Imagine taking a cow’s temperature simply by snapping a picture of her head. Want an early warning system to detect hoof disease or mastitis? Just snap a picture of the cow’s foot or udder. These and other scenarios may be possible someday with digital infrared thermography.

No state in the nation has squeezed more milk out of its dairy cows in the past three years than New Mexico. Producers got nearly 25,000 pounds out of each cow in 2011. What’s the secret? A combination of favorable weather, modern dairy facilities and aggressive culling appears to be helping producers get the most out of every cow. Cow comfort is an important consideration whenever new dairies are built, and New Mexico has seen several large new dairies constructed in the past 12 years, says dairyman Luke Woelber of Belen, New Mexico, who is president of Dairy Producers of New Mexico.

Maybe it should come as no surprise that Oakhurst Dairy has continued to thrive amid a recession. After all, this is a company that survived the Great Depression. The Portland, Maine, company got its start in the early 1920s making deliveries with two horse-drawn milk wagons. Today the company delivers its products with a fleet of biofuel-powered trucks. It’s one of many changes that have occurred at the dairy processing company that is celebrating its 90th anniversary this year.

No one questions the need for teat dip. It’s one of the most important products in the milking parlor and a key to protecting your cows’ udder health and your dairy’s milk quality. But the amount of iodine in commercial teat dip formulations is very much up for debate these days. The question is whether dairymen are getting what they’re paying for, says Allan Britten, president and laboratory director at Udder Health Systems. “It may not be an issue of efficacy or cow safety or animal health, but of value,” Britten says.