote control technology, ...
While fictional novels about farming have increasingly become scarce over the last century, nonfiction about agriculture remains in steady supply.
A quick Google search, however, reveals that most ...
Every day, we get older – but it’s better than the alternative. They say wisdom comes with age, but so does arthritis, slower movement and the walking farts.
Billions of dollars are spent every year ...
When you look at a propane torch, the blue portion of the fire is the innermost part that burns the hottest. Just like that torch, we all have an (albeit figurative) blue flame – a sense of passion and ...
Have you ever bought a new tractor and wished you would have recorded all the little things the dealer rep explained and showed to you? Calf raisers might very well have the same experience when installing ...
Covering manure storage is growing in popularity for a number of reasons, from odor control to minimizing rainwater accumulation to capturing biogas.
“A cover keeps oxygen and ambient air out,” explains ...
Milk is a treasure trove of bioactive compounds that can positively affect your health.
Food is important. Beyond fueling our bodies, it also influences the way we think, feel and hold our bodies. ...
Your total cost to raise calves is an important metric, but it's especially important when profit margins are tight. Total feed costs or feed cost per pound of gain are common metrics; however, those figures ...
Eric Weaver of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, advocates for agriculture and the dairy industry online but not through the typical forms of social media like Facebook and Instagram. Rather, Eric – also known ...
“Doc, what kind of milk replacer should I feed, and how much?”
As a calf ranch consultant, this is the most common question I hear. The answer depends on several factors, such as who owns the calves, ...
Looking at the possibilities of latest technology on the dairy farm, Kyle O’Brien of Michigan Dairy Technology provided a glimpse into the future with automation in mind at the recent Great Lakes Regional ...
Created on 12 March 2020
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