“Hello…er…what was your name again? Yeah, Pete, that’s right. We’re sure glad to have you starting today, two guys left last week and I did most of the milking over the weekend. Put your stuff down over there, here’s a pair of gloves, let’s get in the parlor.

During times of tight margins and economic uncertainty, investing into your business can seem risky, if not impossible. With lenders and consultants telling you to cut expenditures, it’s tempting to put all capital investments on the back burner.

The Dairy Profit Monitor (DPM) is a monthly tool designed to help dairy producers watch their income over feed costs (IOFC) along with other key operating and financial measures. Producers input information from their milk checks, feed and herd management programs, as well as costs and labor hours of the dairy.

As dairy producers have become increasingly aware of the significance of current labor issues, much discussion has revolved around labor costs and increasing minimum wages. Although cost has significant implications in the labor topic, understanding how and where employees spend time may be more important than the cost per hour and value of employees themselves.

Conflict is a daily reality. Some conflicts are relatively minor and easy to handle. However, conflicts of greater magnitude require a strategy for successful resolution to prevent them from creating constant tension. The strategy requires using the best conflict style for each situation.

Since the beginning of the genomic era, the De-Su prefix has dominated high-ranking Holstein lists, leaving a lasting impact on the breed with bulls like Observer, Bookem and Balisto, just to name a few.

At Son-Bow Farms near Spring Valley, Wisconsin, the sand-laden manure from 1,400 cows no longer goes straight to the lagoon.

One of the many challenges of understanding dairy financial statements, and dairy operations as a whole, is understanding how to handle the biological and seasonal fluctuations so prevalent in the industry.

Today, I encountered three acquaintances who are all dealing with different kinds of loss. One is a husband whose wife is suffering from a stroke. One is a woman whose nephew is suffering from a mental illness.

Almost 1,100 farmers in Wisconsin responded to a recent digital technology adoption survey we conducted at the University of Wisconsin. Dairy, livestock and crop producers were targeted in our research that included 387 dairy producer respondents.