Handy Hints

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.


Click here to order our Handy Hints Book,
a collection of Handy Hints from our readers.



Here are a few Handy Hints from fellow readers.

Protect Colostrum Bags
May 10 2018
Goma Dairy in Marlette, Mich., found that storing and freezing colostrum in plastic bags leads to a faster defrosting period
A curb with the right angles
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
A bin for everything
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
A Portable Pressure Washer
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
Traction makes for a safer trip
March 10 2018
Adding these welding strips of metal grating onto our skid loader attachments greatly improved traction and reduced the risk of falls
Cleaner tails in the parlor
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
Clean water for calves
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
A cure for milking machine squawks
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
Homemade Group Feeder
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
A bale hauler and saver
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
A cozy colostrum feeder
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
This is a trunk saver
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
Carry calf buckets to their destination
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
Cleaner water for all
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
Identification locked in place
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
Bottles ready for feeding
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
No birds nest here
Aug. 10 2017
We’ve had issues with birds building nests above our door opener in our barn. We filled it with spray foam insulation, and now we don’t have any more bird nest issues. Scott Drooger
Drain tile doubles as a pail holder
July 15 2017
Calves are fed pasteurized milk and starter in pails at Vir-Clar Farm in Fond du Lac, Wis. The Boyke family keeps their calf pails securely in place by using field drain tile. Each piece of drai
A Skid Steer Bucket Addition
June 26 2017
To make feeding grain easier, we put a 3-inch auger into the skid loader bucket with a hydraulic motor. Now we can drive into a pile of corn, fill up the bucket, and drive along by the bun
Tractor tint and fan
June 15 2017
On the hottest days of the summer, it can get warm inside the cab even with the air conditioner running. In order to alleviate this situation, I added some window tint and an extra fan
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