With more and more farms investing in high-tech milking equipment, the quantity of data available on dairy farms has grown exponentially in a very short time.

Two years ago, Curtis Nolan was sure renovating the milking parlour was the next step for Kenyon Hill Farm, his family’s dairy in northeastern New York, which is operated by Nolan; his dad, Mike; and his brothers, Shane and Ryan.

The Baas family, parents Wiebe and Akke with sons Jan and Bert, emigrated from Holland in 1996. They settled northwest of Edmonton, near Barrhead, Alberta, purchasing a quarter-section of land (160 acres) with an existing dairy operation.

“You only get one chance to make good silage,” says Tim Meister. Meister, a division marketing manager for John Deere Ottumwa Works, has been analyzing corn silage for 20 years.

Summer is about over and you’re wondering how the breeding season has gone.

Dairy producers find themselves in a precarious situation these days. Faced with a growing world population, dwindling natural resources and actions guided by the social, ethical and environmental dictates of public opinion, they are under great pressure to produce more with less.