Looking for ways to add efficiency to the farm? Winter can be a great time to review the ventilation in your barn and make improvements.

Obtainable in multiple styles and sizes, manure spreaders fill an important role in dairy farm management. While having so many choices is wonderful, it can create a confusing and stressful decision for a producer when purchasing a machine for the first time or updating an old spreader.

Forage processors are an invaluable component of many of our cattle operations today. If you are feeding cattle in bunks or on the ground, forage processors add efficiency by reducing manpower, improving forage utilization and reducing waste.

Koopman Dairy, operated by brothers Chad and Brent Koopman in Epworth, Iowa, makes use of two barns that run parallel and are connected by a breezeway. They retrofitted this facility to house two Lely A4 Astronaut automated milking systems in what was once the holding pen for the old parlor.

When the time came for brothers Chad and Brent Koopman, Epworth, Iowa, to take the reins of the second-generation dairy farm from their dad and uncle, they recognized changes were imminent.

Hydraulic power is something easy to use but not always easy to understand. At its root, hydraulics is the science of how fluids are harnessed to perform mechanical tasks. That can be anything from folding a disc at the end of a field to running a generator at the bottom of a huge dam.

Change is never easy, and the shift from milking in a parlor to robotic milking is anything but simple, but for Dan Barnes of Barnes Black and White Farm in Shoreham, Vermont, the addition of robotic milking to his dairy operation has come with big rewards.

Six months. 182 days. Seasons change. Holidays happen. You might exchange shorts for insulated coveralls and endure daylight saving time. A lot happens in six months.

Since I sell milking robots as well as parlors, I often have the opportunity to discuss the differences with dairies considering a change. The motivation to upgrade milking equipment or facilities can be to milk more cows, add beneficial technologies, reduce labor, improve quality of life or enhance the owners’ quality of work (freeing up their time to do more valuable activities).

More and more farms are transitioning to the world of robotic milking. During the preparation for this transition, farm visits will be made, drawings will be looked at and questions will be asked regarding numerous aspects of the project.