We use cookies to provide you with a better experience. By continuing to browse the site you are agreeing to our use of cookies in accordance with our Cookie Policy.
Precision agriculture has focused on optimizing efficiency. For crop production, yields can be obtained from the combine and integrated with soil nutrient data to characterize the response to changes in management strategies (spraying, harvesting, nutrient application, irrigation, etc.). Currently the highest resolution for yield, for the majority of farms raising alfalfa in Kentucky, is based upon the field level of data. Specifically, most farmers could specify the bales per field.
One Saturday night, my husband and I got a text from our milk co-op with milk quality data from the previous day’s load, and panic began to set in. Our somatic cell count (SCC) was far over our comfort threshold of 100,000, and in a small herd like ours, the blame – more often than not – lays squarely on the withers of just one cow.
Move over, artificial insemination. There’s a new moniker for the letters “AI” in the dairy industry. These days, “artificial intelligence” is all the buzz.
Editor’s note: This article has been updated with additional details on the amount of the initial dairy payment.
Dairy producers will receive 20 cents per hundredweight (cwt) on their annual milk production history under a USDA program aimed at offsetting negative financial impacts of ongoing trade and tariff wars.
The USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA) updated Dairy Margin Coverage (DMC) program participation on July 22, noting year-to-date indemnity payments to dairy operations enrolling in the program for 2019 had reached $145 million.
About one in five dairy operations purchasing Dairy Revenue Protection (Dairy-RP) insurance through Compeer Financial received an indemnity payment in the first quarter of 2019, according to Josh Newton, crop insurance team leader. Dairy-RP is designed to insure dairy farms against unexpected declines in quarterly revenue from milk sales relative to a guaranteed coverage level.
Successful management of calves is all about the details that add up to create a healthy, profitable member of the milking herd. Beyond excessive heat, summer weather provides an environment that can challenge our calves with increased humidity, favorable conditions for pests and pathogens, and a higher incidence of disease due to these factors.
RSS
