Skin can chap due to frequent washing, repeated wetting or exposure to cold, dry or windy weather. Teats are subjected to these processes during every milking. Teat dips with effective emollient packages can rejuvenate dry teats. Skin conditioners come in many varieties.

Sometimes it is amazing to think about how much hinges on the four teats of the dairy cow. If a teat is damaged or destroyed, we potentially lose the milk from that quarter or, worse yet, with a severe infection we lose the whole cow.

Robotic milking machines have been in the U.S. for about a decade. When they were first introduced, people wondered: Do they actually work? Are they just a fad? Are they cost-effective? Are they just for small dairies?