Progressive Dairy

Benchmarking for fertility: 3 reproductive KPIs every dairy should watch

When it comes to reproductive goals, knowing where your herd is at is integral to improvement. Monitoring the percentage of the herd pregnant by 150 days in milk, pregnancy rate and early pregnancy loss rate will aid in developing proper benchmarks.

July 9, 2025

Renee Smith

During my 20-plus years of analyzing dairy reproductive records, my mantra has always been "Benchmark against yourself, not your neighbor." Of course, there’s value in both, but my belief has always been that you’ll make the greatest gains by keeping your focus on your own results and figuring out how to improve them versus focusing on comparisons.

New Hires: Timothy Winter

July 8, 2025

Meet Timothy Winter, First Defense sales and marketing regional manager, and national account lead, ImmuCell Corporation.

Is salmonella present on your dairy?

Producers should work with their veterinarian to develop and implement routine biosecurity, monitoring and preventative practices, like vaccination, to help control salmonellosis on their farm.

July 8, 2025

Angela Rowson

Cows infected with salmonella can shed organisms in their manure, colostrum, saliva, milk and vaginal and nasal secretions. The disease is commonly spread from one cow to another when she consumes the manure of an animal that is shedding the bacteria. Cows usually ingest this infected manure in their feed or water.

One Big Beautiful Bill signed into law, increases estate tax exemption

July 7, 2025

Kimmi Devaney

President Donald Trump signed into law a budget reconciliation bill, known as the the One Big Beautiful Bill Act on July 4. In addition to changes to tax policy, border security, immigration, defense, energy production, the debt limit, and adjustments to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Medicaid, the bill includes key agricultural provisions typically included in the farm bill. It also increases the estate tax exemption and makes those changes permanent.

Avoid dry-off surprises: Use robotic tools to smooth the end of lactation

Robotic milking permission can reduce milking frequency and feed tables can reduce the amount of feed offered in the robot to allow for smooth transitions at dry-off.

July 7, 2025

John Gerbitz

Like the speedometer, the dry-off list may include cows that are milking more than expected, and it might be necessary to pump the brakes hard to dry them off successfully. Or, like the blind spot, life happens, holidays and time off intervene, and suddenly, there are more cows on the dry-off list than expected. Automated milking systems and milking system software have some options for managing cows going into the dry period.

Are you building a good culture on your dairy?

Defining core values, hiring the right people, training employees properly and encouraging open communication can improve the farm culture, which can improve employee retention, productivity and profitability.

July 4, 2025

Brad Herkenhoff

Your dairy’s culture can be the engine that drives success — or leads to its failure. So what is “culture”? Culture is a shared set of values, goals, attitudes and practices that characterize a business. A strong and healthy team culture can create a sense of unity and shared purpose among employees. It ensures that your employees feel valued and motivated, and it also helps them feel connected to the greater good.

Economic Update: Senate includes dairy provisions in budget reconciliation bill

July 3, 2025

Karen Lee

In the news affecting a dairy producer's bottom line as we begin July 2025: Senate includes dairy provisions in budget reconciliation bill, the USDA announces phased reopening of southern ports for livestock trade, and farmer sentiment weakens on cloudy trade outlook.

[Podcast] Unlocking innovation in dairy with the power of big data and artificial intelligence

July 3, 2025

AI and big data are revolutionizing industries – so why is dairy only now catching up?

5 reasons we avoid hard conversations and how to make them easier

Putting the correct structure in place for productive conversations, learning to effectively share emotions and setting expectations for communication can make difficult conversations easier and more comfortable.

July 3, 2025

Tim Schaefer

We all know that communication is important, especially for healthy relationships, scaling up and a successful transition plan. With that said, why can it be so tough to communicate consistently? This article explores five reasons we avoid difficult conversations and how to improve overall communication.

June prices rise in reflection of FMMO revisions

Federal Milk Marketing Order uniform prices are expected to rise in June for Class III and Class IV.

July 2, 2025

Jenn Coyne

Following the implementation of Federal Milk Marketing Order (FMMO) revisions, the prices per hundredweight (cwt) of milk sold into the Class III and Class IV markets are expected to rise in June.