Without a doubt, you’ve read a half-dozen or more articles in the past several months about managing your dairy operation during periods of low margins. I initially thought this would be another of those articles; however, I’ve changed my mind and decided to offer a different message.

Labor issues were critical topics both on the agenda and in conversations throughout the High Plains Dairy Conference in Amarillo, Texas, March 6 and 7, 2018. More than 300 dairy producers, industry personnel and university staff gathered for the event.

The grain market began the month of April by processing the March 28 USDA Prospective Plantings and Quarterly Stocks reports. The reports caught many off-guard. Cumulatively, corn and soybean acres were estimated at 177 million acres, 3 million acres fewer than the 2017 season.

Add these articles to your dairy business library. Four habits for resiliency

There are many factors that can reduce a dairy’s profit margin and, with today’s financial situation, each cow must earn its keep. Herd information and data provide a wealth of information of financial results and performance.

Many employers spend thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours trying to meet state and federal mandates on labor law compliance posters, employee policies, training, mandatory forms and professional certifications each year. Yet that may not be enough.

Robotic milking was first adopted in the U.S. on a dairy farm in Wisconsin in 2000. Nearly 20 years later, the vast concentration of automated milking systems in this country remains north of the 40th parallel – the latitude line that runs across the U.S. and is marked by Kansas’ northern border – while very few systems can be found in the southern U.S.

While rotary parlors have become a predominant choice for milking large herds, rotaries are not a new idea. They date back to the unveiling of the Rotolactor at the 1930 World’s Fair. Many variations of rotary milking environments have been brought to market since then.

Fear and trepidation is normal when searching for used equipment. If only we had supernatural powers to see and know where trouble may lie.… Since we do not have such powers, a systematic examination of the used piece of equipment can help you locate problems which might otherwise be overlooked.

One of the biggest challenges hay producers have always faced is hitting that perfect moisture window. Forage analysis supports what many producers have known for a long time – minimizing the time hay lies in the field improves relative feed value (RFV).