When a person decides to become a dairy farmer, they aren't choosing just a career but a lifestyle. As many of you know, dairy farming is a 24 hours a day, 7 days a week job. Most dairymen and women live...
Consumers will not hear what we have to say about the dairy industry unless we take the initiative and find ways to tell them. "To the consumer, our story doesn't exist unless we tell it." Dairy farmers...
Why evaporative cooling methods fit well on our farm. Growing up in the hot Kansas heat made it difficult to keep cows cool during the warmer summer months. When we decided to make modifications to our...
Custom hire is a smart business decision for our farm. While my husband and I milked our cows last night, a swather zipped through our fields, mowing down our first crop of alfalfa, along with the triticale...
Farmers are a lot like baseball team managers, working hard to keep their top performers healthy and "on the field." I like to think of my milking herd groups like baseball teams and myself as the team...
Block, curd, or shredded, put it on your plate. "A can a week is all we ask." That was a very successful marketing campaign for Blue Diamond Almonds decades ago. I saw plenty of those commercials and almond...
A small study showed that selective dry cow therapy can maintain udder health while reducing antibiotic use in some cows. One topic of conversation at the Minnesota Herd Health Conference held in Bloomington,...
Are you ready to handle triplets on your farm? As farmers, we learn to always expect the unexpected. But when triplets arrive on the dairy, it is understandable to be in shock. Surprised was my reaction...
Top animal welfare expert praises animal care, impressed with newest lameness research. Temple Grandin visits Vir-Clar Farm in Fond du Lac, Wis. "I saw dairy cows who have a wonderful life today." That's...
The standard of excellence begins with the boss when it comes to animal welfare. What's the hardest part of initiating a training program for animal welfare on today's dairies? If you ask Luís Mendonça,...
During the heat and humidity of summer, extra measures are taken to care for cows before and after calving. Ninety-eight degrees in Georgia feels a good bit different than 98° in California. In Georgia,...
Make time to sit down with family and talk succession planning. Raise your hand if you have an up-to-date, written, signed, notarized personal will? Keep your hand raised if that also contains a succession...
Humans are programmed to need 7.5 to 9 hours of sleep a night. No ifs, ands, or buts about it. Every now and then that warning slips across our radar again. "Get enough sleep; it's important." It's also...
Determining which cows are open early speeds the reset process. While we all like to hear that a cow is confirmed pregnant, there also is value in knowing that she is not. At that point, she can be quickly...
Housing that satisfies a cow's most basic needs- fresh air, feed, water, and resting space- is worth the investment. "Dairy housing design must focus on cow needs." That was the message of John Tyson's...
The Washington Post reporter left countless positive comments about the dairy industry out of his article. Temple had the email evidence to prove it. The last thing I expected when I wrote my blog about...
Regular maintenance helps us maintain our freestall barn in top working condition. We moved from a pasture based operation to our conventional freestall barn in 2009. At that time, a dairyman friend of...
It doesn't come naturally to most people, but delegation is essential to effective team leadership. Most of us, at some point in our lives, will find ourselves in a leadership position. While many dairy...
Research indicates multiple rations save money and resources, but it depends on the farm. No doubt efficiencies and economics are top of mind for dairy producers. This is not a new situation. Dairy producers...
