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Silage quality and aerobic stability
Nutritionist John Hibma authored an article earlier this summer about a common and expensive problem for dairy farmers – silage spoilage due to air. He provided tips for harvesting and packing silage to minimize the risk of spoilage.
Featured comment: I asked Dr. Scott Dennis – one of our Pioneer silage microbiologists – to provide readers with a bit more detail about the strains you mention in your article:
- In pure culture, L. buchneri (a heterofermenter) will convert sugars to 50 percent lactic acid and 50 percent acetic acid.
- In anaerobic conditions, yeasts still metabolize sugars and produce ethanol ... but they do not reproduce as fast as when exposed to air ... and in aerobic conditions, they produce acetic acid.
—Bill Mahanna
Read it for yourself: Silage quality and aerobic stability
Six ways Grand View Dairy maintains a somatic cell count of 85,000
PD Editor Peggy Coffeen wrote this article on Grand View Dairy in Brillion, Wisconsin. Herd manager Jackie Schnackel says the key areas for such a low SCC are mastitis identification and prevention, parlor practices, employees, incentives, facilities and management.
Featured comment: Great article and great example from an organized and integral dairy.
—Jorge Peña
Read it for yourself: Six ways Grand View Dairy maintains a somatic cell count of 85,000
10 signs you grew up on a dairy
Our staff put together this fun list that recalled several favorite childhood memories.
Featured comment: In the ’70s, we took scrapers and made roads in the manure on the concrete pad while the cows were milking, then rode our bikes, daring each other to see how fast we could ride before someone missed a curve and landed in the manure.
—Paula Lehrer
Read it for yourself: 10 signs you grew up on a dairy 
