Keeping cows in the herd longer equates to additional profits of $150 per cow, per lactation. Increasing the productive life of a dairy cow is achieved through genetic selection, management and a comfortable environment.

Marketing of retired breeding stock accounts for roughly 20% of an operation’s annual income. In times of herd consolidations, making the decision of which females to sell might be tough. While it’s easy to part with open cows, late-bred females may be more challenging.

I grew up not too far from Six Flags Great America. The American Eagle is the tallest and fastest racing wooden roller coaster in the world. Its first drop gives me the feeling most dairy farmers must have felt this spring, not exhilarating, but gut-wrenching. Mandates to dump milk and cut production combined with plummeting milk prices and uncertainty as far as the eye could see were enough to give anyone that nauseous feeling.