After saving up money from bottle-feeding calves, bedding down calf hutches, and cleaning out our garage, our youngest son, Jacob, came up with enough money for a down payment to purchase his first heifer

I’ve always been the person who wants to compare herself to others. I can’t help it

While not a devastating year for growing crops, it certainly was not ideal. Weather, milk prices, and export bureaucracy have left many feeling a bit underwhelmed

I took this picture a couple of weeks before school started because I wanted to remember moments like these with my littlest helper

All the latest research in all areas of our operations, yet I bet on every farm there’s an area where we all could say, “that’s how we’ve always done it.”

With two years of planning and touring robotic farms under our belts, it is now time to break ground on the next phase for our family farm

A couple years ago, after we realized that the Margin Protection Program for Dairy (MPP-Dairy) wasn’t going to offer us any meaningful protection, we created our own self-funded insura

I’ll be the first to admit that my husband and I are “genetics junkies.”

Cornell University’s Paul Virkler, D.V.M., presented the December webinar, “Troubleshooting mastitis and milk quality programs.” While we often focus on the people and cows involved in...

Extra thought put into a robot barn design is time well spent

The use of tile drainage varies across the Midwest

How many hours a day are your cows not in their home pen? Taking a closer look into your milking herd’s daily schedule is an important management step

Ah, that new car feel . . . It’s different, better, and exciting . . . all at the same time. As I watched our March webinar, “Making use of all that parlor data,” I instantly made the...

Pay attention to equipment abilities and the milking routine because overmilking means under performing in the parlor. Use this quick test to discover if overmilking is an issue in your barn.

Good nutrition plays a key role in hoof health. Hoof issues are a concern for many dairy producers. They can limit feed intake, sacrifice milk production, and impair cow comfort. Along with a comprehensive...

For farms struggling to find enough employees or looking for more flexibility in their daily routine, robotic milking systems have become an intriguing option

When it comes to controlling lameness, the most effective footbath immerses each hoof more than once. Is lameness an issue in your herd? If so, you are not alone. According to Nigel Cook, D.V.M., from...

A warming box can save young calves born during the frigid cold. There's definitely a chill in the air, and for those of us in Northern climates, that chill is not going away any time soon. Falling temperatures...

Now is the time to conduct a postmortem on your heat stress mitigation plan and evaluate potential modifications. With full bunkers and only a few remaining harvest tasks to check off the list, the warmth...

Leachate and runoff can drain nutrients from your bunk while hampering water quality. When it comes to feed, shrink – or nutrients that are lost before they have a chance to be consumed – can...