“Human resource management has to be recognized as a very important part of what we do,” said Rick Zimmerman, executive director of the Northeast Agribusiness and Feed Alliance.

Bovine respiratory disease (BRD) causes significant economic losses in dairies across the U.S. While vaccination is available and necessary, it isn’t always effective. Delivering trace minerals via injection, in conjunction with BRD vaccinations, can potentially enhance the immune response and increase vaccination success.

It was an accident that began one farm’s journey to direct sales of raw milk and processed dairy products. After dairy farmer Layne Klein was injured and sold the milking herd, he and wife, Beth, decided to try a different mode of dairy farming – selling products directly to customers.

Milk may no longer be an item customers will go out of the way to purchase, even when it is being bottled right at the farm, as it is at Way-Har Farms in Bernville, Pennsylvania. The dairy, run today by William and Lolly Lesher, began bottling its own milk on-farm in the 1970s, utilizing 60 percent of their production.

What are the most important aspects to keeping cows comfortable? How can dairy farmers realistically improve cow comfort? Why is comfort such a focus today?

Emily and Jay Montgomery came home to Highland Farm, operated today by Emily’s father and brother, William and Zack Bryant, in 2006. The farm, located in Honesdale, Pennsylvania, has been in the family for seven generations.

Nutrition models often don’t result in the performance expected when they are put into use on the dairy, said Jim Tully of Pine Creek Nutrition Services during the Penn State 2016 Dairy Nutrition Workshop.

Employees are your business. Without the right employees and a productive work culture, your business cannot be as successful as possible.

Eighteen months into a new facility with a robotic milking system, Lehi Creek Farm in Berks County, Pennsylvania, is happy with their decision to reduce labor and improve cow comfort by investing in technology that will take the family dairy farm into the future.

It’s not only about the cost associated with building new infrastructure. It’s also about the cost, in lost potential, of continuing to utilize old facilities. If your dairy isn’t meeting reproduction, milk production or income goals, or if you are culling cows due to health concerns, finding out why and evaluating your options is needed.