Do you have an idea you’d like to share with other dairy producers? Send it our way! We pay $50 for Handy Hints printed in the magazine.

To be considered, all submitted hints must include a clear, print quality photo (at least 240 dpi and approximately 4" by 6” in size). Please send items to Hoard’s Dairyman, Handy Hints Department, P.O. Box 801, Fort Atkinson, WI 53538. You can also email your Handy Hints to editors@hoards.com. Please include your name, full mailing address and a short description of the handy hint with each submission.


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a collection of Handy Hints from our readers.



Here are a few Handy Hints from fellow readers.

Aug. 10 2018
When a newborn calf is moved into its individual pen in the calf barn at Endres Jazzy Jerseys, it is not ear tagged immediately. In order to keep calves correctly identified at the Lodi, Wis., farm, a
July 15 2018
At Migliazzo and Sons Dairy of Atwater, Calif., milking towels are kept close by in these handy towel holders. The farm took 3-1/2-gallon plastic pails and cut a hole out of the bottom. Clean towels a
June 15 2018
After having valuable saleable milk poured down the drain due to a simple error of not paying attention to overflowing bulk tanks, we decided to go back to the basics. We recalled the game “red ligh
May 25 2018
At Cook Dairy in Pewamo, Mich., calves on pasture are fed grain using a homemade feeder. The feeder was constructed by slicing plastic barrels in half and securing them with a bolt. The feeder can be
May 10 2018
Goma Dairy in Marlette, Mich., found that storing and freezing colostrum in plastic bags leads to a faster defrosting period
April 25 2018
Wallman Dairy asked builders to pour the curbs with a curved top, rather than a flat one, so that feed and moisture will roll off of the curbs rather than settle on top of it
April 10 2018
We bought this shelving unit from Sam’s Club that had bins of varying sizes. I labeled and organized all the boxes according to what they would be holding
March 25 2018
I wanted to make our pressure washer more portable, so I put it on a wagon and added a 55-gallon drum and hose reel. I drilled a hole 2 inches from the bottom of the drum and installed a bulkhead fitt
March 10 2018
Adding these welding strips of metal grating onto our skid loader attachments greatly improved traction and reduced the risk of falls
Feb. 25 2018
We had a problem with our cows’ tails falling into our manure pan in the parlor, especially in the summer months when it’s warm and flies are present. Looking for a solution, I cut the botto
Feb. 10 2018
We have calves that always want to step up into the water fountains and make them filthy. To prevent that, we cut off the bottom of a 55-gallon drum and notched slits into the sides that slip onto the
Jan. 25 2018
Every once in awhile we will get a cow that comes into the milking parlor with an uneven udder. No matter how hard you try to position the milking machine properly, it will squawk. My boss simp
Jan. 10 2018
At Hidden View Farm in Cambridge, N.Y., a mob feeder was constructed to meet the needs of the farm’s group-housed calves. Four holes were drilled on the lower portion of the side of a 5-gallon
Dec. 12 2017
We developed a bale mover out of pallets to keep bales from sitting on the dirty ground. This also helped to keep the bale supported on one side so it wouldn’t fall apart while we took what we neede
Nov. 15 2017
Dave Endres of Endres Jazzy Jerseys in Lodi, Wis., came up with a solution to keep newborn calves clean and well fed. Rather than struggle to keep a newborn calf still and off the dirty floor while tr
Oct. 25 2017
I have a handy hint every person is going to love. It involves keeping your vehicle clean when transporting animals, feed, or other supplies
Oct. 10 2017
We made this bucket carrier to easily transport our calf feeding pails to our calf hutches. The carrier holds 24, 2-gallon pails and six, 5-gallon pails. It can also hold 18 bottles between the pails
Sept. 25 2017
We came up with a new way to clean water tanks. We put an old propane tank on a buggy to hold the water. We attached a used surge vacuum pump that is run by a Honda motor. The pump builds up vacuum in
Sept. 1 2017
Some days, we have multiple fresh cows. Since we want all the calves to receive colostrum from their own dam, we needed an easy way for the calf feeder to know which milk came from what cow
Aug. 25 2017
In the area of our barn where we keep bull calves, the bottles hang on the wall in a milk crate. With this setup, the nipples often fall off or get thrown in the wash basin. My simple, inexpensi