When we started down the milking robot road five years ago, there were plenty of people who considered this the end of our four-generation run at dairy farming. But instead of failure, we have emerged with better cow health, better reproductive efficiency, more milk production, less labor hassles and a better quality of life.

Some things don’t change. Yogurt starts with milk, and that requires dairy farmers, cows and feed. However, creating a non-GMO dairy supply chain requires changing some long-held business arrangements. One of those is the producer-processor relationship.

Meet Country Dairy, located near New Era, Michigan. While much of the attention on a non-GMO dairy supply chain has been on the East and West coasts and in small niche markets, Country Dairy is trying to create a larger presence in the Midwest.

Clover Stornetta Farms is a third-generation family-owned-and-operated dairy processor and co-op in Sonoma County, California. In 2016, the brand announced it would begin transitioning all its 28 member farms to non-GMO feed to pursue a non-GMO Project Verified label.

According to the USDA, the national corn crop in 2016 was in the neighborhood of 15.2 billion bushels; prices are hovering somewhere around $3.50 per bushel, which is much less than those prices we saw in 2012 (an average of $6.89 per bushel), but much more than what we paid in 2005 ($2 per bushel).

Animal protein (animal byproduct meals) sources have been used in dairy cattle feeding programs for years. Products such as blood meal, fish meal, meat and bone have long been known for their ability to supply rumen-undegraded protein and, more recently, metabolizable protein and critical amino acids (lysine, methionine).

Bill asked if adding amino acids to dry cow rations would be a good idea. His question was interesting, as several factors and new research reports indicate responses to added rumen-protected amino acids may be an economical and effective decision.

The goal of ensiling a forage crop is to conserve as much as possible of the nutrient and dry matter (DM) content in the crop at the time of harvest.

Nutritionists are moving beyond evaluating feed sources by crude protein or the quantity of protein. Protein is being evaluated based upon the quality of the protein. The amount and quality of protein available varies by feed source.

“Gas and brakes.” Have you ever imagined, as you are feeding forage to your dairy cattle, that you are pressing a “gas pedal” or a “brake pedal”? Kurt Cotanch, “the lab guy” at the Miner Institute in Chazy, New York, likes to metaphorically compare the fast pool of fermentable fiber to the gas pedal, speeding up passage through the rumen, and the pool of slow and indigestible fiber as the brakes.