With current milk prices, dairy farmers are trying to lower costs, while optimizing their return opportunities. With the average cost of raising a dairy replacement heifer at over $2,500, according to a 2019 Cornell Cooperative Extension survey, heifer inventory management and raising the right replacements is a critical part of that plan.

Productive life can be like a New Year’s resolution. It sounds like a good idea, but often it doesn’t come true. Increasing the productive life of dairy herds needs to be a priority for the dairy industry.

It’s uncertain what will happen in the next quarter or two, but we all want to see farms succeed. Dairy farms help feed the world, and by taking a closer look at your operations, expenses and the comfort of your cows, you can identify areas for improvement that will keep your business profitable.

Dairy heifer grazing increases the amount of well-managed grassland in an area – improving dairy’s climate performance and supporting the regeneration of soil, water and biodiversity resources.

Looking at return over feed numbers is an excellent way to get a quick snapshot of how a dairy farm is performing from a production and cost standpoint, however it doesn’t account for and is not impacted by duration of cows in the herd.

If we go back 10-plus years, most dairy farms bred all their cows and heifers for dairy calves and raised all heifer calves as dairy herd replacements.