Dairy farmers and industry professionals gathered to hear updates, outlooks and trends in the industry during the 2020 Dairy Strong Conference.

Right before the end of the year, I made a visit to Kinnard Farms in Casco, Wisconsin, and met with director of dairy operations Shaun Hardtke to talk about one small change that made a significant difference on the 7,000-cow dairy.

More than 1,500 records comparing lameness and lesion presence data among Alberta freestall herds reveals most cows with lameness have a lesion. However, not all cows with a lesion are lame.

“Breeding cows we love to milk” is one of Jay and Heather Jauquet’s mantras at Synergy Dairy LLC, near Pulaski, Wisconsin, and with hand-picked genetics and astute management, they are doing just that.

CDCB hosted its fifth annual industry meeting at World Dairy Expo in Madison, Wisconsin, on Oct. 1, drawing dairy producers and representatives from artificial insemination (A.I.), genomic nominators, breed associations, dairy herd information (DHI) and dairy records processing centers (DRPCs).

A 10-year study from the University of Minnesota indicates cows from a specific crossbreeding rotation generated as much as 13% more daily profit than their purebred Holstein herdmates.

Belle the Farm Elf doesn’t just sit on a shelf. Edelweiss Farms puts her to work.

It’s not out of the ordinary for milk production and components to vary by season; in fact, Dr. Kevin Harvatine believes it’s a natural response to seasonal changes.

During the 2019 Vita Plus Dairy Summit, Vita Plus Dairy Specialist Randall Greenfield teamed up with his counterpart on the beef side, Chad Howlett, to tackle the topic of using beef semen to manage dairy heifer herd inventory, and the opportunities and challenges that come along with the resulting crossbred calves.