With current milk prices, dairy farmers are trying to lower costs, while optimizing their return opportunities. With the average cost of raising a dairy replacement heifer at over $2,500, according to a 2019 Cornell Cooperative Extension survey, heifer inventory management and raising the right replacements is a critical part of that plan.

Efficient. Sustainable. Profitable. Productive. Economical. They feel like buzzwords, yet they’ve maintained their lofty position in the cattle industry zeitgeist for long enough now that it’s impossible to shy away from the inevitability – and even merit – of defining and reaching for such ideals.

One hundred miles north of Los Angeles, almond trees bloom, the sun shines and a Holstein cow leisurely walks back to her dry lot pen after her second of three milkings. She’s a member of Vanden Berge Dairy’s herd of Holsteins and is a product of an impressive genetic strategy.

Using automated activity monitoring with genomic data might be an opportunity for the dairy industry to improve reproductive performance, optimize herd management practices and increase profitability. This concept has been described as targeted reproductive management.

As a beef producer, sustainability is defined as your continued ability to live comfortably, to maintain a way of life that you have chosen for yourself and to ensure that you can pass that way of life on to your children and your children’s children.

Dairy producers and industry representatives in the Magic Valley gathered at Mountain View Barn in Jerome Feb. 28 for a workshop to discuss genomic testing and potential economic advantages of implementing the practice.

Breed for fertility, feed for fertility, manage for fertility – this phrase encapsulates the approach Siebren Jacobi has taken to capture greater herd performance and profitability at Rocking S Dairy in Modesto, California.

A goal to get an extra lactation out of their cows improved more than herd longevity at Doll’s Dairy Inc. in Pocahontas, Illinois. It also provided additional opportunities to diversify the farm’s revenue streams, including selling beef-on-dairy calves and excess heifer calves.

Genomics has become one of the most powerful tools in the cattle industry over the last decade, but the technology is often misunderstood. The goal here is to help dispel some myths and confusion around the use of genomics.