Moving the gutter grates behind cows in a stanchion barn can be hard on your back and messy work. To eliminate this, we welded together some leftover pipe to create hooks. These hooks fit easily
For the most part, North American data collection for genetic evaluations operates much like it did in the 1960s, with data collected through traditional milk recording systems. While farmer-recorded
Each and every replacement heifer and the resulting cull cow come with a cost. Net herd replacement cost (NHRC) is one way to calculate the value of animals leaving your herd
When I look at the definition of patience,Merriam-Webster says this about being patient: bearing pains or trials calmly or without complaint; manifesting forbearance under provocation or strain; not hasty...
Calves don’t always finish drinking the water we give them. This means their water has to be collected and discarded before milk can be fed. We took a broken lawn mower, removed the eng
The author is a freelance writer in Indianapolis, Ind. He recently traveled to the Netherlands to interview dairy farmers and processors.De Jong normally lays down six layers of grass silage (a layer
I like to think that if I was older and wiser, answers would surface and the decisions I need to make would become more obvious. We are at a crossroads here at Bohnert Jerseys. My guess is that many o
Several of our weaned heifers recently developed really loose bloody diarrhea within a week of returning from a show. They were all about 4 to 5 months old and were in great health prior to this
We always need a fork or shovel nearby to clean feed bunks or put hay in front of the cows, so we came up with this idea. It’s just a PVC pipe screwed onto the fence, and we slip the fork right into
Walking through a boggy section of pasture or swampy wetland, landowners in the Northeast may never see one of its oldest inhabitants — the bog turtle. At only 4 inches across, it’s also one...
In our part of the country, we don’t rely on pivots and canals to water our crops; we look to the sky and wait for the clouds to open up and give us rain
As we evaluate fiber in dairy cow rations, one major question that arises is: “What is the interaction between fiber digestibility and particle size, and how does it affect the cow?”
Our English edition of the magazine has traversed the globe since 1885. Even though dairy farmers in more than 60 countries subscribe to our signature publication, people prefer to read and comprehend
I do a lot of maintenance around the farm and some of it requires PVC pipe repair. To keep the PVC primer and glue together, since they are both used at the same time, I took duct tape and taped both
While some dairy farmers would still like to see highly visible dairy advertising spots, those initiatives had become feel-good campaigns yielding little in the way of new product sales. The revamped