Eighty-seven percent of a cow’s milk is water. So it is critical to recognize that providing clean, safe water is essential to maximizing herd performance and that not all water is acceptable for cows to drink.

Feeding time can cause a host of unique stressors to cows as they compete for space at the feedbunk and navigate their position in the herd’s social hierarchy.

For many years we housed calves in hutches outside and fed calves twice a day, and it worked for us, but as our herd grew, managing more hutch calves became more difficult. We wanted a system that lowered the amount of labor needed for the growing number of calves.

The heifer facility at Elm Farms Inc. is a little over a year old, and Michelle Hasheider-Burianek loves it. She and her father, Norbert Hasheider, operate the third-generation dairy farm, which is home to 130 registered Holstein cows including seven scored Excellent in their robotic dairy setup.

When Bobby Jacquier’s grandfather Robert Jacquier first established Laurelbrook Farm in 1948 in East Canaan, Connecticut, the area was an excellent place for a budding dairy farm. Over the years, however, the operation has not only faced the challenges of an expanding business but an expanding local population and increased regulations as well. To meet these challenges, the Jacquiers have taken a somewhat unusual route: compost.