Dairy Industry Blog Posts

I dropped by Dairy Herd Management and came across an interesting article. For the longest time, I had been wondering if low-cost calf feeding was the ultimate was to improve gains for dairy farmers. I guess the article by guest writer, Robert B Corbett DVM, PAS, answered most of my questions. The cost of raising [...]

Mastitis is considered the most expensive disease in the industry. The Dairy Site says it may cost a dairy farmer over $400 and also damages the future output of a cow. This condition is usually treated with antibiotics. However, due to the threat of antimicrobial resistance, researchers are coming up with a new treatment plan. [...]

It looks like dairy farmers have something they can boast about: more diverse nasal bacteria. According to EDairyNews, Marshfield Clinic Research Institute published their first study about this in the journal PLoS ONE. The study was done in central Wisconsin. It involved nasal and oral sample collection from 21 dairy farmers and 18 individuals working [...]

Due to the increase in public health concerns about the use of antimicrobials, blanket dry cow therapy (BDCT) might not be the best method to use. This is why many U.S. dairy herds are considering selective dry cow therapy (SDCT). However, according to Dairy Herd Management, we’re still waiting to hear if it is the [...]

Experts say that the first 15 minutes of a calf’s life can be the most crucial, as it impact how she performs for the rest of her life. Jim Dickrell of Dairy Herd Management spoke with Amanda Fordyce, a technical dairy calf consultant for Milk Products, to find helpful tips, which we will briefly discuss [...]

I shared an article about NMPF’s suggestions to improve 2018’s MMP-Dairy a few days ago. Now it looks like President Donald Trump has just signed a stopgap spending measure that will protect dairy farmers. According to Farm Journal’s MILK, Jim Weisenmeyer, a ProFarmer’s Washington policy analyst, said these changes were the most significant ones he [...]

Dairy Industry News I shared an article about MMP before Christmas last year. According to Progressive Dairyman, Sonny Perdue, the U.S. Ag secretary, promises that there will be a stronger safety net for the 2018 Farm Bill. Perdue says this will allow farmers to “weather times of economic stress without distorting markets or increasing shallow loss [...]

With the demand for milk being so high on a global scale, dairy producers are looking for ways to increase their output. An article by Sue Hart of VAS provides insights regarding the efficacy of feed management software for improving total milk output. According to Hart, feed is responsible for about 50% of the cost [...]

Mastitis is a serious condition that not only affects a herd’s output but their quality of life, as well. Dairy Herd Management just announced that Penn State University Extension currently offers an online course called “Best Milking Practices.” This is a self-paced course for producers, employees, and managers in the dairy industry. It covers concepts [...]

With 2017 about to be over, producers have a few weeks to decide if they want to re-enroll in the Margin Protection Program for Dairy or go for the Livestock Gross Margin insurance program instead. Just in case producers have had their heads buried in managing their operations this year, Sonny Perdue, who is the [...]