One way to improve productivity and efficiency on farms is to simplify management. When it comes to making high quality milk, Michigan State University’s Pam Ruegg, D.V.M., offered this straightforward...
Could dairy’s “V-shaped” price recovery transcend into a “W-shaped” price downturn? If shifted from a “V” to a “W-shaped” milk price graph, the markets...
Dairy cows may be the hardest-working livestock species. After a productive life making milk, most cows go on to a “second career” providing beef as culled cows
Dairies normally have guidelines for culling cows, but how many of you have written rules or at least go through and cull calves and heifers on a regular basis?
“We need to look at dairy heifers like a beef operation,” Elanco’s John Lee told attendees at the Dairy Cattle Reproduction Council’s annual gathering in Columbus, Ohio. “Dairy...
Due to very favorable margins throughout the U.S. last year, dairy farmers were able to prepay many expenses at year's end for 2015. That situation may have given dairy producers a false sense of security...
The information provided on DHIA culling in last week's Hoard's Dairyman Intel article, "Low production tops the culling list," actually comes from a report released by the Council on Dairy Cattle Breeding....
It's hard to see the good ones go, but culling is an inevitable part of having a dairy and an important herd management tool. For decades, the Dairy Herd Information Association (DHIA) has been collecting...
We were halfway through reproductive exams when Henry told me that they had sold a load of cull cows last week that averaged 1,900 pounds and that brought in over $1,100 each. At first, this seems very...
Severe drought and record high corn prices have made 2011 a nightmare for beef producers in Texas and surrounding states. One result, though, is the value of cull dairy cows has soared to levels milk producers...