benchmarking - Page 1

Central Plains Dairy Expo celebrates 25 years

April 14, 2026

The 2026 Central Plains Dairy Expo commenced with a welcome reception and BlackHawk concert on March 17 in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. The following two days were filled with breakout sessions covering fly control, technology, herd health, immigration law, artificial intelligence (AI) and more.

Dairy profitability outlook brightens for 2026

Average profits per cow range from $339 to $588 across five U.S. regions.

December 23, 2025

Aidan Connolly and Maria Camila Ulloa Gomez

U.S. commercial dairy farms of nearly every size are expected to post positive margins in 2026, but the link between increased herd size and profitability is sharper than ever.

Southeast: Swiss cheese and BMPs

August 22, 2025

Katie Mason

I didn’t invent the “Swiss cheese model,” but it’s one of my favorite ways to explain best management practices in beef cattle production.

Are you optimizing lifetime production?

Lifetime productivity of cows is an important management metric to evaluate considering the investment in creating those animals, the ongoing cost of their replacements and the maximization of their peak potential.

August 14, 2025

Matt Lange

Keep the long-term view in focus and make lifetime productivity a part of your management strategy. Don’t forget to go see those older, high lifetime-production cows in your herd today. With a focus on lifetime productivity, you will likely see more of them in the coming years.

Benchmarking for fertility: 3 reproductive KPIs every dairy should watch

When it comes to reproductive goals, knowing where your herd is at is integral to improvement. Monitoring the percentage of the herd pregnant by 150 days in milk, pregnancy rate and early pregnancy loss rate will aid in developing proper benchmarks.

July 9, 2025

Renee Smith

During my 20-plus years of analyzing dairy reproductive records, my mantra has always been "Benchmark against yourself, not your neighbor." Of course, there’s value in both, but my belief has always been that you’ll make the greatest gains by keeping your focus on your own results and figuring out how to improve them versus focusing on comparisons.

Diving into benchmark data

Benchmark data and reports are only as good as their implementation. Feedlot operators who understand what the data tells them can improve animal health and efficiency.

August 12, 2024

Garland Dahlke

The benchmark reports are interesting and folks tend to value them in different ways, but they are a little more than just a means to compare yourself with your neighbors or fuel a competitive spirit.

Feeding show heifers during different stages of growth

Age and development heavily influence growth. Before and after weaning, a heifer can put more energy toward her stature growth than after she begins to cycle.

May 17, 2024

Chase Cashell and Josh Hushon

The number one goal of a feeding program is to promote healthy development from birth to freshening. Additionally, we want to maximize each heifer’s growth and genetic potential to its fullest – while also promoting healthy hair coats, good muscle tone and ideal body condition – when it matters most, show days.

Benchmarking antibiotic usage on the farm

Defined daily dose is the adopted measurement for antibiotic protocols and is the number of days an average cow received an antibiotic treatment in a time period.

April 5, 2024

Melissa Hart

“Overuse of antibiotics is a very significant threat to our industry,” stated Pamela Ruegg, DVM, Michigan State University as she addressed a crowd of dairy producers at the Great Lakes Regional Dairy Conference in Mt. Pleasant, Michigan.

Managing new and used dairy robots for longevity

Milking robot technology is more widely available than ever before. Ensuring the greatest ROI when deciding between new and used involves evaluating multiple variables and pairing the investment with a service level agreement to provide peace of mind and financial predictability.

March 18, 2024

Darrell McIntyre

As the market for dairy robots has increased, so has the availability of used equipment. For producers interested in making a switch to automation, considerations around buying used or new do not differ greatly from traditional equipment.