61st Annual Hoard's Dairyman Round Table: How the top herds produce high-quality milk Top-quality milk: what it takes Here's a detailed look at the practices of the five Platinum winners in the National...

They produce the highest quality milk These farms pair preventative practices with effective mastitis treatment. The six Platinum winners in this year's National Dairy Quality Awards competition work closely...

Clean, dry, and comfortable - those should be the goals of every dairy producer when it comes to cows and their housing conditions. If those goals are met, odds are your dairy can produce quality milk...

Err on the side of safety to avoid milk residues. When a cow needs medication, the first treatment step (before any medications are administered) should be the application of some form of semi-permanent...

Compost barns helping udder health and cow comfort. Compost, when managed correctly, can serve as a great tool to improve milk quality. There are many ways to successfully utilize and manage a compost...

Ten tips to bolster milking performance. Now would be a good time to review common confusions on your dairy's milking procedure and determine which procedures are not based on sound science. Those not...

Not all mastitis cases hurt us the same way. As every dairy producer knows, clinical mastitis is a common and persistent problem. It may occur several times during a lactation, with various consequences...

Poor-quality milk has hidden costs. "Our focus continues to be on clean, comfortable cows

Type of mastitis affects your loss. In a previous article (August 10, 2009, issue, page 492), we examined the impact of whether the first versus subsequent cases of clinical mastitis (without pathogen...

Keep teats protected from winter weather It's true that cows enjoy the cooler weather, but, as the temperature drops, so does the cow's ability to maintain skin moisture. Chapped skin isn't just painful...

59th Annual Hoard's Dairyman Round Table Low numbers add up to top quality milk Rock-bottom SCCs and bacteria counts put these seven operations at the pinnacle of milk quality. Here, they share how it's...

National Dairy Quality Award Winners From more than 220 applicants, these operations stood out for having produced high-quality milk consistently. Applications were evaluated for measures of quality, systems...

Are solids a solid bedding? Dried manure solids can make cents, and here's research that says it makes sense from a cow health perspective

The milking system checks you need. Whether you use the latest high-tech robot or a traditional milking system, maintaining your system's peak performance is crucial to prevent profits from going down...

Mastitis control hinges on dry and fresh cow care Much mastitis starts during the dry period and in the fresh cow pen. That's where you can make the most progress. Dry cow care has a lot to do with how...

Getting the mastitis numbers we need. Consistency is an important factor in caring for cows, and in no place is it more important than during milking. Ann could recite the milking technique that was used...