With extreme drought conditions affecting more than half of the U.S., and in excess of 30 percent of the corn crop rated at poor or very poor conditions – this year’s forages are likely to present some challenges. “Unfortunately you can’t control the plant that’s presented for harvest,” says Martha Baker, dairy nutrition specialist with Purina Animal Nutrition LLC. “But you can control what you do with it.” The upside to dealing with drought-stressed forages is that total plant digestibility tends to go up and they tend to be good quality feeds, because of higher stem to leaf ratios.

When people think of the benefits ultrasound provides in a dairy’s reproductive management, they think of early pregnancy diagnosis. Ultrasound is in fact a great diagnostic tool for finding pregnancies early, but the true benefit to reproduction comes from identifying the open cows sooner. Skilled ultrasonographers are able to identify the fetus and heartbeat reliably as early as day 26 of gestation. At this early stage of the pregnancy, the fetus and pocket of fluid are very small and requires a more methodical scan to find the fetus or to be secure in calling the cow “open.”

With reproduction costs accounting for a significant portion of the expenditures on a dairy, current trends demonstrate more and more producers looking into solutions to improve their reproductive programs, including the use of activity monitoring systems. “For years, there was discussion and academic studies that proved the strong correlation between a cow in heat and her movement pattern,” Cecilia Bågenvik, Business Manager for Farm Management Automation at DeLaval International, says.

The winners of the inaugural Dairy Research Institute New Product Competition were announced during a July 16 ceremony at the 2012 American Dairy Science Association (ADSA) meeting in Phoenix. The competition is designed to inspire dairy innovation by challenging college students to develop dairy-based products that meet consumer needs. Click here to see Progressive Dairyman's "In Focus" feature about the competition. Participants were tasked with creating a dairy beverage that included more than 51 percent of fresh milk, dry milk or other dairy ingredients.

We are hosting another hay bale decorating contest! (Click here to see the 2010 winners and here to see the 2011 winners)

Fires that damage or destroys hay and barns – resulting in building replacement, feed replacement and lost revenues – cost area farmers thousands of dollars each year.