When a short, wet 2019 wheat harvest left dairies struggling with expensive and moldy straw, one farm decided there had to be a better way to feed dry cows than their Goldilocks diet. That challenge sparked an idea that would ultimately set the operation apart by separating corn silage into fodder and fines.

Dairyman Greg Nye knew his dairy was handling its feedstuffs too much. He didn’t like what that was costing his dairy in shrink. Given that his farm also feeds pricier non-GMO ingredients as part of its milk shipping agreement, he started looking at alternatives to how he was handling feed ingredients to save money.

It was dairy producer Danny Martins’ vision to design a fully automated feed center where he didn’t have to rely on multiple feeders and could instead entrust just one person.

Over recent years, it has become obvious the dairy industry is showing increasing growth in the use of automation, robotics and artificial intelligence (AI) as solutions to many challenges on the farm, particularly as related to labor demands.

Arjan and Helen Haanstra believe the "eyes on first" approach to the transition cow pen is key to success throughout the dairy.

Feed costs represent 40% to 60% of the total cost of producing milk on dairy farms in the U.S. and are most dairies’ number one expense. The prices producers pay for purchased forages, commodities and ingredients greatly impact feed costs and the farm’s potential profitability.