What separates the top-performing herds from the bottom? This is one of those questions people are constantly asking and attempting to answer. As a result, we have a multitude of complicated calculations measuring everything from energy-corrected milk to income over feed costs.

It’s no secret managing the transition period (three weeks before and three weeks after parturition) is a critical determinant of productivity and profitability on the dairy farm. During this time frame, animals have large abrupt variations inside and outside their bodies.

When it comes to nutritional efficiency, most dairies have room to improve. That’s the finding from Papillon Agricultural Company, a technology-based manufacturer of specialty nutritional products.

For many dairy operations, the vet bill is a line item often considered a necessary evil. It has been established by generations that the veterinary expense is not questioned, pushed or reconsidered.

The Dairy Cattle Welfare Council (DCWC), which formed in 2015 to promote dairy cattle welfare, named Elizabeth Cox, DVM, ruminant technical services manager for Merck Animal Health, as their new president at their annual meeting in June.

Mastitis remains the single-most costly dairy herd health issue in terms of lost productivity, profitability and compromised product quality.

As I watch the new bottles of produce from the garden line the shelves of our storage room, I think of the many days my family and I spent in the garden weeding, watering and fertilizing the plants to have the harvest. Last night, we bottled the beets.

Running a dairy operation today means something completely different than it did 10 years ago. As product prices and government regulations continue to fluctuate, owners like yourself have to find ways to work more efficiently while also reducing operational costs.

The fact we had to play on soccer and rugby pitches was emblematic of how softball was trying to carve out its own modest space in the world of European sports. There would be no diamonds, no bleachers and no hot dogs being sold.

Growing up, I never imagined I would some day marry a dairy farmer. In fact, I really didn’t give farming much thought as a child. I was a child of a wildland firefighter and had deep family roots in the timber industry.