Some of the most common questions I hear from clients are: How can my employees milk faster? Should I expand my parlor to milk more cows? How can I milk more cows when we can barely finish milking what we have?

What I hear from dairy producers and their managers right now is how hard it is to find good people in this job market. It is very easy to get caught up on what’s lacking or missing in the workplace and let the day-to-day operations take over.

As I was standing in the headlocks of the hospital barn, holding an IV bottle in my hand while it was draining, I remember staring at the treatment cart with four more IVs to give.

Eighty dead calves in two weeks: “The dry cow ration is not working; colostrum quality is suffering; my calves are dying …” On a recent farm call from a producer, his calf-raising operation had taken a turn from being very successful to a state of emergency: 80 dead calves in a period of two weeks.