In my previous article about reproductive data and decision-making, I wrote about going back to basics and challenging your farm’s norms. I encouraged readers to find the Band-Aid solutions on their farms and prioritize what should be exposed and fixed.

If I had written a book predicting the past two years in dairy farming, it would have been coined as fiction. In addition to a global pandemic, nobody could have predicted the wild swings in commodities coupled with the challenges in weather.

The role of the transition cow in robotics is no different than in any other milking system. A good transition program minimizes calving difficulties and metabolic and infectious diseases.

The more time we spend following the right fresh cow protocols, the better the young cows will perform throughout the lactation. This is well known on both conventional and robotic farms, but in robotic milking settings, the management practices that contribute to success within this group are both measured and performed differently.

Two very different ways of milking cows can teach us some of the most basic lessons for maintaining low somatic cell counts (SCC) and achieving milk quality goals.

Many dairy owners today are trained to manage cows – but not people. This dynamic is complicated further when robots are added to the mix. The skill set for an employee on a modern dairy farm varies greatly from the requirements of just 15 years ago.