Farm transition planning creates a path forward to move a dairy from one generation to the next

Conversations about calf feeding often focus on the liquid portion of the diet, either milk or milk replacer, but calf starter is an important part of the equation, too

As he spoke with a room of dairy producers and farm organization representatives at a Wisconsin dairy farm last Thursday, USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack emphasized that if a change is going to come

Six herds sorted themselves to the very top of the pool of impressive entrants of the 14th annual Excellence in Dairy Reproduction Awards presented by the Dairy Cattle Reproduction Council (DCRC)

“To maintain healthy teat ends, we monitor vacuum levels at 11.9 to 12.2 inches at the teat end,” said Andy Fisher of Reedsville, Wis

“Dry cows are kept in freestall barns and put into separate groups, far-off and close-up,” said Brent Wilson of Wilson Centennial Farms near Carson City, Mich

When Jacki Moegenburg was a junior at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls, she worked with one of her professors to put together a business plan for an agritourism venture on her family’s dairy...

Tours and on-farm events are awesome ways to educate consumers about dairy farming and the nutrition dairy products can provide

For dairy producers incorporating beef semen into their breeding programs, there are a lot of benefits

When heifer inventories are considered, an often-overlooked impact of a smaller heifer inventory is a need to take a closer look at culling rates in the lactating herd

With heifer prices dropping to modern-day record lows in the last several years, many farms have been faced with the question of what to do with extra heifers that aren’t bound for their lactating...

Some dairy farms decide to take on-farm processing to the next level by opening a retail store. This serves as an opportunity to provide products directly to consumers

An on-farm retail store provides a unique opportunity, not only to sell products directly to customers, but to also bring them to the farm on a regular basis

Running a dairy farm is more than enough work for a dairy farm family to handle. When you add on farm processing and direct sales to the mix, challenges certainly come with the rewards

“When a cow calves, it is kept in the hospital pen for three days. Hospital pens are checked daily, and we monitor the health of the cows and check for antibiotic residues to ensure quality of milk,”...

“With 60 to 65 percent of the milk check going towards feeding/feed costs, this has a huge impact on farm profitability,” explained Leatherbrook Holsteins’ Adam Graft

“The entire dairy is equipped with headlocks. Lockup time is one of our main focuses, and our goal is 30 minutes or less of lockup time,” said Chris Terra, a Platinum winner of the Dairy Cattle...

“Double ovsynch is our choice of presynch method for all first services. We have tried other synch programs and have even gone without a synch program, but no alternatives have delivered the consistent...

A voluntary waiting period (VWP) of 88 days is the longest calving-to-breeding period among all the finalists in this year’s Dairy Cattle Reproduction Council’s awards competition

To bring in more income without adding cows, some dairy producers chose to diversify their operations by introducing other revenue streams