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Current Progressive Dairy digital edition

1. Equipment Hub: How to protect your wheel loader from downtime: (Barns & Equipment); Today’s wheel loaders have never been easier to operate and maintain. They’re also designed with many enhancements similar to those you’ve come to expect in your pickup truck. Preventive maintenance ...; Created on 04 February 2021
2. Growing from a humble beginning: Minglewood Inc. capitalizes on technology: (Barns & Equipment); More than 100 years ago, Minglewood Inc. began as a dairy operation with only six cows, a small tiestall barn and a lot of hope. Their current operation is a far cry from their humble beginning in 1894. ...; Created on 29 December 2020
3. Start-up preparations for conventional milking systems: (Barns & Equipment); The planning, building and start-up of a new (or retrofit, rebuild or extension) milking parlor is a uniquely exciting, challenging and stressful event. Financial deadlines are real. Construction fatigue ...; Created on 04 February 2021
4. Three California dairies find more than meets the eye when milking with robots: (Barns & Equipment); Driven by a need to upgrade milking facilities and reduce dependence on labor, three different dairy farms opted for automated milking. These dairymen and a provider of this technology discussed their ...; Created on 04 February 2021
5. Two types of traffic patterns work in Mountain Shadow Acres robot barn: (Barns & Equipment); Guided-flow or free-flow cow traffic is an important question to ask in the design and management planning of any automated milking system adoption. Mountain Shadow Acres in Rosedale, British Columbia, ...; Created on 04 February 2021
6. 2020 corn silage harvest analysis and mycotoxin risks: (Feed & Nutrition); 2020 was a year we will never forget, no matter how hard we try. The calendar has turned to a new year and we are moving forward, but it is still important for dairy producers to look back and analyze ...; Created on 05 February 2021
7. A forage report’s value is in its analysis: (Feed & Nutrition); The value of a forage report comes from its analysis and the actions taken by the farm thereafter. Understanding your forage report can give you and your nutritionist valuable insight for formulating ...; Created on 05 February 2021
8. Assessing your trace mineral program: (Feed & Nutrition); Trace minerals are one of the smallest components in a cow’s diet, but they are essential nutrients for animal health and productivity (Table 1). Because they are such a small part of the diet, ...; Created on 05 February 2021
9. Conduct a TMR audit to deliver your best ration: (Feed & Nutrition); Obviously, the right nutrition has a significant impact on the health of your herd. But delivering those nutrients consistently every time can play a large role in whether cows are productive and healthy. ...; Created on 05 February 2021
10. Considerations when implementing high-forage diets: (Feed & Nutrition); The goal of any forage program for a dairy is to grow and harvest the highest-quality feed for the cows. Once the forages are ready to be harvested and stored, that’s when the farmer and nutritionist ...; Created on 05 February 2021
11. Do Jersey and Holstein cows respond similarly to palmitic acid supplementation?: (Feed & Nutrition); Milkfat and protein yield are the major contributors to the price producers receive for milk in most Federal Milk Market Orders. This underlines the importance of focusing on increasing the yield of milkfat ...; Created on 04 February 2021
12. Evaluating feed additives to include in rations: (Feed & Nutrition); Interest in feed additives will continue and be influenced by new research results, advertising and profit margins. When milk prices drop, dairy farmers may pull feed additives out to reduce feed costs. ...; Created on 04 February 2021
13. Extending forage inventories: (Feed & Nutrition); Forages are the backbone of dairy rations on most farms. Forages impact dry matter intake (undigested neutral detergent fiber or uNDF), rate of passage (particle size), rumen environment (stable rumen ...; Created on 04 February 2021
14. Feed beets: An economical substitute for grains: (Feed & Nutrition); While beet pulp is well-known for being an energy concentrate that cows love, feed beets have yet to be discovered in a big way. Feed beets are sugarbeets grown specifically for use in feed for dairy ...; Created on 04 February 2021
15. Feed mixing and delivery: The importance of maximizing accuracy: (Feed & Nutrition); Feed mixing and delivery is one of the most important activities on the dairy. Mixing and feeding a total mixed ration (TMR) is a multiple-times-per-day activity. Doing this job accurately and consistently ...; Created on 05 February 2021
16. Feeding homegrown roasted soybeans in lactating dairy cattle rations: (Feed & Nutrition); Incorporating soybeans and their byproducts into dairy cattle rations is a fairly common practice. Soybeans are an excellent source of essential amino acids and complement most forages, but they do have ...; Created on 04 February 2021
17. Forage fiber digestibility drives milk income: (Feed & Nutrition); Pounds of milkfat and milk protein shipped, also known as milk component yield (MCY), accounts for more than 75% of the milk check. With milk volume supply constraints in play, maximizing MCY has never ...; Created on 05 February 2021
18. March ‘mycotoxin madness’: (Feed & Nutrition); Every March, the madness begins. Avid college basketball fans will recognize the reference as more than 130 men’s and women’s Division 1 college basketball teams vie for the championship trophies, knowing ...; Created on 05 February 2021
19. Small grains, big advantages: (Feed & Nutrition); In many parts of the U.S., small-grain forages are increasing in popularity and can make excellent feed for milk cow rations when harvested at the correct stage of maturity and put up at proper moisture ...; Created on 04 February 2021
20. Analyzing 2020 ration ingredients: (From the Editor); Back home at my parents’ dairy for Christmas, my daughter Stella just had to see all of Grandpa’s “moo cows.” While exploring the farm, she found grain spilled underneath the young heifer bin. She ...; Created on 05 February 2021
21. 6 tips to utilize a summer intern to their fullest: (Guest Blog); Our farm is in the midst of expanding by diversification. We dairy farm, crop farm and run a coffee and gelato shop in our hometown. We have a lot of irons in the fire, to say the least. And, noticeably ...; Created on 08 September 2020
22. HERd Management: Motherhood and dairy cows: (Guest Blog); I grew up on a dairy farm and have been around cows my whole life. I learned at an early age how to properly care for and handle cows. Now, as a manager, I am constantly advocating for the humane treatment ...; Created on 04 February 2021
23. How will dairy fit into personal and planetary goals this year?: (Industry News); The new year brings a renewed focus on personal and planetary goals, as many people strive to make choices they believe are healthier for themselves and the environment. Many will pledge to start exercising, ...; Created on 09 January 2021
24. In Focus: A state-by-state look at CFAP payments: (Industry News); Dairy producers received nearly $2.96 billion in direct financial assistance payments through two installments of the USDA Coronavirus Food Assistance Program (CFAP) in 2020. Created to provide agricultural ...; Created on 05 February 2021
25. What happened? What’s next? - DairyAmerica settlement payments distributed: (Industry News); In this column, Progressive Dairy summarizes issues in the news and attempts to describe how they might affect dairy farmers. Look for more extensive background and details at Progressive Dairy Items in ...; Created on 05 February 2021
26. Build financial security for your dairy in a time of uncertainty: (Management); Many dairy producers struggle to find words to sum up the last 12 months in the industry. The onset of the pandemic was almost like a violent storm that formed quickly. Producers who had sound risk ...; Created on 05 February 2021
27. Lessons learned from 2020: (Management); It’s fair to say that most of us are glad to put 2020 behind us. Dairy operators had to navigate multiple challenges that impacted their bottom lines. But, as we move forward, there are some important ...; Created on 06 January 2021
28. Manage change and influence team members on your dairy: (Management); The dairy industry is changing rapidly. While you might realize the importance of implementing a change on your operation to keep up with the evolving marketplace, how do you influence the people around ...; Created on 05 February 2021
29. Measure and monitor your dairy’s key financial data: (Management); “That which is measured improves. That which is measured and reported improves exponentially.” —Karl Pearson Monitoring numbers is nothing new for most dairy farmers. Many have had key performance indicators ...; Created on 05 February 2021
30. Milk price outlook hinges on demand at home and abroad: (Management); A hallmark of 2020 was the degree of unpredictability. How many times in the last 12 months have we felt like saying, “I didn’t see that coming.” As we look forward to having that annus horribilis behind ...; Created on 05 February 2021
31. Risk management has many perspectives, tools: (Management); Navigating an uncertain marketplace can be more successful by implementing a variety of risk management strategies best suited for the individual dairy operation, three Pennsylvania dairy producers noted ...; Created on 15 December 2020
32. Risk, choice and opportunity: Your farm’s transition story: (Management); “Succession planning would be considerably less difficult if the long-term stability of the agricultural industry was more predictable. Given the current hurdles, long-term profitability is very uncertain. ...; Created on 05 February 2021
33. Lifelong Learning: An open mind and readiness to learn lead to opportunities: (People); From a pop-up tent in our yard to a retail farmstead store selling beef, cheese, butter, chicken and more, the last four years have been a whirlwind of learning opportunities for my husband, Justin, and ...; Created on 05 February 2021
34. The Milk House: Only Dolly can save us now: (Ryan Dennis); I wasn’t there for the assassination of Martin Luther King, the protests against the Vietnam War or the tragedy of the Kent State shooting. Nor would I know how the events America has experienced recently ...; Created on 04 February 2021
35. Just dropping by ... Precious freedom: (Yevet Tenney); I don’t know about you, but I am getting fed up with the political war that never ends. I am not referring to the endless foreign wars where brave soldiers give their lives to keep a commitment to America. ...; Created on 04 February 2021