The Lely Journey Tour provided an opportunity for more than 30 people from across the U.S. and Canada to see its automated technologies at work and how some of them are built. The tour took place March 19-22.

You’re busy – milking cows, starting the 2019 cropping season and getting ready to celebrate Mother’s Day. With that in mind, Progressive Dairyman looks at issues in the news impacting you and your dairy business. In recognition of your time, we’ll attempt to summarize recent events or actions making dairy headlines and reported in our weekly digital newsletter, Progressive Dairyman Extra. Then, we’ll try to put that news into perspective and briefly describe how it might affect you.

A common question from dairy farmers is: How did milk supply and demand change in 2018 compared to 2017? The simple and quick response is: Milk production increased 1 percent, and demand increased 2.3 percent. If I stop there, most dairy farmers have concerned looks.

The Social Security Administration (SSA) has resumed issuing “Employer Correction Requests,” commonly known as Social Security number “no-match” letters. These notices alert employers of mismatches between submitted Internal Revenue Service W-2 form information and SSA records.

We all have a narrative to tell and share. How we tell that narrative depends on many factors. Opportunities to share our narrative can be quite obvious or strategically disguised. How can you promote the dairy community by sharing your narrative?

High-speed tillage “The biggest change in everything we do today is high-speed,” said Curt Davis, director of product management at Kuhn-Krause.

Tier 4 Final emissions requirements have been the standard for diesel engines since the beginning of 2015, but many dairies across the country are still relying on their trusted equipment powered by diesel engines using Tier 4 Interim, Tier 3 or even earlier technology.

Hot, hot-hot and red hot – there are some interesting trends today in used farm equipment, Greg Peterson (aka Machinery Pete) told farmers at the National Farm Machinery Show in Louisville, Kentucky.

As your operation grows, so does your need for equipment. And with that equipment comes maintenance and repair costs.

Milking system optimization not only leads to better overall milk quality, but it’s also good for your cows and can have a positive impact on employee attitude and performance.