More than 52,141 unique visitors read content at www.progressivedairy.com in 2009. The following is a recap of the Top 25 most-read stories that appeared in Progressive Dairyman in 2009 as well as follow-up comments about some of the article topics from the articles’ original authors or contributors.

1. Largest rotary parlor in U.S. began milking this year
As of early 2009, Texas is home to the largest rotary parlor in North America. The Faria Dairy, operated by Nelson, Jason and Mark Faria, milks 7,100 cows using a 106-cow capacity rotary that was installed by DeLaval. Although originally from Arizona, the Faria family chose Texas as their location because of the friendly community, the land acreages available, the proximity to Hilmar Cheese Factory and plentiful water for the complex and watering crops.

What did you find most fascinating about the Faria Dairy?
The size of it – that rotary is huge! What was most amazing was the way the cows react to it. They are perfectly happy on there. It makes a huge circle; the cows just ride on it and they know exactly when to step off. They have an amazing operation that’s just a sight to see.
—Carroline Methvin
Freelance writer from Dalhart, Texas

2. California dairyman converts lot to freestall barn
Bob Marchy of Ceres, California, converted from open corrals to a confined freestall barn for cow comfort, labor efficiency and herd health in the winter season. Since the transition, Marchy’s cull rate has dropped nearly 10 percent.

You looked at many freestall barns before building your own. Why was it important to you to look at other barns?
We wanted to try to get the least amount of labor and the most comfortable beds that we could find for the cows. Our main goal was cow comfort. We talked to each dairyman about his positives and negatives. We really got a lot of information from our vet and nutritionist. Our nutritionist goes all over the country and he has seen a lot of different types of beds and bedding systems. We learned the bigger the better and the more breathing area they have, without another cow next to them, was the best way to go.
—Bob Marchy
Dairy producer in Ceres, California

3. Jersey breed posts most-ever registrations in 2008
In 1953, the American Jersey Cattle Association set a record of registration totals with 87,682 animals. On Dec. 31, 2008, they surpassed that record by 7,000 cows for a total of 94,774. Cherie Bayer, director of development for the American Jersey Cattle Association/National All-Jersey Inc., credited the increase to milk component pricing, the use of sexed semen and more producers looking for profitable, efficient cows for their herds.

A great year for the Jersey association was followed by one of the worst years of the dairy industry. In which member service was the Jersey Association hardest hit?
Through 10 months of 2009, AJCA member service activity is generally ahead of the same period in 2008. Registrations are up 6.3 percent over the previous year. A total of 71,768 animals have been recorded through October 31. Ownership transfers are off 8 percent from 2008, reflecting less activity in cattle sales.

However, transfers of registered Jersey bulls have increased 10 percent from 2008 levels. At the end of October, enrollments in the REAP program (combining registration, Equity, type appraisal, and performance recording) were 858 herds (up 1.2 percent) and 124,974 cows (up 4.4 percent). The number of Jersey cows scored for type traits increased by 9.2 percent compared to the previous year. Total number of cows enrolled on all Jersey performance programs is up 3.6 percent to 128,349, despite a 6 percent drop in number of herds enrolled.
—Cherie Bayer
American Jersey Cattle Association/National All-Jersey Inc.

4. Seat belts on roller coasters
Mike North recommended five strategies that could serve as “seat belts” for the roller coaster ride of milk pricing: selling prompted by fundamental indicators, seasonal selling, cost of production plus margin of return, technical chart signal and historical price range.

Do any of those strategies apply to 2010 milk marketing?
The two strategies that most represent the current market environment are cost of production plus margin strategy and historical price range strategy. Essentially, as milk prices have risen faster than feed prices in recent weeks, margins are becoming blacker by the day. Producers can identify some real profits for 2010. The difficult part of the process will be for dairymen to identify a margin in today’s world that will make them money while mentally letting go of some of the margins that winked at us in 2009.

Windfalls will not characterize 2010. However, the current market structure does offer the opportunity for modest gains. The second strategy that remains viable is that of recognizing our stance relative to historical prices. Currently, today’s 12-month market average through 2010 offers prices found in the top 10 percent of real prices paid to producers in the past 30 years. Even if dairymen haven’t found a viable margin for their businesses, protecting historically high prices with a simple put option is a worthy pursuit in the wake of current market risk.
—Mike North, Hedge broker

5. Could robots work for you?
Dale Hemminger of Hermdale Farms in New York has been milking 220 cows using robotic milkers for three years. He advises other producers interested in robotic milkers to be willing to learn the new technology.

Can robotic milkers work for a 1,000-plus-cow dairy?
The largest robotic operation in the world is 19 Lely units in Canada, milking about 1,200 cows. A large percentage of the robotic installations in North America are milking 400-plus cows. Certainly the initial interest is from small to medium-size producers, due to the labor issues they face each day. These types of operations also benefit from the improved animal health and consistency in the milking routine. But as important to them is the flexibility in lifestyle that robotic milking brings. However, it is feasible to see a large producer using robotic milking, as the benefits mentioned above are available for larger dairies.
—Peter Langebeeke
Lely USA

6. What does a gallon of milk cost?
Ben Yale provided averages and explanations for the price of a gallon of milk, the wholesale price for raw milk and the cost to produce a gallon of milk. His article showed that a large gap exists between what producers are receiving and what it costs to produce the milk.

Should the difference between retail milk price and farm-gate price be tracked and audited?
USDA should provide monthly in its dairy statistics these numbers per gallon for whole, 2 percent and skim milk, which should match the same marketing area across all of the numbers – average retail price of milk, average reported cost of milk including FMMO minimum price and over-order premiums, cost per gallon at minimum price, estimated cost of production, and mailbox price.

This will provide all parties a consistent data set upon which to develop positions and the government to establish policy. I see no need for the data to be audited because if done the same way month after month, the overall relationships and trends will be sufficiently apparent. The information will not be used to set prices.
—Ben Yale
Yale Law Office

7. Larson Dairy: Almost 70 years in the making in south Florida
Red Larson has gone from hand-milking cows for $2 a day to managing three dairies. With each of his sons’ operations, the family oversees more than 10,000 cows. Despite challenges with environmental compliances and battles with heat, humidity and hurricanes, the Larson family continues to provide quality, fresh fluid milk for south Florida residents.

How do you manage the use of sexed semen in your dairy herd?
Larson Dairy, Inc., like most all dairy farmers in the U.S., has experienced tough economic times during the year 2009. The question came up as to whether we should continue to use sexed semen in our operation, as it is more expensive. Sexed semen is one of the changes we now have the opportunity to take advantage of if we manage it properly. We decided to continue the use on our heifers and for first or second services on our best cows. We have not yet been able to raise all of our replacement needs but expect that we will in the next two years. We are also planning to use sexed male semen (Angus) on the low-end of our herd. This should give us enough dairy heifers for our own use and good beef cross steer calves to sell. This should work out to our advantage of maintaining our herd and an additional source of income.
—Red Larson
Dairy producer in Okeechobee, Florida

8. Should I get out now or ride it out?
In February, dairy financial consultant Bob Matlick said things were turning out even worse than he had imagined. He offered three scenarios, worst-case, most likely and best case, and suggestions for each.

Is it possible to be halfway in between the worst-case and most likely scenarios?
Many producers were in an unknown position on where the industry and their individual dairy was headed financially. Few dairies exited in 2009, and most were through the CWT program. Many dairies held on, burning huge amounts of equity. The dairies held on through cost-cutting measures (reduced feed quality, reduction of operating expenses) that in some cases hindered the long-term viability of the dairy operation. In other cases, banks and feed vendors extended what far exceeded normal credit terms.

Now that some dairies are returning to forecasted breakeven scenarios, banks and vendors are demanding a return to normal credit terms, immediately creating an “in-between” scenario. Many operators have chewed through a large portion of equity and are being asked by creditors and vendors to secure the debt with remaining equity and/or asking for projections that cash flow will enable the operation to reduce debt at a rapid rate (6-9 months). Bottom line, many creditors are taking a wait-and-see attitude over the next six months, providing the in-between scenario.
—Bob Matlick
Moore Stephens Wurth Frazer and Torbet, LLP

9. 3 Open Minutes with Richard Raymond
Raymond authored a white paper titled “Recombinant Bovine Somatotrophin (rBST): A Safety Assessment.” In his research, a panel of dairy industry professionals, including nutritionists and food safety experts, answered 36 consumer-generated questions.

How did the delayed release of the paper due to the FDA’s further review affect the paper’s impact on consumers and producers?
The white paper, which was a review of 15 years of literature related to the safety of rbST since supplementation in dairy cattle, was approved by the FDA. Delaying its rollout a couple weeks was not a significant issue for us, and it is our hope that having the FDA review and comment would significantly add to the confidence that consumers, producers and processors would have in the quality and integrity of the product.
—Richard Raymond
Colorado State University

10. 9 new products for 2009
The following nine products were chosen by a committee of industry professionals and dairymen as the newest, most innovative dairy products and were showcased during Word Ag Expo Feb. 10-12 in Tulare, California. They were the Ag Bag, QuickBayt, TeMax Barrel Transport, Agrivolt, Calf-Tel Pro and Deluxe, MilkWatch, SiloStop, SmartBolus and Trimble Nomad 800X.

Why did the WAE organization discontinue the New Dairy Products section? Who decides the products that are featured every year, and what criteria is used to rank prospective top products?
In planning for the 2010 expo, show management merged the Top-5 new dairy products competition with the Top-10 new products competition. We found that there were exhibitors who wanted to enter products in both contests but were precluded based on the rules of entry. The Top-10 winners represent the most promising products for the entire agricultural industry, including dairy. We applaud our 2010 winners, three of which are almost exclusive to the dairy industry. Show management feels the consolidation of both awards will only make the Top-10 contest better, further solidifying why World Ag Expo is the one-stop location for the newest and most innovative agriculture products.
—Steven Knudsen
International Agri-Center

11. She’s got cheese and $100 cwt milk
Liz McAlister of Colchester, Connecticut, started out her cheese business by selling to local farmers’ markets. She soon ventured down to the Big City, where she now has customers from Brooklyn, Union Square and Manhattan.

Are more producers marketing farmstead cheese in New York?
The general sense is that there’s a market for farmstead cheeses. The demand is great, and it certainly hasn’t been met yet. I don’t see very many large farms marketing cheese, but I do meet a lot of small farmers at the Green Market. There are probably 10 or 11 other farmers – including sheep and goat farmers – making cheese now and taking it into the market.
—Liz McAlister
Colchester, Connecticut

12. Crave brothers bring heifers home in massive building project
Charles, George, Thomas and Mark Crave shared with Editor Karen Lee how they expanded their operation with the addition of a manure digester, six new barns for heifers and cows, a new shop and farm office, and updated facilities for their cheesemaking business.

What did you try to tell Secretary Vilsack while he was at your dairy this summer?
Secretary Vilsack and his staff came to see the manure digester and cheese plant in particular. These things are exciting and interesting to a lot of people; however, we wanted them to know that these value-added ventures cannot overshadow the basic commodity markets. The things we do only offset our farm and can’t aid the entire industry.

The rest of the industry is really struggling right now, especially the three big livestock commodities – dairy, beef and swine. It takes a lot of stars to line up to make value-added work and it happened to work on our operation, but that doesn’t mean it will work in every instance.
—Mark Crave
Waterloo, Wisconsin

13. 5 Things I can’t do without
John Gilliand, vice president of dairy operations for McArthur Farms in Okeechobee, Florida, says he couldn’t do without five things for operating the 8,500-cow dairy: Sprint’s Nextel Direct Connect, Toshiba laptop and PCDART, Tungsten T2s, a Ford truck and MSN e-mail.

What are some other valuable tools?
We check dry matters on forages at our commodity barn several times a day, and we use a microwave and letter scales to do this. One reason for this is because a lot of our forage is bagged in ag bags. Because of weather conditions changing here in the summer, dry matter percentage can change 2 to 4 percent from load to load during harvest. In a pit, it would blend out and may not require testing as often.

We also feed a lot of our grass as green chop. Again, loads cut early in the morning can vary from 1 to 10 percent dry matter. It is important for us to constantly check when cutting green chop to ensure the correct amount of dry matter forage in the ration. Delivery loads are adjusted as needed. Another tool that could be considered essential is our LCD projector. We are constantly holding training programs on-site for employees.
—John Gilliand
McArthur Farms

14. Do something! Anything!
Many dairy producers are still crying out for a solution to low milk prices. Back in June, Ben Yale analyzed one of the potential solutions, supply management. He shared his thoughts on the implications of such a solution and advised producers to think about the long-term consequences.

Is the U.S. dairy industry getting any closer to having a long-term solution that will help all producers?
Markets work, and left to markets many of the problems disappear or become less serious. The U.S. dairy industry is approaching long-term solutions. Proposals by NMPF to replace the safety net of MILC and price support with a range of price risk management tools will help producers manage volatility. Proposed replacement of the end product pricing with competitive pricing will move pricing to reward the highest-value milk, not the lowest. The discussion energized by the crisis has been beneficial and should continue as these proposals are finalized and others developed.
—Ben Yale, Yale Law Office

15. A lifetime of learning led to George Mueller’s success New York dairyman
George Mueller presented his tips for success at the Pennsylvania Dairy Summit in February 2009. Although he grew up a city boy, Mueller quickly caught the farming bug. He spent a year as a hired hand before beginning his own dairy in the 1960s. Mueller attributes his success in the industry to being open to new ideas and others’ opinions.

Name a decision your son John made this year that furthered your confidence in him as a dairyman.
John has a knack for hiring good people, putting them in the right place, giving them added responsibility and getting out of their way. He works alongside his staff. He meets with his staff on a regular basis and does not proceed until there is a consensus. In this difficult year, John stuck by his plan to build a 500-cow freestall barn. Our double-25 parlor can handle the extra cows, and we will be in position to be much more efficient when the good times return. John and his team, purchased a minimum of machinery this year to keep our debts under control. John prints a graph showing total debt each month to caution us. Cows-per-man is at 50, and rising. Pounds-per-man per year is at 1.2 million, and rising.
—George Mueller Willow Bend Farm, LLC

16. What makes a dairy herd profitable?
Joanna Samuelson of First Pioneer Farm Credit in the Northeast region examined whether or not “bigger is better” when it comes to herd sizes. Samuelson said it’s all about the profit gap and successful management strategies, which take into account cow output, labor efficiency, milk price received and cost control. You discussed the “profit gap” continuing to grow between the top 25 percent and the bottom 25 percent.

Do you think this trend continued throughout 2009?
I think it’s safe to say that the “profit gap” will continue to be wide. It’s also clear that there will be numerous losses across the board given the low milk prices. However, the profit gap between the top 25 percent and bottom 25 percent specifically is primarily driven by cost of production, not necessarily milk price. On a percent of sales basis, history has shown that in low milk price years the profit gap does indeed widen over higher-priced years, given the need for even stricter cost control. This, combined with how well-positioned a business was going into the downturn, will be key to minimizing losses and bouncing back. Make no mistake, however, losses this year are due in large part to the unprecedented drop in milk price.
—Joanna Samuelson
First Pioneer Farm Credit

17. Save your farm through your own fire sale
Ben Yale recommends dairy producers look at their operations as if they were subject to a fire sale to provide a realistic look at what the true values of assets are and how to proceed with business decisions.

Two producers have identical operations. One had a fire sale in 2009, while the other sold in 2010. Which is better off?
Hindsight would suggest the one who sold out, but that is only one year. Businesses and family investment is built over a lifetime, not 12 months, though it can certainly be lost in less than that. The impetus behind the fire sale article was that producers need to have realistic, true market value, analysis of what they own and what they owe.This should be an ongoing process.
—Ben Yale, Yale Law Office

18. Hands-on learning in New Mexico
Four students who attended the Southern Great Plains Dairy Consortium shared what they learned and how it was beneficial.

How will the 2010 Southern Great Plains Dairy Consortium be different from last year?
The concept of the teaching consortium is to provide a program to which students interested in large-herd management have the opportunity to receive the latest in classroom dairy science education as well as practical field experience. With the 2010 program, we will be adding the second session which focuses on more advanced management challenges such as financial evaluation, personnel management, risk management and more herd problem solving, as well as offering session one. The intent is to provide a program that in session one addresses the basics of dairy herd management and the second session focuses on more advanced concepts of dairy management as well as financial and human resource management.
—Michael Tomaszewski
Professor at Texas A&M University

19. Sustain the milking parlor with water and energy savings
Water and energy waste can add up to big bucks on a dairy. Norm Schuring, vice president of Industry Relations – GEA WestfaliaSurge, recommended that dairy producers consider nine changes and updates.

20. Ultrasound improves timed A.I. conception rates
Dr. Kevin McSweeney shared why timed A.I. has helped to improve heat detection rates but had detrimental effects on conception rates. Ultrasound has helped to get cows to synchronize correctly to timed A.I. programs. It works better than rectal palpation because it can assess ovarian structures and better predict when cows fall into the “optimum” period for beginning or continuing synchronization programs.

How should a herdsman learn how to use this technology?
The best way to learn ultrasound is to train with an experienced ultrasonographer. The first thing is to become familiar with the image on the screen, and then progress to attaining that image yourself. This is best accomplished on-farm in practical settings.
—Kevin McSweeney
Bovine Reproductive Specialists, LLC

21. 5 Things I can’t do without
Jennifer Ackerman, calf manager at Norm E-Lane Farms in Chili, Wisconsin, is responsible for raising the youngstock at the 2,000-cow dairy. She says she can’t do without: Vita Plus Calf’s 1st Choice milk replacer, custom-made pasteurizer, dry bedding, soap and water and a pen and paper.

Entering the cold winter months, what is a sixth tool you’ll add?
Coming into the winter, my sixth-most-important tool for raising calves would be starter grain. During winter, the calf’s energy requirement to maintain its average body temperature increases and less energy is available for growth. To help with this and have the calf meet my goal of an average daily gain of 1.8 to 2.0 pounds, I provide an 18 percent protein starter grain, mixed at the local mill, to calves at about 3 days of age. It is important to remember that a calf’s starter intake will increase as the temperature gets colder. I do not limit feed starter. To optimize starter intake, I provide warm water every day to the calves.
—Jennifer Ackerman
Norm E-Lane Farms

22.
'The toughest downturn I've gone through'
Tim Thompson of Akey Feeds uses a feed ration balancing program to help his clients become more economical. Bill Mahanna, nutritional sciences manager for Pioneer, defined snaplage, a high-moisture corn, consisting of the ear, husk and shank.

Given 2009 harvesting conditions, will earlage be difficult to feed in 2010?
Snaplage (or earlage) may be wetter than normal this year; however, this is a better situation than having it too dry. Kernel moistures over 30 percent mean faster ruminal starch digestion (assuming a particle size of 2000 to 2500 microns), which can predispose for acidosis unless accounted for in ration formulation. Feeders should also factor in an increase in ruminal starch digestion of about 2 percent units per month of time in fermented storage. If handled properly, snaplage should allow for reduced grain feeding compared to feeding dry corn or high-moisture corn with relatively low moisture (less than 25 percent).
—Bill Mahanna, Pioneer

What are the best regional commodity buys in the Midwest for amino acid balancing?
Well in my mind there is not a simple answer, it depends on many factors and it can only be answered by it depends. It is very ration specific depending on the types of carbohydrate sources (both structural – fiber as well as non – structural – starches, sugars and soluble fiber) you have available to work with and how they interact with the various protein fractions from the protein sources you have available to actually feed the cow. These interactions will determine the amount of bacterial protein the rumen will produce and that along with the bypass protein of the ration, determines the types and amounts of specific amino acids that will be required by the animal to “amino – acid balance” the ration. Maximizing the rumen bacterial production is by far the best “commodity” buy and that means a proper balance of all carbohydrate sources as well as a high quality rumen mat for a healthy rumen environment. —Tim Thompson, Akey Feeds

23. 500: The most intriguing dairy size today
Based on a survey Progressive Dairyman conducted in the summer of 2009, Editor Walt Cooley suggested that dairies with 500 to 999 cows had the most interesting responses. Nearly 25 percent of producers with that herd size felt their dairies were in the top 10 percent of dairies in the country with respect to efficiency, productivity and profitability.

24. Milk marketing in 2009: What will work?
Scott Stewart predicted in May that producers were going to need to continue to make the best of a bad situation. He said decisions on milk marketing needed to be based on information from the grain markets, and the approach to pricing feed inputs should be just the opposite of milk pricing.

What will work for milk marketing in 2010?
Milk prices are expected to continue to see improvement in 2010 due to declining cow numbers. The overall rally potential is limited as the supply-demand equation is coming more into balance. The keys to milk marketing in 2010 are really going to be preparedness and discipline. What do I mean by preparedness? Take time now to develop sets of strategies for various market scenarios. At our firm, we call this market scenario planning, and we do it for all of our clients. Scenario planning is rooted in military strategy. Basically, the strategist develops all the possible scenarios for where the market might go: Up a little, up a lot, down a little or down a lot. Then, when events dictate that a certain scenario is playing out (we call these “trigger points”), you take action. Developing and understanding your strategies and trigger points in advance is what gives you the confidence to act in the best interest of your business. To regain lost ground from the last 18 months, producers need to be prepared to pounce on every opportunity.
—Scott Stewart, Stewart-Peterson

25. Management improvement is priceless
Dr. Tom Fuhrmann, consultant and owner of Dairy Works, detailed two examples of managers who were able to reduce losses in their herds. The first example was managing fresh cows to reduce involuntary cull rate by improving feed delivery, calving management, fresh cow management and worker awareness. The second example was changing the milking routine to reduce labor costs. A dairy was able to reduce the people working per milking from four to three by training the cow pusher to do more. This resulted in savings of nearly $75,000 per year.