Dairymen in southeastern Minnesota have likely heard of Carlson Hoof Trimming, a second-generation family business that has literally shaped the way cows walk for nearly 40 years.

“What you put into those calves, you’re going to get out as 2-year-olds,” Cricket Jacquier, owner of Laurelbrook Farm, says. “I’m convinced of that. You can’t have a hiccup along the way.”

Event: Tornado Total property damage: More than $1 million Injury or losses to cattle: A dozen cows lost

Brian Houin of Homestead Dairy LLC in Plymouth, Indiana, attributes the operation’s growth and success to smart planning and detailed data collection. Houin, along with Joel Gawronski, Ryan Rogers and Matt Houin, own and manage a herd of 3,500 milking cows on three locations. Houin shared the details of the farm’s management success at the 2015 Pennsylvania Dairy Summit on Feb. 4 in Lancaster.

Elizabeth (Betsy) Fleury and her husband, Steve, spend each Christmas Eve discussing how their year went, and each New Year’s Eve planning for the next 12 months on their farm in Richford, Vermont. Their farm motto always has been “Get better, not bigger,” and when the couple sold their 35 registered Jersey dairy cows at the end of 2014, Betsy says this tough decision fell right in line with that mode of thinking.

Where there’s a will for small-scale dairy producers to market nutrient-dense raw milk direct to consumers, there’s usually a way; whether that “way” lands those farmers in the heartland of Wisconsin or in God’s country in Colorado may depend on the pendulum swing of legislation of the respective states.

Sue McCloskey and her husband, Mike, run Fair Oaks Farms, a 37,000-cow operation and agritourist park in Indiana. The farm and its cooperative, Select Milk Producers, is working in partnership with Coca-Cola to produce the milk-based product FairLife.

Hugh Byron, a retired dairy farmer from Kentucky, was recently interviewed by Reuters as part of a series investigating the use of antibiotics in the food supply. The article included a section about the practice of using some antibiotics to boost the health of a sick dairy animal long enough to take the animal to slaughter.