If you answered “not good” or an even harsher response to the question in my headline, this is the issue for you. We have spoken to many of you. We know of your struggle both financially and emotionally.
In many ways the focus of this edition is defined by the word transition. We’re talking about the transition of your business into a cost-conscious operation for short-term endurance, and we’re talking about one of the most challenging management areas on a dairy – the transition cow group.
Your business continues to be under pressure from low milk prices. In this issue, we’ve provided you some tips to help make well-balanced feeding and nutrition decisions that won’t affect your milk production. (See page 13.) We’ve also provided some suggestions for how to adjust your business today without damaging your future. (See page 20.)
Attorney Ben Yale has also written about lessons learned from those who hold fire sales after filing for bankruptcy. (See page 23.) He suggests tips for how to brutally review each of your assets and debts. It might help some save their businesses without having to file for bankruptcy.
Please know that others are on your side. In this issue we show you what U.S. senators from around the country have done and continue to do in order to move the federal government’s already existing programs into action to benefit dairy producers. (See page 22.) We’ve also included one co-op’s opinion about why co-ops are still both a long- and short-term solution to price volatility. (See page 12.)
We also found some tips about how to make your computer and water supply do more work to keep your transition cows healthy. Do you know what your Week 4 Milk averages for lactation cows are? Find out how to get DairyComp 305 to give you this data and how to analyze it in order to make improvements. (See page 46.)
We’ve also got an article about new research which suggests that you might be able to make up lost energy your transition cows aren’t consuming in feed through your water supply. (See page 50.)
The root of the word transition means to “go across.” What all of us in the industry need right now is to put the verb “go” into the progressive tense. We need to keep going. But at the same time we must consider where we are going.
We sit across from profitability. It’s the opposite of where we are today. But we can get there. We hope you find this issue will be the bridge to carry you and your herd a bit farther across the low-price chasm that has already swallowed up some dairy businesses. PD
Walt Cooley
Editor
