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Forage may be in short supply this year, and one way to respond is to feed fewer mouths on the farm. Frankly, whether forage is short or not, it is always best to allocate your forage to the cattle that will return the most: the animals that are most productive. It is time to cull the animals most likely to be the least productive.
An automatic milking system (AMS) or robot is an advanced and well-working technology for milking cows and takes the labor away from the actual milking process. However, it is vital to remember that one cannot just trust the milking machine to ensure cow welfare and production or even efficient labor usage.
Editor's note: This article has been updated to include comments from U.S. dairy cattle and hay exporters.
The U.S. agricultural trade balance was negative for a second straight month, even though May’s dairy export value was the highest in four years.
The 2019 National Holstein Convention was held at the Red Lion Paper Valley Hotel in Appleton, Wisconsin, June 24-27. Adults and juniors from throughout the U.S. and over 10 additional countries attended the annual event.
All animals, including dairy cows, have four possible routes of exchanging heat energy with their environment. These are conduction, convection, radiation and evaporation. The first three are referred to as sensible routes of heat loss, and all require a thermal gradient. In other words, the cow must be hotter than the environment for heat to flow out of the cow into the surrounding environment.
Electrolytes are a staple of successful calf-raising. If we were to make a list of necessities for raising healthy calves, electrolytes would be on it.
Dairy farmers are rapidly exiting the business. More than 2,700 dairy farms shuttered operations in 2018, a 6.8% decline, according to the USDA. It’s not a surprise given the industry has suffered five years of below break-even production, and supplies have outstripped demand, which has put downward pressure on prices.
Capturing calf growth potential is one of the greatest benefits of automatic calf feeders. But by the time weaning comes around, we tend to take our eyes off the ball in a hurry to move calves out the door.
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