Connecting dairy producers on an international level was the focus of the Professional Dairy Producers of Wisconsin (PDPW) Business Conference, held March 18-19 in Madison, Wisconsin.

Herd manager Martin Gomez oversees the reproduction program for Aardema Dairies’ 11,600 cows. Based in Wendell, Idaho, the dairy operates at five different sites, with a milking herd of 35 percent Jerseys and 65 percent Holsteins.

Who do dairies call when their management is in need of repair? The fix-it man. With a little ingenuity and some elbow grease, Pauly Paul turns downtrodden dairies into fine-tuned machines. Paul’s business card says “Dairy Management Consultant.” However, he is not the kind that comes out in khaki pants for a day to tell you how to run your dairy from a boardroom table. Instead, he shows you.

Jack Banker has spent the past two years leading the Dairy Calf & Heifer Association the same way he runs his own heifer-raising operation: with passion and dedication.

For the Austin family of southwest Washington, robots were the answer to a needed milking center upgrade that would carry them into the future. Ron is the fifth generation on this organic dairy farm. His parents, Jim and Janie, remain a staple part of the operation, which includes 120 rotationally grazed milking cows and an additional 300 head of youngstock.

Steve Gerratt cares a lot about his cows – all 6,250 of them. That’s why he decided to improve animal health and welfare by taking on lameness with his own two hands … literally.

Dairymen in southeastern Minnesota have likely heard of Carlson Hoof Trimming, a second-generation family business that has literally shaped the way cows walk for nearly 40 years.