Dairy Management Inc. (DMI) recently promoted Barb O’Brien to the newly created position of president. In this role, she will oversee the strategic planning and operations for DMI, which manages the national dairy checkoff. O’Brien, a 15-year DMI veteran, also remains as president of the Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy.

Most dairies have various individuals who owners and managers can go to for advice in the many areas of management and operational matters. Often, this is informal and includes those individuals having some level of input on a daily, weekly or monthly basis.

Increased volatility in exports, which is creating price instability, signals that U.S. dairy farmers are operating in a global market more now than ever before, according to Matt Gould, analyst with Dairy Food and Market Analyst Inc.

There’s nothing any of us want more in this world than to take care of our family. To give them opportunities we never had. So we work and build something, a business, in which the rewards may not be reaped during our lifetime but can hopefully be an opportunity for the next generations.

Editor’s note: Click here to read this article in Spanish. In a matter of seconds, one small mistake can change a dairy farmer’s life forever. Did you know human negligence is the major cause of machine-related accidents?

On a dairy, we sometimes think it is our life’s work to open and close gates. It can be so routine that we begin to overlook the importance of a good, well-latched gate. We have all seen that telltale sign of gate troubles. You know somewhere a gate was neglected when a fourth-lactation docile high-producing cow dances across the front yard of the barn like a bred heifer.

On a regular basis, we meet with clients to review financial and statistical information. Through these meetings, we have the opportunity to analyze many different dairy operations. Although there are several different operating philosophies, there are also common factors we observe in profitable operations.

Distracted. Ignorant. Complacent. Challenging. Just some of the reasons one might not make a change. We’ve all been there; motivating change is hard, period. It’s in these times when the saying, “You can lead a horse to water …” really rings true.

With many things in life, more is not always better. But when it comes to milking frequency in a robotic milking system, more is almost always better.

It’s safe to assume that most dairy farmers prefer to focus on the day-to-day management of their operations rather than their financial records. But, unglamorous as it is, maintaining detailed financial reports is critical for making sound business decisions and for managing your operation’s strategy in the near and long term.