Dairy Performance

By Dr. Laurie Winkelman
In Part 1of this article series, we discussed the details involved in good forage and feeding management to help prevent lost dollars. This second article will focus on the details of cow comfort and reproductive management to help boost your farm’s bottom line regardless of the milk markets.

By Dr. Nicole Barkley
You have many options to choose from when it comes to feeding dry cows.  You may favor a single dry cow group over a two-group system, feed anionic salts and high or low calcium, or incorporate high levels of straw. 

By Dr. Zach Sawall
A persistent concern on many dairy farms is the rising copper concentration levels in cattle liver samples. According to Dr. Jeremy Schefers, University of Minnesota Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory, the concern stems from the common usage of copper sulfate in footbaths to control digital dermatitis and the subsequent higher copper concentrations in manure and on cropland.

By Dr. Laurie Winkelman
In tough economic times, nutritionists often get questions and requests to reduce feed costs on farms. From a nutrition standpoint, a cow needs what a cow needs and that won’t change if milk is $25 per cwt or $12 per cwt.

By Rod Wautlet
The Class III futures are looking better than they were, but they still aren’t great.

By Dr. Andy Kniesly
Feed costs represent one of the largest expenses on a dairy farm. As dairy farmers look for ways to improve their profitability, they often look for ways to reduce their feed costs. One area that sometimes gets overlooked in the quest to reduce feed costs is feed shrink.

By Dr. Michelle Windle
The sun is shining, the smell of grilled brats is in the air, ice cream is on my mind and the kids are laughing as they run through the sprinkler. 

There’s no denying it.  It’s summertime and with warmer temperatures come TMR heating and spoiling.

By Nick Uglow
As I mentioned in the first article of this series, following the same management practices as in a commercial setting - keeping calves clean and dry in a facility with proper ventilation, offering clean water, and managing them in a consistent manner - will keep the fair-prospect calf, in any barn, on par with the desired growth. 

By Nick Uglow
“There she is!” you think to yourself. 

“She” is that special heifer born the first week of September, who happens to be a couple inches taller than the older August heifers rooming in the same place as her. The daughter of the giant brood cow is easily spotted when pushing up feed to the headlocks.  This heifer would be the perfect candidate to take to the county fair for this year’s 4-H project.

By Dr. Eric Schwab
When times of plenty pass and margins shrink, pencils are sharpened and costs are scrutinized. Savings need to be found and efficiencies gained. Here are opportunities to fine-tune your operation.

By Brittany Gevelinger
Anyone can be a leader as long as he or she understands that service is the basis of leadership, knows that being authentic means being a leader in every aspect life, and has a servant’s heart.

By Stacy Nichols
With the current low margins, more emphasis needs to be placed on the factors that impact dairy farm profitability.   Dairies should milk as many profitable cows as possible to maximize the milking parlor – without exceeding the capacity to take care of cows. 

By Jon Urness
What does it cost in corn silage yield or – more importantly – milk yield per acre when planting for corn silage is delayed? 

In a word - a lot!

By Randall Greenfield
Walls or no walls?  This question inevitably comes up when considering storage options for ensiled forages and grains. The answer, of course, is always “it depends.” For any specific situation, the ultimate solution could be different than the next. For the purpose of this article, however, I’ll make some generic comparisons.

By Pat Hoffman
With the cycle of lower milk prices upon us, we are often asked how to control feed costs, including the cost of feeding dairy heifers. 

By Gary Sipiorski
Most agricultural products are commodities.  That means corn looks like corn whether it is grown in Iowa, Brazil or China.  Milk looks like milk no matter where in the world the cows are milked. 

The market price of commodities moves based on supply and demand.  As the supply and demand of commodities change - or worldwide cow numbers change – the result is a rollercoaster ride of income on the local farm.