Obtaining and maintaining high corn quality silage requires good management in the areas of forage management harvest, storage and feedout. For this article’s discussion, it is assumed that proper genetics have been selected to provide maximum levels of milk per acre of corn silage. Harvest The most important things to remember when harvesting corn silage are whole-plant moisture level, theoretical length of chop and kernel processing. The desired level of whole-plant moisture will depend on whether the silage is stored in upright or horizontal silos. For bunkers and drive-over piles, I like to see whole-plant moisture at 66 to 68 percent and for vertical storage structures, 63 to 66 percent.

Anyone remember the old Dunkin’ Donut commercials, “Time to make doughnuts”? The commercial dramatized the constant attention and long hours required to bake fresh doughnuts every morning. We received a call from a dairy producer in North Dakota that felt the same way about changing his inflations as the doughnut guy did about making doughnuts. “Time to change the inflations.” It was to the point that the producer was spending way too much time and money maintaining his milking equipment.

TRENDING TOPIC ARTICLE: HERD HEALTH Published: September 22, 2010 print issue In this article, University of Kentucky’s Jeffrey Bewley outlines several ways producers can achieve and maintain low somatic cell count milk, including adjusting milking protocols and culturing high-SCC cows. or scroll down to jump to the article. Because this article was so popular, we asked Bewley, “Of the best management practices you outlined, which practice do you think producers and employees most struggle with?” Bewley says, “Of those management practices listed, I think using bacteriological cultures is the most underutilized. So much information can be obtained from culturing milk samples. On-farm culturing systems make this practice even more useful.

Management and environmental factors account for about 96 percent of fertility variation in a dairy operation. Our challenge is what are those factors affecting fertility, and how do we help improve them? The answer to this question is too broad to summarize in this article, as it includes facilities, nutrition, overcrowding, semen handling, A.I. technique, etc. In this article, I will summarize challenging issues that are frequently found on U.S. dairy operations while conducting on-farm visits.

During the Dark Ages, when I was in seventh grade at Heber School, I was required to memorize the Gettysburg Address. I puzzled over the meanings and archaic mentions of time.

Dear Editor & Fellow Dairymen, We will soon be facing the most important decision our industry has had to make in the last 50 years. I ask that you give the following thoughts some very careful consideration. All over our country our dairy leaders are suggesting milk quotas and coming up with complicated plans to cut back our production so as to improve milk prices. They are promoting their plans as a quest for price stability (a worthy goal), but price enhancement is really their main goal, just as it was in their CWT effort.

A U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientist and his colleagues have discovered key gene and chemical interactions that allow Escherichia coli (E. coli) O157:H7 bacteria to colonize the gut of cattle. The animals not only host, but can shed the deadly human pathogen. Many E. coli O157:H7 outbreaks have been associated with contaminated meat products and cross contamination of produce crops. Because the bacteria do not cause cattle to show clinical symptoms of illness, and due to other unknown variables, they can be hard to detect within cattle and the environment.

Getting and keeping good help is a key attribute for any successful business, but things do not always go as smoothly as they could or should. “When we are not satisfied with the work of one of our employees, very often we can point the finger right back at us,” said Brian Vulgamore, a producer in western Kansas. “It is often a lack of training on our part, or not enough time given for the employee to complete the task.” And while there are no bulletproof guides to hire and manage employees, here are a few suggestions to put good luck on your side.