Anytime you need to communicate with others to get the job done, you risk hurt feelings, anger and misunderstanding. And the results – or lack thereof – from poor communication can have economic consequences for your dairy business, as well as take an emotional toll.

Plenty of things have changed in the world of dairy farming. Advancements in milking systems mean that robots, not people, can perform the several-times-per-day task of milking cows.

Utilizing manure as fertilizer is one common approach to capturing the inherent value in manure and reducing the costs of off-farm inputs. But the approach has its limitations; particularly in situations where there is more manure than can be responsibly managed on the available land.

There are many things a farmer can do to help the environment. In the dairy industry, utilizing anaerobic digesters to capture methane gas and produce electricity is a primary way to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. While dairy farmers can actively take measures to reduce the industry’s carbon footprint, those efforts are not always economically viable.

Like something from a science fiction movie, cows are now bringing themselves to the barn and being milked, with no farmer needed. Thanks to robotic milking machines, today's dairy farmer is no longer tied to the parlor.

New York’s Quality Milk Production Services (QMPS), operated by Cornell University’s College of Veterinary Medicine Animal Health Diagnostic Center, provides producers with education and research on mastitis control. Four regional locations offer farmers field and laboratory culturing and diagnostic services. They serve all of New York and offer services in other states.

Dairy producers are familiar with taking precautions to reduce mastitis infection. Maintaining cow cleanliness and comfort, utilizing best practices during milking, closely monitoring somatic cell counts, establishing and following protocols for infected cows, and culling judiciously are all tools for decreasing the impact of mastitis in dairy herds.