I recently got a phone call from a nearby dairyman, “Joe,” inquiring if I would give him a second opinion on his rations.

Here is an unarguable fact: A high-functioning and effective farm team – with all team members in alignment and focused on achieving established farm goals – has a distinct competitive advantage over a farm that operates without a team.

Studies by scientists at the University of Minnesota and their USDA-ARS collaborators indicate that a unique herd of unselected Holsteins, maintained at the University of Minnesota since the mid-1960s, has a very strong potential to help reduce mastitis in future generations of Holstein cows.

Manure has valuable nutrients and needs to be treated as such. 

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.

J Schanbacher has milked in his fair share of milking systems, but there is one design that has met all his expectations as a dairy producer.  

During the transition period, cows experience three main physiological challenges: (1) a drop in dry matter intake (DMI) and an increase in nutrient demands, predisposing cows to mobilize fat tissue and enter a negative energy balance, (2) immunosuppression and (3) systemic inflammation.

High-functioning family businesses need good conflict just as much as they need the right protocols for production.