The more we learn about the birth process and what happens when calves enter the world, the more we realize how critical those first moments of life are. Mother Nature does an excellent job of transitioning calves for life outside the womb.

They say knowledge is power, and the same could be said about data. Now more than ever before, information collected from every inch of the field is driving management decisions. But it comes at a cost.

Here’s the deal: It ain’t 1940 and most people aren’t getting their milk from their own cows or even their neighbor’s cows. These days, consumers are buying their food from the grocery store and are wondering where in the heck the product originated. Not everyone lives in rural America and has the opportunity to meet a local farmer or visit a dairy farm.

The secret to getting more cows pregnant in a timely manner could already be at your fingertips. In fact, it may be just a few key strokes away. Valuable data is already available for most dairies, and digging into it can unearth both sweet spots and trouble zones that affect reproduction. By targeting areas of opportunity and focusing on results, producers can enjoy reproductive success. Let’s take a look at how records can be used to achieve this.

Let’s face it, finding and retaining good employees is becoming a major hurdle on many dairy farms. The economy is picking up, which leads to more competition for employees.

With increased emphasis on early life feeding programs for replacement heifers, the need for more information regarding successful weaning management is clear. More and more dairy farmers are feeding double, and sometimes nearly triple, the milk feeding rates that had been recommended for decades prior.

In 2000 and 2004, Wright Place Farm in Clinton, Maine, decided to grow by buying neighboring farms. In 2012, Brian Wright challenged his brother Steve and uncle Ray, who co-own the 800-cow, 1,800-acre dairy with him, to increase production by improving the herd and facilities instead of buying another farm.

Digest Highlights: There’s no news on MPP-Dairy enrollment period yet. Maryland & Virginia co-op apologizes for reduced pay price. One-fourth of U.S. dairy herd is in ‘drought’ areas. Find a summary of this and other news here.

While the revelation Dean Foods would terminate dairy farmer milk marketing contracts in a number of states was another dark cloud, not all the news related to milk processing capacity was bad this week.

The challenge of finding and keeping affordable health insurance isn’t new for farm families. Cooperative Network, a trade association serving co-ops in Wisconsin and Minnesota, heard the groundswell of member concerns at the turn of the last century.