By Ann Hoskins | Automatic calf feeders can provide helpful insight into daily calf management as well as overall trends of the calf feeding program. In turn, this can help you create efficiencies, make management decisions and improve calf performance.
By Jon Rasmussen | Research has shown reduced sorting, elevated lying times, positive milk responses, and enhanced milk component responses are all possible with more feed deliveries and feed pushups. One of the simpler technologies we can use in observing feedbunk behavior and feed pushups is a time-lapse camera, which allows us to observe cows at a distance.
By Dr. David Carlson | The feeding process requires skill and attention to detail to deliver a high-quality, uniform ration to all cows within a pen. The following nine critical control points can help you achieve TMR consistency.
By Barry Visser | Most corn planting happened two to four weeks later than normal thanks to April rains and below-average temperatures. Despite the later spring, corn silage harvest is just around the corner, and for a few in outlying areas, it has already begun. A few strategies can help determine when to hit the fields and how to put up the highest quality forage possible.
By Steve Murty | Nutrients lost through forage shrink have a real cost to your dairy. Here are 11 tips to efficiently harvest, pack, and cover your corn silage to reduce shrink and add dollars to the bottom line.
Dairy producers and industry peers gathered together June 15 and 16, 2022, in Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin, to network and gain practical insight from agricultural leaders. This e-news provides summary articles from the event sessions.
Tim Kerfeld, J Hall, and Rebecca Davis own and/or manage vastly different operations, but all are intensely focused on the long-term success of their farming businesses. They compared their management strategies during a producer panel at the Vita Plus Midwest Dairy Conference.
Luke Laufenberg has joined his father and uncle full-time on the family farm and “technology implementer” is one of his many roles. Laufenberg shared the benefits of AMS his family has seen during his presentation at the Vita Plus Midwest Dairy Conference.
By Dr. David Carlson Heat stress presents many challenges for dairy farms, including diminished milk production, reduced reproductive performance and stressed cow wellbeing. Long-term impacts can be felt for years in terms of the health and productivity of offspring. Prioritize your heat abatement options by identifying maintenance needs of existing systems as well as high-value
By Jon Rasmussen, Vita Plus dairy technology specialist
Renewing or adopting feed management technology on your farm does not have to have to be a stressful process. These nine steps can help simplify the process, clarify your goals and determine what system best meets your needs.
All the settings of an autofeeder work together and one change can affect the others. Program the machine so that milk volume, minimum and maximum limitations, and concentration match your calf-feeding strategy.
By Chris Belz
Hard work and a dairy farm go hand in hand, but we need to stay healthy to care for our families and our animals. Here are a few reminders for safe farm work in the winter.
By Kate McAndrews Even texters and drivers hate texters and drivers (in farming too). Many may be driving less frequently right now, but we should continue to challenge ourselves and each other to reduce our distracted driving habits because each of us is so critically important to those around us – both on the farm and at home. Everyone around the world thrives on communication and efficiency, but we also need to thrive on safety.
The 2020 forage season is underway! Are you geared up for success? Speakers at the Vita Plus Custom Harvester Meeting held in February shared a wide range of expertise in forage production as well as business management. Browse all of the event e-news topics in this post and visit Vita Plus Forage Foundations for more forage-focused technical expertise and practical tips.
By Nathan Hrnicek
Typically, to achieve higher-quality alfalfa, the crop is harvested earlier (between 23 and 28 days). Harvesting in the early- to mid-bud stage is still the best and most practical way to maximize quality.
Another way to maximize quality is to maximize leaf retention. The leaves are where you get an increase in quality because they are more digestible compared to the stems. More overall leaves means lower undigestible material, which means higher-quality alfalfa. To help maintain or increase leaf retention and improve quality, here are some other practices you can enact during the harvest process.
By Dr. Noah Litherland
Every one of us in the dairy industry has an inborn fondness for cattle, and value newborn calves and the promise they bring. Let’s get wise about thermal support for our calves in the first 24 hours of their lives during cold weather.