Over the years, I’ve heard just about every reason why a client “needs” to buy the 40 acres next door. Let’s run through a few of them.

As you know, dairy farm operations cannot stop for holidays. You and your employees, however, are members of families and social groups that have holiday expectations, traditions and plans.

Warren Buffet is quoted as saying, “You need cash. Cash is like oxygen. When you don’t need it, you don’t notice it. When you do need it, it’s the only thing you think about.”

Dairy farmers have until Dec. 15, 2017, to make decisions on participation in the Margin Protection Program for Dairy (MPP-Dairy) for 2018. One option includes the ability to opt out. By opting out of MPP-Dairy, they are eligible to use a separate risk management tool, Livestock Gross Margin for Dairy (LGM-Dairy).

Picture in your mind a person who cares for dairy cattle, practicing good animal husbandry. He or she enjoys spending time with the herd and has detailed knowledge about each individual cow.

In a recent article, I mentioned the concept of continuous improvement and want to expand the conversation around that management model.

Since the first cow was domesticated, dairy farmers have continually invested in better ways to milk cows and deliver the highest-quality products possible to consumers. High-tech milking equipment, infrared milk meters, automatic detachers, electronic identification and animal monitoring technology all work together to benefit cow, equipment and people performance.

This is the final article in a three-part series. In Issue 16 of Progressive Dairyman (Oct. 1, 2017 - Land use law and zoning: Vested rights), we discussed ongoing legal battles involving Golden Sands Dairy LLC and a local government over the siting of a new dairy operation.

As 2017 rapidly comes to a close, it is time to plan for 2018. As your dairy business continues to change with uncertain markets and shrinking basis over the Class III price, business planning becomes more critical than ever.

Issue 16 of Progressive Dairyman (Oct. 10, 2017) highlighted the Rural Firefighters Delivering Agricultural Safety and Health (RFDASH) project from the National Farm Medicine Center.