When dairy industry consultants recommend facility or management improvements, more often than not, it’s assumed these types of cow comfort investments are automatically justified. What lenders need to understand, however, is how the investments will provide the returns to justify the expense.

Dry cows are the up-and-coming milk-makers in your herd – yet when it comes to cooling, they are often overlooked. A study conducted by the National Animal Health Monitoring System (NAHMS) revealed that 74.3 percent of all dairy operations provided fans for their lactating herd, while only 36 percent offered fans for dry cows. The milking herd on 20.3 percent of all operations was also cooled by sprinklers, yet only 4.6 percent of dry cows had access to this cooling method.

Robotic milking embraces the basics in herd management and milk production, but other essential components like lifestyle, daily routines and housing facilities can and do vary. One hot topic concerning housing facilities in automatic milking system barns is bedding. Appropriate bedding systems should fulfill the requirements of lactating dairy cows milked robotically in a sustainable way, considering these four pillars:

As new technologies continue to change how dairy producers manage and operate their farms, it is good to keep an eye on the horizon to see what might be available in the next five to 10 years. Progressive Dairyman recently asked major milking equipment companies what they see as the future for milking equipment in the U.S. Read on to see responses from three of the companies.

When the Professional Nutrient Applicators Association of Wisconsin met earlier this year, the group invited four dairy producers to explain what they expect of the nutrient applicators they hire to handle an important task for their dairy operations.

Through remarkable technologies such as anaerobic digestion, agriculture is working to develop waste management options that are sustainable and ecologically sound. Even those dairy producers who operate on smaller scales should be aware that adopting cleaner practices starts with dirtying the hands.

While the process of anaerobically digesting organic wastes has long been present in the U.S., its effective use is often not realized since the basics of its operation is not well understood.

As the White House prepares for its famous Easter Egg Roll, the nation prepares to celebrate another holiday gone amiss. The stores bulge with chocolate bunnies, eggs and cellophane grass-filled baskets. There are lilies in flower shops and plenty of egg coloring kits in every supermarket and candies on every shelf.