October 19, 2024

October 19, 2024 Progressive Dairy digital magazine

October 18, 2024

Engaging in Excellence: Building a vibrant future for dairy through growing dairy education programs

October 2, 2024

From elementary and middle school to high school, college and beyond, the Dairy Excellence Foundation offers curriculum, on-farm experiences, scholarships and internships to students of all ages – all available at no cost thanks to our donors and partners.

Educating the public through a unique treat

October 15, 2024

Julianne McCormick

Are you excited for Halloween but tired of handing out the same types of candy year after year? If this seems familiar to you, I have several ideas to make this Halloween season unique and healthy.

Maximize your team meeting outcomes before they start

Assessing personality and communication styles, developing a realistic agenda for the time allotted and finding ways to make them something people look forward to will increase the effectiveness of employee meetings and advisory team meetings.

October 16, 2024

Gabe Papoi and Kris Malinov

It pays to get the most out of farm meetings because animal well-being and productivity are usually involved. Whether discussing nutrition plans, health protocols, farm management strategies and more, our experiences point to one overarching factor that maximizes meeting time: preparation.

Prioritize safety when using pressure washers

High pressure can cause serious injuries. Before using a pressure washer, wear protective gear, follow guidelines and inspect equipment.

October 31, 2023

Cheryl DeCooman

The most common injury caused by pressure washers are lacerations, followed by bruises, punctures and eye injuries.

Tips for in-laws: How to be seen and heard at your farm’s decision-making table

A framework including observations, feelings, needs and requests can help all members of the family and farm team communicate.

December 13, 2023

Elaine Froese

There are many overlapping systems in play on a family farm. Your family circle is your nuclear family which relates to your parents or in-laws, and your siblings, who may also be business partners or farm heirs.

Five things to keep in mind when evaluating premixes

Evaluate products selected, determine if there are any redundancies, assess the cost, read research available and talk with manufacturers when determining your premixes.

October 4, 2024

Stephen B. Blezinger

For many dairies, use of premixes is nothing new and they have been used in some fashion since dairying began. In many cases, however, because the practice is so common, we may tend to forget these are tools in our feeding programs that need to be reevaluated from time to time.

Train your team for effective intranasal vaccination

While prevention is key, successful intranasal vaccination is essential for protecting calves from BRD. Proper storage, handling, administration and record keeping are essential for an effective vaccination program.

October 3, 2024

Tiago Tomazi

As dairy calves enter the world with immature immune systems, it is crucial to lay a robust foundation of immunity against bovine respiratory disease (BRD) during their early weeks and months. Intranasal vaccination is a good option to help protect young calves against BRD-causing pathogens. This article outlines six steps to effectively administer an intranasal vaccine.

Four factors to maximize time, resources in the parlor

Maximize a dairy operation by focusing on four areas for improvement when evaluating the milking parlor.

October 10, 2024

Angela Kinney

Efficiency is the key to success in the dairy industry. There are never enough hours in the day to do everything you want to do, so maximizing those hours, minutes and even seconds is the hallmark of a good operation.

The variability nesting dolls

Manage starch digestibility to help ensure rations meet expected values and make the most out of purchased and homegrown feeds.

October 14, 2024

Katie Raver

Although managing starch digestibility may feel like uncovering the center in a never-ending set of nesting dolls, there are many tools available to help us start to break this down. Doing so can help ensure that rations meet expected values and help farmers make the most out of purchased and homegrown feeds. It can also shed light on opportunities to improve starch digestion and ensure we aren’t missing out on valuable energy.

Dairy producer finds value in synchronized data

October 15, 2024

Karen Lee

With multiple data sources collected in a single platform, dairy producer Allan Kutz is able to see more information in less time. In particular, he is better able to see how his fresh cows are performing by days in milk (DIM).

Ditch the office: Manage your herd from anywhere with cloud-based solutions

Improve your herd management with cloud-based and mobile solutions. Uncover new levels of efficiency and productivity to redefine the way you run your dairy.

October 7, 2024

Craig Walter and Meagan Young

Herd management software can make it easier to gather, organize and use data to make profitable decisions. However, this often means being tied to your office where the software lives. But what if technology can help you leave the office behind?

Make manure manageable again

Conservation agriculture practices build the soil back and provide a way to maximize manure as a resource.

October 7, 2024

Matthew Oehmichen

Manure is a gift and a curse for dairy farmers. It becomes the dark cloud for dairy operations, being the source of time constraints, nutrient runoff and financial strains. Finding methods and approaches that bring consistency and flexibility to applications is often hard to find. That was, until conservation agriculture.

Using a custom index to select your best robot cows

Creating a custom index based on milk production, milkability, robot visits and milking speed can aid in creating an efficient herd.

October 11, 2024

John Gerbitz

The best robot cows combine four factors – milk production, milkability, milking speed and trips to the robot. Each of these factors can be measured, and the measurements can be combined to rank the best robot cows.

Seasonal transitions in dairy ventilation: Essential maintenance and upgrades for optimal herd health

Minimizing large temperature swings during the fall and spring is key for herd health, as these fluctuations can cause more health issues than simply being too warm or too cold.

October 15, 2024

Rick McBay

By proactively managing your livestock ventilation system as the seasons change, you can ensure a stable, healthy environment for your animals year-round. Regular maintenance, thoughtful adjustments to your system and considering upgrades when possible will all contribute to optimal conditions in your dairy.

Dotterer Dairy: Where sunflowers and farming blossom together

October 8, 2024

Audrey Schmitz

To innovate in ways that bring the community together, Doug and Cortney Dotterer have ventured beyond traditional dairy farming, transforming a section of their land into a vibrant sunflower maze – a project that has become a local attraction. What began as a casual idea inspired by a farm in Kentucky has now flourished into an annual event, attracting thousands of visitors eager to experience the beauty of sunflowers and farm life.

Points to consider before transitioning your dairy business to a beef operation

Creating beef-on-dairy calves can add additional revenue to your dairy operation, but if considering transitioning from a dairy operation to beef enterprise, there are several points to consider. This includes nutrition management, evaluating handling facilities, stockmanship and more.

September 18, 2024

Bill Halfman and Ryan Sterry

The beef and dairy industries have long been interconnected, and all dairy producers are beef producers through the sale of market cows, bull calves and beef-on-dairy crossbred calves. Taking this one step further, we want to explore a few of the observations we have made as dairy producers have added a beef enterprise to their dairy operation or made the transition out of dairy.

Faber's Food for Thought: Politics and neighbors

October 19, 2024

Dwayne Faber

T-minus two weeks and all the political calls, signs, ads promising free bread and circuses will be done.

Life on the Family Farm: A lifetime guarantee

October 19, 2024

Tom Heck

When we first started farming here years ago, I didn’t have many tools. Since I was very short on money, I ended up buying tools through a mail-order catalog. They were the cheapest tools I could find, and yes, they were made in China. The saying “You get what you pay for” was most certainly true in that case.

The Milk House: The first herd

October 19, 2024

Ryan Dennis

Sometimes, while trying to hold a milker on a heifer intent on kicking it off or struggling to get a difficult dry cow into a trailer, I wondered – in all the sweat and anger and cussing – how we got to this moment.

Just Dropping By: Halloween and fear

October 19, 2024

Yevet Crandell Tenney

Halloween is almost here again. New Years, Valentines, St. Patrick’s Day, Fourth of July and here it is, just that fast.

Managing the awkwardness of limiting 'yes' and saying 'no'

October 17, 2024

Rebecca Shaw Pfeffer

As you may have read already, I have been leisurely making my way through a variety of professional and personal development books. Most recently, I’ve been reading and sharing my thoughts from The Best Yes by Lysa TerKeurst as I work my way through the book.

Too many yeses, not enough sleep

October 19, 2024

Jenna Hurty-Person

When my husband and I were first married, we tried to do it all. On our first Thanksgiving together, we drove 12 hours from North Carolina to Connecticut, arrived at my parents' house around 7 a.m. on Thanksgiving Day, ate breakfast, took a nap and then woke up in time to join my family for Thanksgiving round 1. A few hours and a ton of food later, we ditched that party for Thanksgiving round 2 at my husband’s aunt and uncle’s house.

Our Publications

Progressive Dairy

Digital edition

October 19, 2024 Progressive Dairy digital magazine

News & business

Engaging in Excellence: Building a vibrant future for dairy through growing dairy education programs

Educating the public through a unique treat

Management

Maximize your team meeting outcomes before they start

Topic Articles

Prioritize safety when using pressure washers

Tips for in-laws: How to be seen and heard at your farm’s decision-making table

Five things to keep in mind when evaluating premixes

Train your team for effective intranasal vaccination

Four factors to maximize time, resources in the parlor

The variability nesting dolls

Dairy producer finds value in synchronized data

Ditch the office: Manage your herd from anywhere with cloud-based solutions

Make manure manageable again

Using a custom index to select your best robot cows

Seasonal transitions in dairy ventilation: Essential maintenance and upgrades for optimal herd health

Dotterer Dairy: Where sunflowers and farming blossom together

Points to consider before transitioning your dairy business to a beef operation

Departments

Faber's Food for Thought: Politics and neighbors

Life on the Family Farm: A lifetime guarantee

The Milk House: The first herd

Just Dropping By: Halloween and fear

Managing the awkwardness of limiting 'yes' and saying 'no'

Too many yeses, not enough sleep

Devenez un meilleur gestionnaire de troupeau grâce aux robots de traite

Addressing parlor challenges: A three-legged stool for success

Economic Update: Farmer sentiment strong following U.S. election

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