The 2026 Central Plains Dairy Expo commenced with a welcome reception and BlackHawk concert on March 17 in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. The following two days were filled with breakout sessions in both English and Spanish, networking events and plenty of time to visit with friends, colleagues and trade show exhibitors. Sessions covered a multitude of topics including fly control, technology, herd health, immigration law, artificial intelligence (AI) and more.
Using artificial intelligence to improve efficiencies on the farm
As labor challenges persist in many regions, every efficiency helps, whether it is a simple translation, help analyzing data or having a more complicated custom AI coach agent. During her breakout session, Dagmar Beckel-Machyckova, general manager of Golden Calf Company, discussed how to use AI tools such as ChatGPT or Gemini on a dairy farm.
Technologies like AI can help provide a competitive advantage for dairy farms and other businesses.
“As an American-based manufacturing business, we need every technological advantage to stay competitive against competitors who manufacture their products overseas, and we have found AI to be very beneficial to our business. We want to share this knowledge with dairy farmers to help them stay competitive because if they are successful, we are successful,” Beckel-Machyckova said.
She sees AI as a lower-cost skills multiplier, which can be helpful since many dairy farmers work in isolation without the benefit of co-workers to bounce ideas off. The key to better results with AI is to utilize the right structure when asking questions.
Each question or prompt should incorporate the following elements:
- Who do you want AI to be? (What kind of employee or help do you need?)
- What exact job/task do you want done?
- Why are we doing this? What context does it need to understand your world?
- Where are the limitations? What rules and constraints matter?
- How would you like to see the results? What format would save you time?
“By giving AI details, you can get results that feel tailor-made to your needs,” Beckel-Machyckova said. “A great example is generating protocols for maternity areas. Following this simple structure, farmers can ask it to generate protocols for a particular task simply by referencing an article they found valuable.”
Hinting at things yet to come, Beckel-Machyckova closed by encouraging the audience to learn how to use this tool sooner rather than later.
“We live in a unique time, when AI is just beginning. Every year, it gets more intelligent and capable. Now is the time to learn how to use it, just as it is developing, so we can learn new features as they come on board. If we wait, the learning curve might be too steep. Do it while it is still affordable – the time to learn is now. I strongly believe that mastering AI will be the main competitive advantage two years from now,” she said.
Heifer-raising benchmarks and best practices
Heifer management from maternity to maturity was the focus of a breakout session led by Bethany Dado-Senn, calf and heifer technical specialist for Vita Plus. She described key growth stages (birth, early-life health windows, weaning and puberty), highlighted primary benchmarks for each stage and asked thought-provoking questions to help dairy producers reach their next level of management.
“Benchmarks are best applied within the farm instead of across farms, as management differences can drastically influence growth and health metrics,” Dado-Senn said. “We’ve moved well beyond the historical target of simply keeping heifers around in the herd. Today’s progressive dairy farmers are laser-focused on raising healthy, well-conditioned calves and, alongside their calf consultants, they have identified the key benchmarks to get there.”
Dado-Senn shared the three C's of preweaned calf care that she prioritizes for short- and long-term performance, which are colostrum, cleanliness and calories.
“Strive to maximize calf passive transfer of immunity by feeding moderate volumes of high-quality colostrum over two feedings in the first 12 hours of life. Feed low-bacteria colostrum and milk through proper harvesting and processing, alongside hygienic feeding equipment and housing. Sanitation should be routinely tested on-farm using ATP meters and milk sampling. Growing the modern dairy calf requires moving beyond traditional, low-energy milk diets and instead focusing on maximizing both milk composition and volume in early life while encouraging proper starter grain intake later through strategic weaning,” she said.
Despite massive improvements in weaning programs, the postweaning slump is still evident in both research and field observations. This is primarily attributed to rapid diet changes, poor rumen development and stacked stressors leading to impaired energy availability. This may sometimes snowball into lesser-recognized windows of BRD at 3 to 4 months old.
“Producers are looking to reduce the postweaning slump by easing through each transition as much as possible,” Dado-Senn said. “I often get questions surrounding timing of feed changes, particularly when to introduce forages. There is unfortunately no clear-cut answer, as it will depend on starter form, intake, age at weaning and indicators of good rumen development. I generally recommend making transitions from starter to grower and from non-inclusion to inclusion of moderate-quality hay slowly across postweaning pens. It’s also very important to ensure that feed and water are both easily accessible, particularly if weaning is happening later and calves are larger moving into postweaned pens. I was also asked to conduct many ventilation audits in postweaned calf barns this past winter to identify opportunities to improve air quality and limit elevated BRD from temperature swings.”
Immigration law updates
Attorney Amanda Bahena from Woods, Fuller, Schultz and Smith P.C. provided the latest U.S. immigration law updates that impact dairy farms.
“There has certainly been a tightening in the agricultural labor market,” Bahena said. “The flow of new laborers into the U.S. is drastically reduced, and a large number of immigrants that were already in the U.S. have lost their work authorizations, been removed from the U.S. or have self-deported. There has also been a notable increase of ICE officer inquiries and investigations at dairy farms.”
The first step dairy owners and managers can take to strengthen their internal processes is to train everyone involved in the hiring and onboarding process.
“That training must be taken seriously, as penalties for I-9 clerical errors or unintentional oversights can quickly reach six figures. Ignorance of I-9 regulations is not an acceptable excuse or defense,” she said. “Training can start with online videos and guidance. Each dairy farm should also have an immigration attorney as a resource and a number to call in case of immigration contacts. Also, every U.S. employer should have a written policy on how to handle law enforcement presence or inquiries at the workplace. We have been assisting many employers, including dairy farms, in creating their law enforcement contact policies. Each policy includes the list of law enforcement liaisons at that worksite. The liaisons should then be specifically trained in handling law enforcement contacts and inquiries.”
Bahena urged the audience to take immigration regulations seriously and to be diligent in receiving accurate legal advice.
“There are a lot of rumors and information online, and the amount of information can seem overwhelming. It is important not to react by ignoring the current immigration landscape. Dairy producers can be proactive by obtaining training on I-9 and other hiring compliance, creating law enforcement contact policies, and if producers are struggling to find authorized workers, by investigating options such as PERM sponsorships, TN and potentially H-2A visas. Advocating for the importance of immigrants in the U.S. agricultural economy is also important and does make a difference,” she said.
The 2026 Central Plains Dairy Expo kicked off with a welcome reception and entertainment by BlackHawk. Image by Kimberley Morrill.
