Though recycled dairy cow bedding has been cycling throughout farms in the greater New York state area for more than 15 years, depending on who you talk to, word is still getting out about the “green” bedding and its benefits.

“In my day, we didn’t even have electricity on the farm.” That sentiment used to be only heard from a grandparent at the supper table. Given the nature of our nation’s failing electrical grid, today you’re more likely to hear, “Just yesterday, we didn’t have electricity on the farm.”

Before we know it, spring will be here again, begging us to get back into our crop fields. Having our equipment ready and able to handle the task requires some advanced planning and scheduling of check-ups, tune-ups and routine maintenance.

High bacteria counts are always a concern for a dairy, but fluctuating bacteria counts can signify even more complex problems. The CIP detectives recently visited a 300-cow dairy in northwestern Wisconsin that was facing such a problem.

Choosing a liner is a complex and difficult task – and an extremely important one. Liners have a huge impact on teat-end health as well as parlor efficiency. Often a particular liner is settled on by a trial-and-error process. With so many liner designs and choices, this process can be quite lengthy. I will attempt to describe the most popular types of liners available.

How low can you go? That’s what producers from California to Pennsylvania are asking after installing a new oval-barrel milking liner designed to operate at very low vacuum levels while maintaining milking speed.