Dairy Performance

By Dr. Bruno Amaral With an uncommonly warm March, we’re already starting to think about keeping cows cool.  Now is our chance to strategize and get ahead of the heat. We all know the value of heat stress abatement for milking cows as temperatures spike in the summer and milk production drops.  But the value

By Dr. Neil Michael Managing fresh cow performance is a challenge.  When ketosis becomes an issue, cows start slowly and you can expect significant losses due to direct treatment costs and lost future income. Contributing factors Much of the variation in how well cows go through transition can be explained by changes in cows, feedstuffs

By Dr. Eric Schwab Consumers and processors in the Upper Midwest demand solids to produce high quality dairy products. But how do we produce high solids milk without giving up production? First, let’s take a step back to understand why milk solids play such a big role in the milk check.  World demand for dairy

By Chris Wacek-Driver “Quality forages…where sound nutrition starts” has become a founding principle for Vita Plus consultants as we work with you to put up high quality forages. A key to reaching that goal is improving aerobic stability by inoculating with the world-leading Lactobacillus buchneri 40788.  Benefits of this inoculant include less heating, fewer yeasts

By Bob Hagenow Team meetings are always interesting because everyone brings different experiences and communication styles to the table.  Naturally, this can lead to conflict as different personalities favor different approaches for solving challenges.  It can also serve as a great opportunity to capitalize on the different perspectives each person brings to the team.  In

By Bob Hagenow We can’t deny that things like email, texting and Facebook have increased our ways to connect with one another.  But are we truly communicating with each other to get things accomplished and avoid mistakes?  With all the tools we have to “talk” with one another, we still gain great value in bringing

By Al Gunderson Browse the Internet on your tablet or smartphone and you know we’re living in a global world where information flows across borders seamlessly.  That applies to economics too. The Greek debt crisis plunged the whole Euro zone into crisis and affected our U.S. markets.  A huge, global trading company placed a “bet”

By Spence Driver Over the last five years, nearly 55 percent of the average milk income over feed costs has been derived from milk protein yield and 40 percent has come from milk fat yield.  That means that only about 5 percent of that income is derived from milk volume. Clearly, that means that increasing

By Cody Yanzick Calf raisers invest a lot of time and energy into optimizing calf performance.  Good feed management with young heifers can help to keep that momentum going as calves get older.  Here are a few tips for introducing, feeding and monitoring heifer TMRs. Choose the right size mixer. Most calf raisers mix small

By Jon Rasmussen and Dr. Neil Michael Critically reviewing a few fundamental cow behaviors can positively impact cow health, performance and the overall attitude of employees.  Here are some good areas to watch during your next walk among your cows. Flight zones When you walk into a pen of cows, how do they react to

By John Goeser Corn silage quality has a profound impact on your dairy’s profitability.  Highly digestible hybrids reduce your need for corn grain, and everyone understands the value of that in today’s markets.  So how do you choose the right hybrid?  The same way you choose your favorite steak. When you sink your teeth into

By Gary Sipiorski The weather’s getting chilly, which means winter and the New Year are coming up fast.  It also means it’s time to once again time to take a hard look at your dairy business and position yourself financially for 2012.  Here are my top 10 things to look at as you plan: 1.

By Dr. Neil Michael In the simplest form, the goal of all reproductive programs is to maximize the production for quality pregnancies during a specified time period with minimal variation and waste.  Producers whose herds show high reproductive performance use a handful of metrics to evaluate and manage their programs.  Some fundamental metrics include: Pregnancy

By Jon Urness Legendary commentator Paul Harvey always ended his daily lunchtime radio broadcasts with the affirmation, “Now you know the rest of the story.” I’m not so sure we’ll ever know the full “rest of the story” when it comes to all the factors affecting total tract starch digestibility.  A survey conducted by Vita

(Editor's note:  In his 2011 article below, Randy Greenfield shares the basics of various dairy risk management tools.  A new tool to add to the list is the Dairy Margin Protection Program, as explained in the following 2014 update.  Contact your Vita Plus consultant if you're interested in further discussing these tools and strategies.) 2014

By Ann Hoskins Automatic calf feeders are popping up on many dairy operations across the Midwest.  The new technology offers plenty of opportunities, but it also requires a refocus on management.  The decision of whether autofeeders fit your calf program needs to be made only after careful consideration of how the opportunities and challenges will