Editor’s note:  Estimated monthly MPP-Dairy indemnity payments have been adjusted from the original article to account for federal budget sequestration deductions.  Dairy farmers who enroll in the 2018 Margin Protection Program for Dairy (MPP-Dairy) and elect $7, $7.50 or $8 per hundredweight (cwt) margin coverage are guaranteed indemnity payments for February and March. And, based on the two-month indemnity payment estimates, producers who can stick to Tier I premium payments at the $8 margin level will cover full-year program costs in February-March alone.

Although the spring flush is moving north and regional milk processing capacity is again becoming a challenge, the number of U.S. plants manufacturing one or more dairy products (excluding fluid milk) is actually at a two-decade high.

Water quality can affect land and cattle productivity. Let’s face it, cattle are naturals at drinking as long as there is a water source and access. What else is there to think about? The importance of water deserves the time and attention of cattle producers. Cattle simply cannot be healthy and gain well without good quality water. What’s more, ensuring pastures have a high-quality, sustainable and uncontaminated water source is a key component to environmental stewardship.

Antibiotic dosages are determined by individual cattle bodyweight.

Significant advances in dry cow nutrition have been made in the last 20 years. Most recently, interest has shifted to the protein needs of transition cows.

When milk prices and dairy profit margins are good, such as 2014, we sometimes get comfortable with production and on-farm efficiency. With today’s low milk prices and rising feed protein prices, now is the time to fine-tune rations to enhance microbial growth in the rumen.

Dairy producers should first identify poor feed hygiene contributors in order to best combat their effects.

“Nobody ever made a difference by being like everybody else.” —PT Barnum, The Greatest Showman The summer season is rapidly approaching, and our little shop on Main Street in Maquoketa, Iowa, has been preparing!

While the Margin Protection Program for Dairy (MPP-Dairy) has been getting most of the publicity, the recent improvement in milk futures prices is pulling the Livestock Gross Margin for Dairy (LGM-Dairy) program back into risk management strategies for larger producers.

The term “successful” can be pretty subjective in its application, but many would argue that the term should be applied to TKunkel Dairy Farms LLC of Cuba City, Wisconsin.