Large dairy operations, those with 50 or more employees, will now be required to provide health insurance for their employees and possibly for their families as well.

Kevin Van der Poel, a co-owner of Focal Dairy, began an intensive, pasture-grazing business with a new spin on old dairy traditions. The business is not about producing the most milk. The New Zealander’s method is focused on efficiency, management and reduced costs.

Come August, dairy producers and calf raisers will no longer be able to buy milk replacers with Neomycin-Terramycin in the tried-and-true 2:1 ratio formulation.

Three years ago, Tillamook Cooperative Creamery switched to using the Foss Bactoscan for determining bacterial counts of milk samples. We also decided to test every load of milk received rather than testing weekly.

From June 2005 through November 2009, Osterkamp Dairy achieved a milk quality bonus for 52 out of 53 months—a 98% success rate. Those results, says owner Mark Osterkamp, don’t happen without teamwork. In fact, getting milkers to buy in to the team concept is key to making everything work, he says.

As dairy price support levels become less and less relevant to cost-of-production levels, milk price volatility has brought cash flows from booming highs to crushing lows.