Editor’s note: The following is the final installment of a three-part editorial commentary series by Progressive Dairyman Editor Walt Cooley about his observations traveling with members of the U.S. Dairy Export Council on a trade mission to the Middle East. And I thought root-beer-flavored milk was a unique taste? Try date-flavored milk. That’s what Jaya Kumar, general manager of Gulf and Safa Dairies, offered me and others traveling with the U.S. Dairy Export Council on a trade mission in Dubai while we visited his company’s milk processing headquarters.

What are the two key elements of a winning basketball team? It takes talented players and good coaching. What about your dairy farm? What are two of the key elements of a winning milk-producing team? It takes talented cows (players) and good management (coaching). Let us use a series of questions and answers to expand on this metaphor.

How much time do you spend finding ways to reduce feed losses? How much of that time is focused on monitoring your feeder’s performance? And when was the last time you had a training session or refresher for your feeders focusing on how to reduce feed losses and what your expectations are?

Milk producers everywhere face the challenge of many different problems on their dairies. Today I am going to discuss three of those issues. They are: Downer cows, bovine pain control and animal rights versus animal welfare. Let’s consider each of these relevant topics. Downer cows The USDA has a ban on the sale of down cows for human consumption. There are almost 300 documented causes of “down cow syndrome.” There are four primary reasons for down cows. They are: calving paralysis, mastitis, metritis and accidents.

Editor’s note: The following is an actual conversation the author had with a Missouri dairy producer about how to deal with employees not meeting the standards of the dairy. Missouri Dairyman: I have an employee who is not working out, what can I do?

Several decisions are made daily on a dairy farm. Some involve cow and labor management, others address crop and business concerns and there are a host of others in between. Unfortunately, dairy producers do not always have enough information to make the best decisions for current circumstances. One could argue time constraints significantly hamper the ability to make profitable decisions all the time, noted Victor E. Cabrera, University of Wisconsin-Madison/Extension dairy systems management specialist.

As spring fever hits on these nice, sunny days, it is a good time to do a safety scan of your farm to be sure when you hit the fields you and your workforce are working in as safe an environment as possible. I came across this simple acronym awhile back that may be a good way to organize your safety efforts.