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The Southern Great Plains Dairy Consortium, where students are able to obtain hands-on experiences in large-herd dairy management, recently completed its fourth summer session. The six-week program, which combines classroom instruction with visits to dairies where students can put into practice what they learn in the classroom, surpassed its attendance from last year with 52 students from 13 universities.
Finding a system that works is a top priority when it comes to running a dairy operation, but even more essential to running a financially successful operation. This was the case for Chad Turner, a dairy producer in Nevada who found himself and his dairy in a unique situation that was contributing to a financial burden when it came to feeding his cows.
TRENDING TOPIC ARTICLE: MANURE
Published: May 31, 2011
This article highlighted the AgSTAR National Conference in Boise, Idaho, in 2011, where Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy's Jerry Bingold announced a goal of 1,300 anaerobic digesters to be built by the year 2020. This would mean a digester built every day for four years.
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Click here to learn about a new report being developed by the Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy. Bingold explains the development of digesters and why the 1,300 number may no longer be necessary.
This article was #2 in PDmag's Top 5 most-well read New Technology articles in 2011. to jump to the article.
Summary: Engineers at Promat Inc., based in Canada, used scientific real-time digital pressure point body-mapping technology to develop an advanced new gel mattress. The goal was to develop a mattress that provided the benefits of sand bedding without the challenges, explained General Manager Andy Jenkins.
Because this article was so popular, we asked Jenkins some follow-up questions:
Q: What type of interest have you received? How do you quantify that interest? A: The interest in the introduction of the Pasture Gel Mat has been outstanding. We are thrilled with the number of dairymen that have contacted us and our dealer network about the product. At this point we have only made these mats available to the North American market and we haven’t been able to keep up to the demand.
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Summary: Since genomics testing officially began in January of 2009, it has developed a wider application in the dairy industry. During a producer roundtable discussion, held by Alta Genetics in January 2011, Nate Zwald explained how genomics testing their herds can ultimately improve the genetic progress of their operations.
Because this article was so popular, we asked Zwald a follow-up question:
Q: What factors make it profitable for a herd to genomic test their females?
A: Genomic testing females can be a profitable part of a complete genetic plan, but the investment cost needs to be weighed against the benefit. Here are some points to consider:
1. You have to take action on the results of a genomic test. Without different decisions than you would do otherwise, you have no opportunity to benefit from this testing. Too often I have heard about "introductory testing" which is done, and results received, but nothing was done with them.
