In this issue, we publish a popular article that first appeared in our electronic newsletter. The article describes a group of producers who are early-adopters of robotic milking technology who meet regularly – both in person and online –to share ideas about how to improve their automated operations.

It’s fitting that Progressive Dairyman include a marketing article in the issue focused on peak milk production and quality. After all, these days, dairy producers need to have as much confidence in handling markets as they do handling their high-producing cows. To gain that confidence, it’s best to examine what success looks like. Much like dairy producers group cows to manage their care, we could group our clients according to the characteristics they have as marketers – from the high-confidence group that has been through many market cycles on through to the newest clients who are still learning.

When was the last time you stopped to think about your personal “business philosophy?” In other words ... when it comes to work, what do you value and focus on the most? Regardless of how often your day-to-day challenges change, your “business compass” should remain pretty constant as you navigate through these ups and downs. So what’s at the center of the way you make decisions and prioritize your time?

Low milk price, high costs of feed, an employee with a really bad attitude – now SCC has spiked for the week – can you take all the pressure? All of a sudden, someone comes and adds to the bad news; you react and you unleash a reaction all human beings have been dealing with since humankind has been around. Even though the thinking human brain has somewhat evolved over thousands of years, there are parts of the human brain that haven’t had a hardware upgrade in about 100,000 years. According to world-renowned emotional intelligence expert Daniel Goleman, most of us are still acting out of the ancient fight-freeze-or-flight response, and an upgrade is long overdue.

Singer and songwriter Bob Dylan said, “The times they are a-changin’.” One could argue the same idea applies to today’s U.S. dairy industry and the tastes of global consumers that demand dairy products. Domestically, consumer preference for dairy is changing. Cheese and yogurt are replacing fluid milk and ice cream as the products of choice.

No one questions the need for teat dip. It’s one of the most important products in the milking parlor and a key to protecting your cows’ udder health and your dairy’s milk quality. But the amount of iodine in commercial teat dip formulations is very much up for debate these days. The question is whether dairymen are getting what they’re paying for, says Allan Britten, president and laboratory director at Udder Health Systems. “It may not be an issue of efficacy or cow safety or animal health, but of value,” Britten says.