At Jerseyland Dairy LLC, dairy manager Tanner Schmidt knows a solid reproduction program depends on more than just shots and semen; it comes down to having the right people in place, doing the right things at the right time.

Over the past few decades, North Florida Holsteins has figured out how to achieve more than 90 pounds of milk per day in an environment where extreme heat stress is the norm.

When planning facilities for calves and heifers, dairy producers must piece together their management style with production goals, such as expanding versus maintaining herd size, or using automated versus manual labor.

Producing the highest quality milk is a top priority for Grand View Dairy, and the numbers prove that to be true.

For this issue, I set out to feature two dairies’ cross-ventilated barns. I went out to visit them with an agenda: to write an article about each one, highlighting their newly constructed barn.

A Wisconsin dairy’s new barn captures the advantages of a traditional cross vent but with an innovative design: adjustable curtain baffles to control air flow.

At Trillium Hill Dairy, things are really starting to “flow” – cow flow, air flow and work flow – thanks to a new cross-ventilated barn with a unique design.

Maier Dairy in Waunakee, Wisconsin, has transformed their hoof health program with a systematic, team-based approach that includes scheduled trimming, lameness prevention and routine monitoring.

When talking about hoof lesions, stop using the “a” word. On many hoof trimming records, the term “abscess” is a catchall for just about any insult to a dairy cow’s foot, but according to University of Minnesota’s Dr. Gerard Cramer, “That doesn’t tell us anything.”