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Fifteen years after Fair Oaks Farms opened its doors to the public to showcase modern agriculture and innovation in the industry, the farm’s founders, Mike and Sue McCloskey, held a ribbon cutting ceremony for its latest adoption of technology – an 800-cow freestall barn with 12 milking robots.

On Nov. 14, Fair Oaks Farms held a ribbon cutting ceremony for its new automated milking facility. The barn can hold up to 840 cows with 12 robots positioned in the center of the barn.

When making decisions on feed and management for calves and heifers, it’s easy to choose the cheapest option. However, we need to view these costs as an investment and think about how the decisions we make now will affect future outcomes.

Over the past couple of decades, advances in forage genetics, forage agronomics, forage harvesting and ensiling have enabled dairy farms to feed progressively more forages as a percentage of their total lactation ration. Feeding higher amounts of high-quality forage has resulted in improved rumen health, improved cow health and higher milk components. Another benefit of feeding higher levels of high-quality, homegrown forages is that it often translates to lower purchased feed costs and improved income over feed cost.

The harvest has come and gone, taking much of the opportunity to prevent shrink in your feed storage, but these winter shrink tips from three nutritionists across the U.S. can help your operation save money and protect your herd’s health no matter what kind of weather winter throws your way.

Twelve years ago, Brent Copenhaver had the opportunity to buy into a local dairy farm.