Transition cow management presents a unique challenge for dairy owners. Care for these cows requires attention to nutrition and health concerns and spans the dry period, calving and early lactation. Yet who is most responsible for outlining the plan of care for these animals? Owners overwhelmingly say they are, yet based on herd size, they may solicit help in designing their transition cow care plans. That’s according to recent surveys conducted by Progressive Dairyman.

Vindication. That’s what I felt standing at the gate in Charlotte, North Carolina, in mid-January. I was on my way to attend PDPW’s Managers Academy. (Click here and here for the highlights from this event.)

Throughout December, extension educators from four universities across the country collaborated to provide dairy genomics workshops for producers, veterinarians and allied industry.

Just about one year ago, I opined on this page that the dairy industry’s rate of adoption for new technology was slow. At the time, we started an experiment to observe dairy producers test-driving a few hand-picked new technologies to see just how easy it was for forward-thinking, tech-savvy dairy managers to adopt them.