Preventing mastitis is no easy task due to the many risk factors that can be present on any given dairy. The variation in the biology of the cow, the bugs and the humans performing the tasks can make it very difficult to control on any given day. One risk factor, though, that should be easier to manage is the function of the milking equipment.

A healthy heart is the central system keeping your body alive and functioning properly. The same is true with your milking system. The pulsator acts as the heartbeat of the entire milking system to ensure proper milk harvest.

Uber, Lyft, Google’s self-driving car, smartphones – each of these is the outgrowth of a rapidly evolving and disruptive trend often referred to by its acronym, “CASE.” No, we aren’t referring to the trusted brand of tractor or machine, but rather the four key dynamic forces coming together to reshape our world: connected, autonomous, shared, electric.

Making the move to a robotic milking system can have a big impact on the finances of a farm as well as the well-being and quality of life of the animals and people involved.

Clinical mastitis is an ongoing problem on almost every dairy. We know what causes it, but prevention is another story, according to Dr. Nigel Cook, a professor at the University of Wisconsin. In his experience, around 15 percent of cows on dairies have clinical mastitis, but Cook sees opportunities to reduce that incidence with proper barn design and management.

Whenever I am around a group of high school-aged boys, eventually the subject of pickup trucks seems to arise. Which one is best? Whose is the stoutest? Which one do I prefer?

It begins with an idea Brian Devereaux of Orem, Utah, grew up around the dairy industry working for his father at TDLogix Inc. His father, Todd Devereaux, is a dairy equipment dealer and still is an innovator in programmable logic controls.

The fans and sprinklers in the holding pen may be running, but that does not guarantee cows are effectively cooled in this area, where they may spend several hours each day.

A ventilation and cooling concept borrowed from calf barns is delivering fresh air and relieving holding area heat stress at Mystic Valley Dairy near Sauk City, Wisconsin.

At Paul Dotterer and Sons Inc., modifications made to the holding pen have cows cooler and more comfortable. The 940-cow dairy located near Mill Hall,Pennsylvania, chose to invest in better cow cooling for their holding area last year.