Topics

As a dairy producer, ensuring your calves have the best start to life begins before the calf is born. The care and nutrition you provide the cow while its calf is in utero can set that calf up for life.

Gypsum recycled from manufacturing and construction waste has gained popularity as a bedding source for the dairy industry. Its proponents cite affordability, increased moisture absorption, low bacteria growth and soil benefits as reasons for its use.

A.I. and good bulls are where it’s at to build a good herd of cows, says Norman Martin, owner of Martin Dairy LLC in Tillamook, Oregon. To date, the dairy is the highest genetically ranked Jersey herd in the U.S.

“When you have happy and healthy cows, your employees also will be happy,” Conny van Bedaf, co-owner of VanBedaf Dairy LLP, says. “It also works the other way around. If you have happy employees, they will be able to keep your cows happy and healthy.”

Not too long ago in this column, we discussed some of the different ways we cut metal in and around our farm shops; therefore, I thought it reasonable we talk about some of the ways to repair metal that either was cut by accident or broke outright on its own.

As more robotic barns appear across the industry, the demand for cows and heifers that have been bred for an automated milking environment is on the rise, with some breeders receiving a premium when selling heifers and cows that were bred for a robotic operation.