Fly control is one of the top issues facing dairy farmers. Summer brings warmer weather, longer days, pasture growth and grazing – things that we all look forward to during the long, cold and dark time of winter. The explosion of life in spring also brings with it the perennial and unwelcome problem of flies. Flies cause both irritation and serious economic losses to dairy farmers by spreading disease, feeding on animals (causing blood loss) and greatly decreasing productivity in grazing cattle by triggering them to crowd together and stop feeding. Pinkeye, mastitis and other diseases such as bovine leukosis are spread among cattle by the actions of flies feeding on them.

After the introduction and live demonstration of DeLaval's newest robotic milking parlor in Gamleby, Sweden, there were many questions about the possibilities for future adaptions of the technology. DeLaval's Jonas Hallman, director of automatic milking, fielded most of these questions. He's been working with the company's robotics division for the past three years and has seen how far the technology has already come. In the video below Hallman discusses the technology's potential in the future.

This article was #1 in PDmag's Top 5 most-well read New Technology articles in 2011. to jump to the article. Summary: The public display of a robotic rotary was arguably one of the most important announcements of 2011, so we weren't surprised to see this particular article top the list. Had it been included in the Top 25 most online-read articles, it would have ranked second, beat only by the raw milk poll. In fact, the YouTube videos accompanying this article, featuring a tour of the rotary and interviews with DeLaval leaders, received more than 2,000 views. Because this article was so popular, we asked DeLaval Marketing Manager Mark Futcher some follow-up questions: Q: What type of interest have you received? How do you quantify that interest? A: In the U.S., the interest in DeLaval Automatic Milking Rotary (AMR) from dairy producers has varied from those who are curious about the technology to those desiring to have the country’s first commercial installation. Most of the interest has come from farmers with herd sizes ranging from 300 to 900 lactating cows.

Preliminary estimates of Texas drought losses have reached $1.2 billion and are expected to escalate higher this year as livestock producers continue to sell off herds and crop conditions deteriorate, according to economists with the Texas AgriLife Extension Service.

Chuck Soderholm Eden Prairie, Minnesota Director of Research and Nutrition Milk Specialties Global

Two years ago we requested a few randomly selected U.S. producers in all regions of the country take a readership survey. Thankfully, many of them participated.

“Know Farming, Know Beef” was the theme of the checkoff’s Northeast Beef Promotion Initiative (NEBPI) 2011 Beef Boot Camp. The one and a half day conference was held in Hadley and Hatfield, Massachusetts, May 10 and 11. A total of 46 retail meat buyers, managers and directors participated in the event, the highest boot camp attendance for the NEBPI program to date. Retailers came from Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut and Pennsylvania.