Education

Make the Most of Your Midyear Money Decisions

Tue, 01 Jul 2025 13:50:51 GMT

By June, most producers have a clearer picture of how the year is unfolding than they did back in January. Six months into the year, producers have a better understanding of their costs, their income and how closely the operation is tracking to plan.

That makes midyear one of the best times to step back and evaluate the financial side of the business.

“Performing a midyear checkup can help you stay on track for achieving your financial goals,” says Samantha Gehrett, Senior Extension Educator with Penn State Extension. “It is an excellent opportunity to evaluate how your operation is doing and make adjustments for the remainder of the year.”

Here are five key areas Gehrett recommends reviewing to strengthen your financial footing in the second half of 2025.

1. Update Your Books

Accurate records are the foundation of sound financial decisions. Gehrett encourages producers to review and update their books regularly, not just once a year at tax time.

“Experienced business owners know that accounting and financial reviews should take place monthly,” she says. “If you do not yet have a system in place or find that you continue to fall behind on monthly reporting, consider scheduling some additional time with your accountant.”

Midyear is a smart time to catch up on tracking income, expenses, assets and liabilities. Whether you use software like QuickBooks or a simple paper ledger, keeping current ensures you are working from real numbers, not guesses. This will also make year-end reporting and tax prep significantly easier.

2. Reconnect with Your Business Goals

The goals you set in January might not match the realities you are facing in July. That is why Gehrett encourages producers to revisit their goals and ask:

Are my initial goals still appropriate
What have I achieved so far
Are there any achievements I have missed and why
Are there any new needs that require setting new goals

Whether it is related to increasing cash flow, expanding acreage or investing in equipment, now is the time to shift your targets or reallocate resources as needed. Staying flexible helps ensure your goals evolve with your operation, not against it.

3. Organize Your Financial Documents

Organization is more than just tidiness. It is a financial strategy that saves time, reduces stress and prevents mistakes. Gehrett advises producers to make sure receipts, invoices, loan documents and financial statements are easy to access and up to date.

“Having your income, expense, asset and liability information organized makes conversations with your accountant or lender much more effective,” she explains.

It can also help you avoid missing important deductions or payment deadlines that may affect cash flow and credit relationships. Set aside time to clean up digital or paper files, double-check entries and review outstanding bills or receivables.

4. Check Cash Flow and Budgets

Now is the time to examine how money has moved through your business so far and whether it aligns with your expectations.
Gehrett suggests starting with key questions:

Are there outstanding bills that need immediate attention?
Are you on track to meet your projected income goals?
Are your expenses being managed effectively?
Do you need to consider adjusting your pricing or service rates?

If cash flow is tight or trending in the wrong direction, consider trimming unnecessary expenses, renegotiating terms or identifying areas for additional revenue generation. Small changes now can make a big difference by year-end.

5. Review Your Key Financial Statements

To understand your operation’s financial position, you need to analyze three core financial documents. According to Gehrett, these documents include:

Income Statement: This shows your revenue, expenses and net profit or loss over a specific time frame. Think of it as your farm’s financial report card.
Balance Sheet: A snapshot that reflects your assets, liabilities and equity at a particular point in time.
Cash Flow Statement: This document tracks when money is coming in and going out, helping you anticipate shortfalls or surpluses.

Gehrett notes these reports work together to give a complete picture of financial health. They help you answer important questions such as:

Are you profitable?
Is your equity improving?
Do you have enough liquidity to support upcoming decisions?

An Opportunity to Course Correct

One advantage of a midyear financial review is that there is still time to respond to what the numbers reveal.

Whether that means controlling expenses, delaying a purchase, reevaluating priorities or pursuing a new opportunity, decisions made in the second half of the year can influence how the year ultimately finishes.

How AI-Powered Barns Could Cut Water Use by Up to 70%

Tue, 02 Jun 2026 16:33:11 GMT

For years, dairy producers have invested in fans, soakers and ventilation systems to keep cows comfortable during periods of heat stress. Now, a new generation of technology is helping those systems work smarter. Using cameras, sensors and artificial intelligence, automated barn management tools can identify where cows are standing, apply water only where it’s needed and provide managers with a deeper look into what is happening inside the barn.

Josh Broekema of Inbarn recently discussed how the company’s Barn AI technology is helping dairies reduce water and energy use while generating information that can support day-to-day management decisions.

“We’ve spent years improving the cow’s health with cow comfort practices. Now it’s time to improve the bottom line by helping the dairy purchase things like this that really help the ROI,” Broekema says.

Reduce Water Use Without Sacrificing Cow Cooling

Heat abatement remains one of the most important components of cow management during warm weather. Soakers and fans are one of the most effective cooling combinations, but many systems apply water whether cows are present or not. Barn AI was initially developed to address that challenge.

“Barn AI started as a system that helps dairies save on water,” Broekema says. “There are many reasons to save water more than just the water itself.”

According to Broekema, the technology can reduce water use by 60% to 70% depending on the system design and management goals.

(Rob Leach)

“Barn AI is probably one of the biggest advancements we have with being able to cut down on water depending on which system we find that’s best for the dairy,” he says.

The system identifies where cows are standing and prevents water from being applied in empty areas. This not only conserves water but can also reduce the amount of excess moisture entering manure handling systems.

In areas where water management is already challenging, reducing unnecessary water application can provide additional benefits.

Individualized Cooling Opportunities

Beyond reducing water use, newer versions of the technology are designed to improve how cooling is delivered to individual cows. Instead of waiting for the next scheduled soak cycle, cows can receive water shortly after arriving at the feed bunk.

“When the cow’s at the feed bunk, rather than waiting on the next one when she gets there, that water turns on for her right away,” Broekema says. “She gets her own individual timer.”

While this approach may not deliver the highest possible water savings, Broekema says it allows dairies to focus available water where it can provide the greatest cooling benefit.

Bringing AI into the Barn

Artificial intelligence is becoming more common across the dairy industry, and Broekema sees significant potential for using cameras and computer vision technology to support management decisions.

“We see at a rapid pace that AI is starting to take a role in the dairy industry and that farms are working with it to make some decisions,” he says.

The company’s camera-based system can monitor whether feed deliveries occur on schedule, verify feed pushups and provide other operational insights. Additional capabilities currently under development include monitoring lying time, feed bunk attendance, waterer usage and standing behavior.

(Farm Journal)

The goal is to provide managers with greater visibility into areas of the barn that often receive less attention during the workday.

“Having some eyes in the back of the barn to know what’s going on and having some reports to look at daily would be pretty valuable,” Broekema says.

Savings Beyond Water

The technology’s ability to identify where cows are located can also create opportunities to reduce energy consumption. Using camera-based monitoring, fans can be shut off when pens are temporarily empty while cows are away being milked.

“If cows aren’t in the pen, that’s an opportunity to reduce that usage without affecting cow comfort,” Broekema says.

While he notes the strategy is not appropriate for every facility, it can offer meaningful savings in naturally ventilated barns where fan operation provides little benefit when cows are absent.

“If there’s no benefit to have the fans on while there’s no cows, let’s shut the fans off and save that one hour every time they go to milk,” he says.

As dairies continue evaluating technologies that can improve efficiency, Broekema believes the combination of resource savings and management insights creates value beyond cow cooling alone.

“It’s about sustainability and helping the bottom line on less energy usage, less water usage and better decisions,” Broekema says. “Information is valuable and adds to the bottom line.”

Don’t Let the Milk Melt Away This Summer

Fri, 29 May 2026 20:27:31 GMT

Written by Dr. Andy Mueller and Dr. Grace Cun

Heat stress is one of the most predictable challenges on a dairy and one of the easiest to underestimate. Once THI reaches ~68, cows begin losing performance. Reduced intake, lower milk production, depressed components, sorting, loose manure, and declining reproduction are all common signs. During heat stress, cows eat fewer, larger meals, increasing rumen instability while more energy is diverted toward cooling and electrolyte losses.

The goal during heat stress: protect intake, maintain rumen stability, and support hydration.

Temperature-Humidity Index.

(Photo credit: Westway Feed Products)

Practical Nutrition Strategies

1. Optimize Carbohydrates and Energy Density
Many rations get into trouble during heat stress by relying too heavily on rapidly fermentable starch. Excess starch can elevate the risk of a rumen upset, especially when cows slug feed. Instead, shift toward digestible fiber and sugars, targeting roughly 7-9% total sugar (DM basis). Sugar, from sucrose, provides a quick energy source for rumen microbes, and helps support fiber digestion and intake. Fiber digestibility also becomes more important during heat stress. Prioritizing ingredients with higher early fiber digestion (30-hour NDFd) can help reduce rumen fill, improve passage rate, and support dry matter intake. Because intake often declines during summer, maintaining energy density is critical. Work with your nutritionist to balance the overall carbohydrate profile of the diet, prioritize high NDFd feedstuffs, and increase energy density with bypass fat sources when appropriate. Avoid excessive unsaturated fat, which can further depress fiber digestion and milk fat.

2. Positive Dietary Cation-Anion Difference (DCAD)
During heat stress, cows lose more electrolytes, especially potassium (K), making adequate potassium levels critical for maintaining intake, hydration, and rumen stability. Increasing dietary +DCAD, particularly through potassium, is a proven strategy to help support milk production and components during summer.
A more positive DCAD helps maintain rumen pH and a more stable fermentation environment, supporting milk yield, ECM, and milk fat production. Research has also shown that a +DCAD supports more effective biohydrogenation, converting unsaturated fatty acids commonly found in byproducts, oilseeds, and some forages into more saturated forms. This is important because excess unsaturated fats are associated with reduced fiber digestion and milk fat depression.
Potassium carbonate is commonly used to increase +DCAD, but dry sources can create handling, safety, and flowability challenges. Delivering potassium through a molasses-based liquid feed provides a more practical approach, improving palatability and intake consistency while helping support summer performance.

3. Additional Feed Additives to Support Heat Stress Management
Several feed additives may also help support cows during periods of heat stress by improving hydration status, rumen stability, and intake consistency.

Betaine is a naturally derived nutrient, commonly sourced from sugar beets, that functions as both an osmolyte and a methyl donor. During heat stress, betaine helps cells retain water and maintain normal function, which may help support hydration, feed intake, and overall cow performance. In addition, as a methyl donor, betaine may help spare nutrients such as methionine and choline so they can be utilized more efficiently for milk production and other metabolic functions.

Fresh Guard, a blend of propionic acid and sodium benzoate, will help stabilize and condition the TMR during hot weather, reducing heating and spoilage at the feed bunk while helping maintain ration consistency and intake.

4. Water Is the Most Important Nutrient
Milk is roughly 87% water, and during heat stress, water intake can increase by 30–50%. That makes access and availability critical. Keep troughs clean, provide adequate water space, at least 3–4 linear inches per cow, and maintain fast refill rates around 3–5 gallons per minute. If water intake is limited, nothing else in the ration will work as intended.

Management still drives results! Nutrition can help support the cow, but cow comfort is the foundation. Prioritize shade, fans, soakers and frequent feed pushups. Heat stress isn’t one big problem, but a series of small losses, reduced intake, rumen instability, and dehydration, that add up to lower milk and components.

Takeaways
Shift away from rumen pH reducing, highly fermentable starch and toward digestible fiber and sugars to improve intake and rumen efficiency. Increase potassium and +DCAD to help support intake, and rumen stability while adding betaine to aid in cellular hydration during heat stress. Prioritize water availability, cooling, and overall cow comfort, as they remain the foundation of summer performance.

The dairies that perform best in summer are the ones that stay ahead of heat stress. Reach out to your Westway representative to help keep your herd on track.

School’s Out, Farm Safety Is In

Thu, 28 May 2026 16:41:53 GMT

School’s out, which means a lot more kids and teenagers will be helping around the farm this summer. For many farm families, summer also brings more hired help onto farms, including teenagers who may not have grown up around livestock, machinery or day-to-day farm work.

While farm kids often become comfortable around equipment and chores at a young age, familiarity can sometimes make people overlook risks. For youth with little agricultural experience, those risks can be even greater. Farms remain busy worksites filled with hazards many other jobs do not have, from large animals and machinery to heat stress and chemical exposure.

The National Children’s Center for Rural and Agricultural Health and Safety (NCCRAHS) encourages farms to match jobs with a child’s age, experience and physical ability. Tasks adults handle every day can quickly become dangerous when youth take on work beyond their skill level.

The following safety reminders can help farms prepare young workers for a safer and more productive summer on the operation.

Supervision and Training

A lot of farm tasks become second nature for adults, which can make it easy to forget how unfamiliar they may feel to younger workers. Whether it’s a child helping after school or a hired teenager spending their first summer on a farm, taking extra time to walk through jobs and explain possible risks can go a long way.

Assign chores appropriate for the youth’s age and ability
Provide adult supervision based on the task and experience level
Demonstrate tasks before youth attempt them
Have youth safely complete a task several times before working alone
Encourage questions when youth are unsure how to handle a situation
Inspect work areas for hazards before work begins

Equipment and Clothing

Equipment and facilities also deserve a close look before youth begin working. Guards, shields and ventilation systems should be working properly, and adults should inspect work areas for hazards beforehand. Loose clothing, untied hair and improper footwear can also increase injury risk around machinery and livestock.

Ensure machinery is mechanically sound with guards and shields in place
Make sure ventilation systems are functioning properly
Require gloves, eye protection, hearing protection, or masks when needed
Avoid loose clothing and drawstrings around equipment
Require non-slip shoes or boots and tied-back hair

Heat and Health Precautions

Long hours in the heat can quickly lead to dehydration or heat exhaustion, especially for younger workers eager to keep up with adults. Having water nearby, scheduling breaks and teaching youth how to recognize warning signs can help prevent dangerous situations.

Keep drinking water close to the work area
Provide regular rest and stretch breaks
Teach youth to recognize heat exhaustion and hypothermia symptoms
Maintain clean handwashing and bathroom facilities
Train youth to clean and sanitize PPE and clothing after work

Animal and High-Risk Tasks

Livestock handling is another area requiring extra attention. Even calm animals can react unpredictably, particularly in stressful situations or unfamiliar environments. Experts recommend reserving work involving aggressive or unpredictable animals for older, experienced individuals.

Keep youth away from dangerous or unpredictable animals
Reserve work involving bulls, boars, or animals with newborns for older youth
Limit ladder and elevated work to older, trained individuals
Keep exceptionally dangerous tasks reserved for adults, including:
- Working in manure pits
- Working around flowing grain
- Using chainsaws
- Handling pesticides or hazardous chemicals

Summer on the farm often creates some of the best memories for kids and teenagers. But while the work can be rewarding and fun, farms are still busy worksites where accidents can happen quickly. Taking extra time to slow down, explain tasks and keep safety top of mind can help make sure summer stays productive, positive, and safe for everyone involved.

Should AI Be Formulating Dairy Rations? Experts Say Not Yet

Wed, 27 May 2026 15:11:15 GMT

Artificial intelligence has quickly become part of everyday life. It can summarize research papers, organize spreadsheets, analyze reports and answer questions in seconds. But in dairy nutrition, that raises a bigger question: Should AI be able to formulate rations for cows?

According to dairy nutritionist Steve Martin and data analyst Macy Brown of Dairy Nutrition and Management Consulting (DNMC) during a recent episode of the Roadside Ruminations podcast , the answer — at least for now — is no.

AI still has a place on the dairy farm. Both see plenty of opportunity for the technology to improve efficiency and help nutritionists and producers work smarter. But when it comes to balancing diets and making feeding decisions directly tied to cow health and farm profitability, they believe a human still needs to be involved.

AI is Already Part of the Workflow

For many dairy professionals, AI tools are quickly becoming as common as search engines or spreadsheets. For Martin, rather than replacing expertise, he views AI as a faster way to sort through information and surface useful insights. Brown notes that AI tools can help streamline tasks and improve efficiency, particularly when working with formulas and data sets.

“I have used it to help me try to create some better formulas, or at least double check my formulas,” she says. “It’s a great math help when we need it.”

This kind of use lines up with what a lot of nutritionists are already seeing. It can take some of the time out of sorting through data, help clean up reports and point out trends that might not jump out right away. But ration formulation is a different conversation entirely.

Ration Software is Not the Same Thing as ChatGPT

Today’s chatbot-style AI systems work very differently than the ration formulation software nutritionists already rely on. That said, Brown notes that ration balancing programs already resemble an early form of artificial intelligence.

“For all intents and purposes, the ration formulation models are a very early concept of AI,” she says. “You upload all your ingredient files, and you say, ‘I have these on hand, build a ration around it.’”

Martin agrees there is some overlap, but he draws a clear line between mechanistic models and large language models.

“The models that we’ve used are mechanistic models, they have equations and they’re dynamic. In dairy nutrition a lot of it has to do with rates, so rates and pools are just fundamental in how we formulate diets, and so there’s a ton of math there,” he explains.

Today’s modern ration software is built on biology, digestion dynamics, nutrient flow, passage rates and decades of peer-reviewed research. Systems like CNCPS and NRC/NASEM models are continually refined by researchers who evaluate data and decide how new findings fit within established science.

“The models we’ve used are mechanistic models,” he explains. “They’re built on equations and they’re dynamic. In dairy nutrition, a lot comes down to rates, so rates and pools are fundamental to how diets are formulated. There’s a lot of math involved.”

Formulating dairy rations involves far more than generating responses based on patterns or text. It requires biological modeling, math, and an understanding of how nutrients interact inside the cow. The duo note that a chatbot may sound confident in its answer, but that doesn’t necessarily mean the ration is accurate.

The Cost of Getting it Wrong

The biggest concern with letting AI formulate rations is the risk attached to mistakes. An inaccurate ration can impact milk production, feed efficiency, reproduction, animal health and profitability.

Martin says the current ration models already rely on extensive scientific oversight.

“Right now, there’s a handful of people at a handful of universities that are kind of the keepers of the models,” he says. “We put a lot of trust in those people to stay true to the science.”

Those researchers do more than collect studies. They evaluate research quality, account for confounding variables and determine whether findings truly belong in the model.

“I don’t think AI has the intuition to understand some of the things the keepers of the current models do,” Martin says.

He adds that dairy farms operate within highly variable biological systems.

“Maybe we only know about 20% of the influences,” Martin says. “The other 80% we don’t even know what they are.”

That uncertainty is one reason he believes dairy producers and nutritionists should be cautious about handing feeding decisions over to AI-generated recommendations.

“If we just walk away from the mechanistic models and let large language models build the diets, and we make a mistake, the dollars are just way too big,” he says. “The animal health risks are big. The human touch is required in that.”

Farm Data is Rarely Perfect

Even if AI systems improve mathematically, Brown says another major challenge remains: data quality.

Most dairy operations generate enormous amounts of information from feed software, milk systems, inventories, herd management programs and financial records. But raw farm data is rarely clean and consistent.

“Regardless of how detailed, specific, or meticulous an operation is, the data is never perfect,” Brown says. “We’re dealing with cows, and a lot of them, and we’re dealing with employees who do a really good job, but there are still so many opportunities for error.”

A few incorrect values or inconsistencies can quickly change results.

“It doesn’t take very much for one or two numbers to start skewing your results,” she says. “When you don’t clean it up, you lose confidence in it, because it’s like, well, this week was wrong — what other weeks were wrong?”

That is where her hesitation with AI grows stronger.

“I still don’t know that I trust any of the AI options out there to accurately be able to clean up data,” Brown says. “A lot of people say that they can. I’ve still yet to be convinced of that.”

The challenge is not just technical. Definitions and measurements often vary across a dairy operation. Something as simple as “cow count” or “shrink” may mean different things depending on who is looking at the numbers.

“There’s reasons for some of the gray area to exist,” she says. “Without a human touch in there at one or two points, it’s really hard to have the confidence level in it to know exactly what you’re looking at and why you’re looking at it.”

Where AI May Actually Fit in Dairy Nutrition

While both Martin and Brown are cautious about AI-generated diets, neither dismisses the technology altogether. Instead, they see opportunity in using AI as a support tool around the ration — not as the ration formulator itself.

Martin believes AI could be especially useful for evaluating how a ration is performing after it is fed.

In that scenario, a mechanistic model would still formulate the diet. Producers and nutritionists would then combine feed data, milk components, herd management information and other performance metrics. AI could help organize that information, identify trends and flag areas worth investigating.

“I think the path forward is to fully utilize the ability for AI tools to assess our current situation,” Martin says. “Let that system say, here’s what we think we’re feeding, here’s what we think it should produce, what’s it actually producing? And then I think there can be a meaningful conversation.”

But he still wants actual ration changes handled within traditional nutrition models.

“Where I want to draw the line is, I don’t want to get out of the mechanistic model and into the large language model to have that next ration be created,” he says. “I want it created in the mechanistic model.”

Brown shares a similar outlook.

“I’m pretty pro-technology,” she says. “On the surface level, the idea of using AI is really exciting to me, because I can see where it improves efficiency. I think we just have to think through how to use it and to make it a good tool for us and our clients.”

AI May be an Assistant — Not the Nutritionist

AI can help summarize reports, organize data, flag inconsistencies and identify patterns that deserve a closer look. Those tools may become increasingly valuable as farms continue generating larger and more complex data sets. But ration formulation remains rooted in biology, math, experience and interpretation.

At least for now, Martin and Brown believe the best approach is combining advanced technology with proven nutrition science rather than replacing one with the other.

Feeding for consistency and efficiency in today’s dairy market

Tue, 19 May 2026 21:27:04 GMT

In today’s dairy environment, every input decision plays a role in maintaining resiliency. Feed remains one of the largest expenses for dairy producers, making it critical that each component of the ration contributes to overall cow performance. As a result, many dairy operations are focusing on feeding strategies that support efficiency and consistent production.

For Brian Riegel, a third-generation dairy producer and owner of Riegel Dairy Farm near Washington, Missouri, these considerations are at the heart of daily decisions. Riegel’s feeding strategies are developed around increasing production levels and using resources as efficiently as possible.

“We’re always profit-driven, and we believe we get the most profit through milk production,” Riegel said.

Rather than following the latest trend in feeding dairy cattle, Riegel takes a long-term view. Riegel considerswhether ration components provide the nutrients needed for cow performance over time. His goal is to develop a consistent feeding program that supports his herd performance and his operation’s profitability.

One feedstuff he uses to help achieve this goal is whole cottonseed for its versatility and ease of incorporation into his existing feeding program.

“Cottonseed gives me another reliable tool in the toolbox when building a ration. It is a foundational ingredient in our TMR, especially in our high-producing cows.”

Riegel finds it especially helpful in improving herd performance because moderate amounts of whole cottonseed are an effective way to support strong milk production in high-producing cows.¹

“When we remove whole cottonseed from our ration, we’ve seen butterfat percentages as low as 3.1. When we include whole cottonseed in the ration, we’ve seen as high as 4.2. Right now, with whole cottonseed, we are at a 4.0.”

Whole cottonseed offers a well-rounded nutritional profile that includes fat, fiber and protein, meeting the needs of lactating dairy cows in one ingredient.²

Even with a well-balanced ration, consistency in intake plays a key role in maintaining steady milk production. Consistency is therefore a key driver of overall performance in dairy herds, especially during times of fluctuating feed and commodity prices, when producers are focused on maximizing every feed ingredient.

According to Katherine Swift, DVM, who has worked with dairy operations of all sizes, whole cottonseed offers an advantage in intake consistency.

Because cows are less able to sort out whole cottonseed, they are more likely to consume the nutrients in the ration as intended, Swift noted. Whole cottonseed provides a combination of fat, fiber and protein, helping ensure those nutrients are delivered more consistently across the herd.

“Cows cannot separate out the nutrients provided in whole cottonseed in the same manner as they would with some other feedstuffs, so they get the full benefit of the nutrients provided in the ration.”

Dr. Swift also emphasized the value of incorporating ingredients that support both nutritional balance and consistency.

“You cannot look solely at the individual ingredients,” she said. “You need to consider how the ration was created and how cows eat that ration.”

On the farm, the connection between nutrition and performance is exactly what matters most to Riegel.

“You want to select an ingredient that will work with your existing feeding program and allow you to maintain consistent feeding practices,” Riegel said. “Ultimately, it comes down to creating a cohesive unit that supports both nutrition and production.”

To learn how whole cottonseed can be integrated into your feeding program, visit www.wholecottonseed.com/dear-nutritionist .

¹Bales, A.M., dos Santos Neto, J.M., Lock, A.L. (2024). “Effect of increasing dietary inclusion of whole cottonseed on nutrient digestibility and milk production of high-producing dairy cows.” Journal of Dairy Science. https://doi.org/10.3168/jds.2024-24787

²Lane O. Ely and Larry D. Guthrie. (2012). Feeding Whole Cottonseed to Dairy Cows and Replacements. Bulletin 59. The University of Georgia Cooperative Extension. https://fieldreport.caes.uga.edu/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/SB-59_2.pdf

Fly Control Begins Before Summer Pressure Peaks

Wed, 13 May 2026 17:48:48 GMT

It usually starts with a few flies around the calf hutches or some extra tail switching in the freestall barn. Then, almost overnight, cows are bunching, calves are irritated and employees are swatting flies left and right.

By the time all of this becomes noticeable, fly populations have often already been building for weeks. Fly control experts say the best chance to stay ahead of pressure is to start managing breeding areas before summer heat and rapid population growth take over.

Small Problems Turn into Big Populations Fast

Flies reproduce quickly once temperatures rise. According to Roger Moon, professor of entomology at the University of Minnesota, flies can complete a generation every 40 to 60 days during spring weather and as fast as every two weeks during the hottest parts of summer.

That means the bedding pile or leftover feed that seems harmless early in the season can become a major source of fly pressure later in summer. Calf areas are especially vulnerable. Wet bedding, spilled milk replacer, manure and leftover feed create ideal conditions for flies to breed.

“Fibrous plant material enriched with manure, urine and moisture are basically the perfect environment for maggots,” Moon says.

Some of the most common breeding spots on dairies include:

Overwintered manure piles
Soiled calf hutch bedding
Bedded-pack barns that were not cleaned out over winter
Feed buildup around bale feeders
Wet feed refusals
The crusted edge around manure lagoons

Moon recommends scouting these areas every one to two weeks during the spring and early summer using something as simple as a garden trowel to look for maggots before populations explode.

Different Flies Create Different Problems

Not every fly on the farm behaves the same way, which is why identifying the type of fly matters before building a management plan.

According to Claire LaCanne, Extension educator in ag production systems, dairies most commonly deal with stable flies, house flies, face flies and horn flies.

“You’ll want to determine what’s pestering your animals to figure out the various methods for managing that particular fly problem,” LaCanne says. “Identifying the type of fly or flies that you are dealing with on the farm along with understanding their lifecycle is key to developing an effective fly management plan.”

Stable flies and house flies are considered “premise flies” because they reproduce in confined areas like barns, calf bedding and manure piles.

Stable flies are the bigger concern from a cattle comfort standpoint because they bite and feed on blood. They are commonly found on the legs and trigger behaviors like bunching, tail switching and foot stomping.

“Stable fly presence can result in reduced production,” LaCanne says.

House flies, meanwhile, do not bite. Instead, they feed on secretions around the eyes and nose and are generally more of a nuisance, although they can contribute to disease spread around the farm.

Flies Cost More Than Annoyance

It is easy to think of flies as just another irritation that comes with summer, but the impact goes much deeper than that.

Heavy fly pressure has been linked to reduced milk production, lower weight gains and weaker immune response. Flies also contribute to the spread of diseases like salmonella, E. coli and pinkeye.

Then there is bunching.

Anyone who has walked into a pen during heavy fly pressure has seen it. Cows crowd together tightly with heads in and tails out, stomping and constantly shifting positions.

Moon says bunching is one of the clearest signs that fly pressure has gotten out of hand.

“You’ll see them milling for position, stomping and switching their tails,” he says. “Bunched stock grow slower, lactate less and have lower immunity because of stress.”

Researchers have also found that bunching creates another set of problems. Airflow between cows decreases, heat builds faster, resting time drops and cows spend less time eating.

What starts as cows trying to get away from flies can quickly lead to lower intake, less resting time and reduced performance across the pen.

Sometimes the Damage Shows up Later

One of the more frustrating parts of fly pressure is that some consequences do not show up until months later.

Stable flies repeatedly biting cattle legs can contribute to hoof problems over time because cows spend more hours standing and shifting weight instead of lying down comfortably.

Moon says animals dealing with prolonged fly irritation may eventually develop sole ulcers or abscesses, issues that often become noticeable in the fall long after peak fly season has passed.

Sanitation Still Matters Most

Even with all the new fly-control products available, most experts still come back to the same basic message: cleanliness matters.

“Cleanliness and sanitation is the most important step in a fly management plan,” LaCanne says.

Removing breeding material interrupts the fly life cycle before adult flies ever emerge.

That means staying ahead of manure buildup, keeping bedding dry and cleaning out problem areas before temperatures really warm up.

“To manage stable flies and house flies, start with sanitation,” LaCanne says. “Doing your best to remove possible breeding sites like rotting hay or grain, spilled feed or TMR, manure piles and other decaying matter is the most effective way to manage stable flies and house flies.”

She recommends scraping, hauling, spreading or composting soiled bedding every other week during the summer if possible.

Several additional management steps can also help reduce pressure:

Move calf hutches and replace bedding after each calf
Use sand, sawdust or wood shavings during summer months
Mow grass and weeds around barns and lagoons
Compost manure properly so temperatures reach at least 140 degrees Fahrenheit
Place fly traps away from barns to draw flies away from cattle areas

Layering Strategies Works Best

Most farms that successfully control flies use multiple approaches together rather than depending on one product. LaCanne says scouting should become part of the routine.

“You should begin looking for signs of flies early in the season,” she says. “Dig or scrape around in areas with organic matter and search for larvae and pupae to figure out where your trouble areas are.”

Sticky traps can also help monitor population pressure and determine when additional controls may be needed.

When fly pressure builds despite sanitation efforts, additional tools can help.

Premise sprays may help suppress stable flies and house flies in enclosed areas, though LaCanne stresses they should be paired with sanitation rather than relied on alone.

Fly baits are most effective against house flies, while pasture fly traps can help reduce horn fly pressure on grazing cattle.

Biological controls are also gaining attention on dairies.

Some farms release parasitoid wasps, often sold as fly predators or fly parasites, to target fly pupae before adults emerge.

“Parasitoid wasps can provide effective management when used with other methods, especially diligent sanitation,” LaCanne says.

However, she cautions that insecticide use can interfere with beneficial insects, making it important to think carefully about where sprays are applied.

Start Before the Flies Force You to

One of the biggest mistakes farms make is waiting until fly pressure becomes obvious before taking action.By the time cows are bunching and calves are restless, fly populations are already well established.

According to Moon and LaCanne, the farms that manage flies best are not necessarily the ones reaching for more sprays in July. They are the ones that dealt with breeding areas early, before populations had a chance to build.

Beef-on-Dairy Calves May Scour Less than Holsteins, New Research Shows

Mon, 11 May 2026 18:44:36 GMT

Beef-on-dairy calves have long been a solid income stream on many dairies, turning into a steady payout when they leave the farm and move into beef systems. More recently, farmers have also started to notice these calves often require fewer individual health treatments than their purebred counterparts, adding to their overall profitability.

Researchers like Melinda Kovacs, a master’s student at the University of Guelph, have started to take a closer look at how these calves perform early in life, when most health challenges tend to show up. One pattern that keeps surfacing is that crossbred calves tend to have fewer digestive issues than Holsteins, especially scours.

In her work, Kovacs found beef-on-dairy crossbred calves have lower diarrhea rates, fewer days with scours and fewer repeat treatments than Holsteins during the rearing phase.

“Producers were finding that the health of these crossbred calves was improved,” Kovacs explained during a recent “The Dairy Health Blackbelt Podcast” episode. “They were finding less health challenges, or these animals were able to recover from disease a little bit better than the purebred calves.”

Fewer Scours Cases Stand Out

The study followed approximately 640 calves housed at a single calf-rearing facility over about 18 months. Kovacs analyzed records from 446 Holstein calves and 194 beef-on-dairy crossbred calves.

Using twice-daily health scoring, Kovacs and her team monitored diarrhea and respiratory disease while also collecting weekly body weights, milk intake and starter feed intake data.

When she compared the two groups at the conclusion of the study, one health challenge stood out immediately.

“We found that the Holstein calves had a higher incidence of diarrhea compared to the crossbred calves,” Kovacs says. “We also found that translated to fewer days with diarrhea.”

Beef-on-dairy calves_Suanne Blackwell

(Suanne Blackwell)

The same trend appeared when she evaluated severe diarrhea cases.

“This is what we were expecting based on kind of our communication with producers,” Kovacs says. “That the crossbred calves would have less diarrhea in the preweaning or the rearing phase.”

For dairy farmers and calf raisers, fewer scours cases can influence nearly every part of calf performance. Diarrhea remains one of the most expensive calfhood diseases on dairies due to treatment costs, lost growth, labor demands and long-term health setbacks.

Crossbred Calves Needed Fewer Repeat Treatments

Kovacs also examined therapeutic interventions and found another difference between the groups.

“We did find that the Holstein calves had a higher hazard of being treated multiple times for both diarrhea and respiratory disease,” she says.

Respiratory disease rates themselves were similar between breeds, but the need for repeated treatment was higher in Holsteins. That finding could become more important as dairy and calf-rearing operations focus on reducing antibiotic use while still keeping calves healthy and performing well.

“Perhaps there’s a greater ability of these crossbred calves to recover from diseases compared to Holstein calves,” Kovacs adds.

Why Are Beef-on-Dairy Calves More Resilient?

(Farm Journal)

The study wasn’t designed to pin down exactly why the differences are showing up, but Kovacs thinks genetics likely play a role.

“In the dairy industry, we see a lot of inbreeding depression with the Holstein animals,” she says. “And I think perhaps we have some heterosis or hybrid vigor in these crossbred animals.”

Selection pressure may also contribute to the performance gap. Dairy genetics have focused on milk production traits, while beef genetics have emphasized growth and muscling.

“In the dairy industry, we’ve been genetically selecting for obviously higher milk production, whereas in the beef industry, we’ve been selecting for more growth traits,” Kovacs says. “So perhaps these crossbred calves are benefiting from the growth traits compared to the Holstein calves.”

She also found crossbred calves gained weight faster during the rearing phase.

“The crossbred calves did have higher growth rates, so higher average daily gains,” Kovacs says. “They were about [15 lb.] heavier than the Holstein calves when they were finished this rearing phase.”

Differences Continued Through Harvest

Kovacs and her team later expanded the project to follow some calves from birth through harvest at approximately 13 months of age. She wanted to better understand how calfhood health and management influence later feedlot and carcass performance.

Beef_carcasses

“Right now, there’s kind of a big disconnect between all of the different components of the industry, between the dairy farm of origin, the rearing, the feedlot and the abattoir,” Kovacs says.

The performance differences continued beyond the early rearing phase.

“The crossbred calves, I believe, were about [120 to 124 lb.] more in body weight compared to the Holsteins,” Kovacs says. “Which does have significant implications in terms of the cost benefit of these animals.”

She also identified differences in ribeye area and carcass composition, suggesting the advantages weren’t limited to early growth but carried through to how the animals finished at harvest.

More Research Still Needed

Even with the encouraging results, Kovacs says dairy producers should not assume crossbred calves require less attention or lower-quality care.

“With my findings, we see that they’re maybe more resilient or robust,” she says. “But I think those producers still need to be offering the best care to those calves to ensure their success.”

Kovacs adds that much of the existing calf research has historically focused on purebred Holsteins, leaving major knowledge gaps around nutrition and management requirements for beef-on-dairy calves.

“A lot of research that’s been done in the past has focused on purebred Holstein calves,” Kovacs says. “So, we don’t really know if the requirements of these crossbred calves for both maintenance and growth are the same as for a purebred Holstein calf.”

As beef-on-dairy programs continue to expand across the dairy industry, producers are paying closer attention to which calves stay healthier and perform better from start to finish. This research suggests fewer scours cases early in life may be part of the advantage, adding to the overall profitability of beef-on-dairy calves.

For more on beef-on-dairy, read:

How a Downsized Dairy Turned to AI to Make the Numbers Work

Thu, 07 May 2026 18:31:16 GMT

On a 60-cow registered Holstein dairy outside Baldwin, Wis., artificial intelligence has become part of the management toolbox.

Mary Holle and her husband, Joe, milk in a refurbished 94-cow tie-stall barn at Holle-Oaks Dairy, a family operation that has seen major change in recent years. After taking over the farm from Joe’s parents in 2017, the Holles made a hard pivot in 2024, downsizing from 120 cows to 60.

With her father-in-law ready to step back from daily chores and labor costs continuing to climb, Holle could see the pressure building. The farm had reached a point where something had to change to keep things sustainable for everyone involved. Thus, downsizing the herd became the path forward.

Part of that downsizing process involved bringing in a tool still new to many dairy farmers — artificial intelligence, or AI. It wasn’t an obvious fit, but Holle saw it as a way to work through her farm’s numbers and run different scenarios without adding more layers to an already full system.

A Numbers Mindset Meets a New Tool

Holle, who also serves as the program manager for the Farm and Industry Short Course at UW-River Falls, didn’t come to AI without experience. She’s long leaned into data, building her own systems to track and understand how her farm is performing.

“I’ve been using Excel since I was, like, 10 years old,” Holle says. “I started doing my dad’s dairy herd records, because we didn’t milk test.”

That early passion for data turned into formal training in dairy science and ag business, along with several years of building detailed spreadsheets for her own operation. Today, those workbooks track just about everything on the farm, from feed costs and veterinary expenses to crop yields, soil tests and labor.

“I’ve been building complex equations within Excel for like a decade,” Holle says. “My biggest workbook is 17 pages long.”

Even with all of that in place, she eventually hit a point where spreadsheets alone weren’t enough to work through the number of what-if scenarios she was running. She wasn’t trying to replace the system she already had, but she needed a faster way to test ideas and see how different decisions might actually play out.

That’s when Holle began to use AI. She started experimenting with it by feeding in her own farm numbers, then asking it to run different scenarios and compare outcomes she would normally have to build out by hand. Over time, she used it to work through decisions faster and feel more confident in what the numbers were pointing to.

Running the Numbers

The 2024 transition pushed Holle to take a closer look at her cost structure. With fewer cows, fewer employees and new financial obligations, she needed to figure out what her cost per cow and break-even milk price needed to be for the smaller herd to stay profitable.

“I needed to run a series of scenarios to find the linchpins in the business,” Holle says. “We had to drop our cost per cow and get our break-even down to around $17.80 per cwt. for the smaller herd to work.”

She pulled data from her workbooks, including fixed costs, five-year averages for feed and vet expenses, labor hours, wages and loan balances with payment schedules. From there, she used AI to organize the information and get a better read on what was driving cost per cow.

“I asked ChatGPT, ‘What are the trends, what’s going on, can you put this into context?’” she says.

Working in short windows between chores, Holle ran different scenarios around debt, labor and herd costs to see which changes would have the biggest impact. It didn’t hand her one answer, but it helped narrow the decisions down.

“It told me what needed paid off first and where I’d see the most return,” she says. “I took the results to our banker and he said, ‘That’s ingenious.’”

In the end, the Holles were still the ones giving the final say, but AI helped them sort through information quicker and feel better about the direction they were headed.

Taking AI to the Field

After using AI to work through the financial side of the operation and guide the downsizing decision, Holle started looking at where else it could fit. Crop management was the next place she turned, and it’s something she’s still working through this year.

The farm currently includes about 500 acres in rotation with corn, soybeans, alfalfa and wheat. Similar to her herd management Excel work, Holle had built up soil tests, yield maps and field histories over time, but the information wasn’t connected in a way that made it easy to use. This year, she started using AI to organize it by field and year, then layer in crop history and yield data so it could be compared more directly.

“I didn’t have everything tied together in one place,” she says. “I had the information, it just wasn’t organized in a way I could actually use.”

With a new structure in place, Holle began asking AI more targeted questions around nutrient management and input efficiency. One focus centered around nitrogen — how much was already available in the field and where she might be able to cut back on applications without hurting yield.

“I wanted to know what was already out there before just putting more on,” she says. “If there was a place to save a little money without giving up yield, I wanted to find it.”

She’s also started looking at whether past decisions, like planting BMR corn, may have longer-term effects on nutrient availability. Using AI helped Holle spot patterns and show up to conversations with her agronomists better prepared.

This spring, she and her agronomists used that analysis as a starting point to fine-tune fertilizer and spray programs by field, paying closer attention to residual nutrients and timing. The new plan cut back on total fertilizer and chemical use compared to the previous year. By her estimate, this adjustment will trim roughly $40,000 from her fertilizer and spray bill in 2026.

Keeping Perspective in Place

While Holle sees value in AI, she’s careful about how she uses it. Sensitive information stays out, including personal identifiers, financial accounts and tax data.

“There’s always a step between sensitive information and it,” she says. “Anything personal or financial doesn’t go straight in. It always gets filtered or kept separate first.”

That caution carries into how she uses the tool in day-to-day decisions. Even when AI is helping her work through parts of the farm’s data, it hasn’t taken over decision-making. Holle still relies on her own judgment when something doesn’t line up with what she’s seeing on the farm, especially when context doesn’t show up in the numbers.

“Yes, I think it’s made me a better farmer,” she says. “But it’s a tool for the areas where I don’t know enough. There’s always context it’s going to miss. You can read a person or a situation in ways it can’t.”

For other producers thinking about trying AI, Holle recommends starting small and treating it like any other tool on the farm. Don’t start with big decisions or sensitive financial work. Start with something simple, learn how it responds and build from there.

“Start with emails or documents,” she says. “Something low risk where you can see how it responds and get comfortable with how it handles your information before moving into anything bigger or more complex.”

From her experience, it has less to do with the technology itself and more to do with how organized the farm’s information is going in. If the inputs are messy or incomplete, the results will be, too.

“Garbage information in leads to garbage answers out,” Holle says. “If you don’t know what you’re asking for, you won’t get what you need.”

That also means knowing where the farm stands before expecting any tool to improve it. Clear records, numbers and a good handle on what’s working and what isn’t all matter just as much as the software being used.

“You need to understand your strengths and weaknesses first,” she says. “Know what you’re comfortable handling on your own and where you could use a little more support, so you’re not leaning on the tool for things you already do well or expecting it to fix gaps you haven’t identified yet.”

Faster Decisions, Tighter Management

On her 60-cow dairy, AI hasn’t replaced hands-on management or day-to-day decision-making. Instead, it’s helped her sort through financial choices, tighten input decisions and show up to conversations with advisers with more clarity around the numbers.

For Holle, it’s become a fast, free tool she can pull up anytime to work through questions and run scenarios. And it’s helped her move through decisions faster and keep the operation running a little tighter, without adding more layers to the process.

How to Manage Udder Vein Lacerations in Dairy Cattle

Mon, 11 May 2026 13:56:00 GMT

Few situations on a dairy are more alarming than finding a cow actively bleeding from an udder vein laceration. Blood loss can happen quickly, and in severe cases, the situation can become life-threatening before a veterinarian arrives.

The first priority is staying calm enough to control the bleeding and stabilize the animal.

Why Are Udder Vein Lacerations Significant in Dairy Cows?

Udder vein lacerations are critical, life-threatening veterinary emergencies in dairy cattle. Because high-producing dairy cows require massive, continuous blood flow to support milk production, these specialized blood vessels are uniquely large and highly pressurized. Consequently, an udder vein laceration can result in rapid, catastrophic blood loss in a remarkably short amount of time.

According to Dr. Erika Nagorske , these cases are memorable because of how quickly they escalate.

“Their udder vein goes from their udder up toward their chest right on their belly line,” Nagroske says. “It is garden hose-huge because dairy cows milk so much and need a lot of blood flow.”

1. Contain the Cow in a Safe Space

As with many emergencies, the first step is containment.

Move the cow into a safe, confined area where she is less likely to panic, move excessively or injure herself further. A chute or small pen is ideal if available. Limiting movement helps reduce additional trauma and makes it easier to assess the source of the bleeding.

This same principle applies to many lacerations, particularly those involving limbs or areas where movement can repeatedly reopen the wound.

If the cow is already weak or beginning to wobble, minimizing stress becomes even more important. Heavy blood loss can cause animals to deteriorate quickly.

2. Apply Pressure Immediately to the Laceration

Direct pressure is the most important first response.

Use clean towels, cloths or any absorbent material available and apply firm pressure directly over the source of bleeding. Even temporary clotting can slow blood loss enough to buy valuable time before veterinary care arrives.

For smaller lacerations elsewhere on the body, pressure alone is often enough to reduce bleeding until the veterinarian arrives. In more severe injuries, especially those involving larger vessels, additional intervention may be needed.

“If you have hemostats or true vet tools on hand, great. Otherwise, vise grips,” Nagorske says. “And it sounds very archaic, right? But it’s either we’re looking at either a dead cow or not a dead cow.”

If trained and comfortable doing so, producers may be able to carefully clamp above and below the damaged portion of the vein to slow bleeding until the veterinarian arrives.

3. Avoid All Unnecessary Cow Movement

Once bleeding is somewhat controlled, keep the cow as quiet and still as possible.

Walking the animal unnecessarily or repeatedly moving her between locations can worsen blood loss or disrupt clot formation. The goal is stabilization, not treatment.

Nagorske notes these situations can become especially difficult if the cow goes down before bleeding is controlled.

“That’s what’s hard about those bad bleeders,” she says. “They lay down, then you can’t get to the source of bleeding.”

Common Mistakes to Avoid with Cattle Lacerations

In high-stress bleeding emergencies, well-intentioned actions can sometimes make the situation worse.

Do not leave the cow uncontained
Do not repeatedly remove pressure to check the wound
Do not force the animal to walk long distances
Do not delay calling the veterinarian
Do not assume bleeding has stopped completely just because it has slowed

Keeping the animal calm, controlling bleeding and minimizing additional trauma can make a substantial difference in the outcome.

Be Prepared

Udder vein lacerations are not everyday events, but preparation matters.

Having towels, clean cloths and basic restraint or clamping tools accessible on the farm can make the initial response more effective while waiting for veterinary care. Reviewing emergency protocols with employees ahead of time can also help reduce panic during high-stress situations.

Most importantly, call the veterinarian immediately. Rapid intervention gives the cow the best chance of recovery and can prevent a serious situation from becoming fatal.

Turn Repro into Cashflow with These Three Fixes

Wed, 06 May 2026 15:25:58 GMT

There is a hidden cashflow lever that a lot of dairies can pull today to increase income in the next 12 months, and it is buried in your repro program.

With the value of a calf right now, we want cows getting pregnant as quickly as possible and turning as many calves over as possible. Those calves are an immediate source of income as soon as they hit the ground. That makes pregnancy rate (PR) the “North Star” of the breeding program. The target I want to get dairies to hit is 40% pregnancy rate (PR), and if a dairy isn’t there, here are the three areas I focus on to get more cows pregnant sooner:

Training: You may have a skilled breeder inseminating cows, but even a good breeder can benefit from a refresher course to gain PR points. It’s not uncommon for me to spend time along side the breeder and find that protocols have drifted and become costly habits. For example, on a recent farm visit, we found that semen was being deposited in the uterine horn. One simple retraining and repro improved within a couple of months.
Timing: Shot compliance is paramount. While some people may start out in the appropriate time range, by the time they are done giving shots, the timing is way off. Not only is the timing of shots key, but it’s also important to train employees to do some heat detection and catch good standing heats. These cows are the low-hanging fruit for getting additional pregnancies before a cycle passes by.
Technique: Cow handling technique is the other area where errors occur, compliance wanes and efficiency can be lost. I see a lot of people walking the pens and trying to give shots while the cows are moving. You might get the shot in the cow, but not the full injection. Not to mention, the additional stress you are creating for that cow and the entire pen. If you are trying to catch cows coming out of the parlor, try locking up the first group and releasing them to open up lockups for the last cows coming back to the pen, which are the ones most likely to get missed.

Focusing on these three key areas can pull the lever on pregnancy rate and thus, give you more calves on the ground that can turn into cash quickly.

A Late First Cutting Can Cost You All Season

Tue, 05 May 2026 22:04:11 GMT

With spring fieldwork underway, farmers are juggling a long list of jobs. Planters are rolling, fields are getting prepped and every good weather window is maximized.

At the same time, alfalfa fields continue to grow and are inching closer to first cutting. This timing tends to line up with some of the busiest stretches, and when alfalfa reaches the right stage, it becomes the priority, causing other fieldwork to get set aside. And the challenge with planning first cutting is working within a short window where crop conditions can change in a hurry.

First Cutting Sets the Tone for the Year

According to Kimberly Cassida, a Michigan State University forage specialist, the first cutting often represents a third or more of total seasonal forage production. And in shorter growing season regions, it can approach half of a farm’s total yield. Because of that, timing has a strong impact on feed supplies and ration flexibility throughout the year.

Early in the season the crop changes quickly and the decision to cut comes down to balancing higher yield against declining forage quality.

“For any kind of a forage crop, we always have to deal with a trade-off between yield and quality,” Cassida says. “As our forage crop is increasing in yield over time, it’s becoming more mature, and when it’s more mature, that means it has more fiber, more lignin, more cell wall and more stem compared to leaves.”

(Farm Journal)

Neutral detergent fiber (NDF) increases as the crop matures, while digestibility declines faster in first growth than in later cuttings. Crude protein also declines with maturity, which reduces both energy and protein value when harvest is delayed.

“We like to keep NDF around 40% for dairy-quality hay,” Cassida says. “And that level can change by nearly one percentage point per day.”

What to Look for in the Field

Once you understand how fast quality can change, the focus shifts to determining when the stand is ready to cut. Instead of waiting for a certain date, fields can be walked to assess plant stage, height and how development is progressing.

Plant cues and simple measurements do most of the work in narrowing timing. A few field indicators include:

Stage of growth: “For highest quality, we would like to be harvesting alfalfa at late bud and no later than one‑tenth bloom,” Cassida says. “Once you see purple flowers across the field, you’re past that mark.”
Plant height: First‑cut alfalfa for high‑quality feed is often in the harvest window when bud‑stage plants are about 28 to 32 inches tall. Cassida notes that many growers aim for a point where “bud‑stage alfalfa is about 26 inches tall” as a dairy‑quality target.
Bud development: Look for visible buds with little to no purple bloom showing. A few scattered flowers are acceptable; widespread purple signals you are moving out of the dairy window.
Field variability: Check multiple areas of the field. High spots, low spots, and traffic lanes can all mature at different speeds.
Rapid change in warm weather: In first cutting, quality can slip fast. RFQ can drop four to five points per day, which Cassida linked to “about $10 per day in value per ton” when hay is headed for premium markets.

Together, these help identify when the crop is entering the harvest window where yield and quality are still in balance.

Regrowth Starts the Clock

The first cutting doesn’t just affect one harvest. It ends up setting the timing for the rest of the season and how the remaining cuttings fall into place.

“This date also determines your second, third, fourth and potentially fifth cutting windows,” Cassida says.

(PDPW)

Once the first cutting is made, regrowth starts the clock for the rest of the season. When harvest is delayed, later cuttings can become compressed, reducing flexibility and making it harder to hit optimal timing later in the year.

Delays can also affect plant recovery and overall productivity.

“If you are forced to delay the first cutting due to environmental conditions, this could have negative consequences with a slower regrowth and perhaps a reduction in future yield production,” Cassida says.

Working Within the Window

First cutting carries more weight than any other harvest in the system. It represents a large share of total forage yield, sets the pace for the rest of the season and changes quickly once the crop reaches the bud stage. Weather variability, stand differences and rapid spring growth all influence timing. But combining plant stage, height and regular scouting helps narrow the window.

For most farms, the goal is not just getting it done, but getting it done in a window where yield and quality are still aligned.

Every Generation Has to Figure it Out

Tue, 05 May 2026 15:15:56 GMT

The dairy industry is changing fast. Some would argue dairy is changing faster than any other part of agriculture. Either way, the pattern is the same: the farms that win tomorrow will do it with a different skill set than the farms that won yesterday.

I’m not trying to predict the future. I’m simply pointing out what history keeps teaching us: every generation has to figure out what matters most, then build the skills to match.

Before my Granddad passed away, I asked him how he survived and even thrived when he got started farming. You see, he started his farming career on poor, sandy soil on the wrong side of the tracks... in the Thirties. Yet he made it through. He said everyone was poor, and everyone struggled, but he was a very good mechanic, and he could drive straighter than most. Because he could drive straight and plant straight, cultivation was better, and his yields were higher. This wasn’t a huge advantage, but it was enough.

Before my dad passed, I asked him the same question. He said that Granddad was a great mechanic, but he found that he made more money in the office with a pencil and understanding of his finances than with a wrench. He sharpened his pencil and figured out a way to place the second irrigator in Minnesota on our poor sandy soil. It didn’t take long for that poor soil to become valuable.

Today, my brother has a mechanic, an agronomist, and an accountant. What is his role today? His main role is organizing others who do the work and finding talent. Sure, he has to have a working knowledge of many areas, but in many cases, there are managers on his team with more expertise in their specific areas.

Our business model believes every farm needs a Ready Next Generation. Ready to take on the challenges of the future, not the past. Without foreseeing the future, we can safely predict that a Ready Next Generation will need a different skill set than what their fathers and grandfathers can teach them. There is no singular solution. Every farm will have to discover the relevant skills of the next generation and what the dairy will need. Then find a way to prepare them.

We are blessed to observe and work with many great family farms. One trait that sets farms apart is a hunger for knowledge. Getting off the farm when necessary to stretch mental muscles. Take an online course. Talk to business owners from other parts of agriculture, parts of the country, other countries, or other industries. You never know who has the answer.

So no, I don’t know the future. But I believe change will come as in past generations. It will take a ready and willing Next Generation with new skills, to make sense of it all and thrive. Just like our fathers and grandfathers did before us.

The Corn Silage Factors that Show Up in Milk Production

Mon, 04 May 2026 18:14:55 GMT

For most dairies, feed remains the largest expense, and corn silage continues to form the foundation of the ration. That makes it worth taking a closer look at what shapes silage performance and where management decisions can improve return.

On a recent Dairy Signal episode, John Goeser, dairy nutrition and management consultant at Progressive Dairy Solutions Inc., and Luiz Ferraretto, assistant professor and Extension specialist in dairy nutrition at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, , walked through how corn silage management is evolving. Their discussion covered feed hygiene, chop height, and other management decisions in the field and at feedout, and how those choices connect back to cow performance and milk production.

Their focus stayed on understanding how agronomics, harvest decisions, and feeding management show up in the bunk and ultimately in the tank. Rather than chasing trends, the goal is to evaluate what works within each farm’s system.

Back to Basics: Fiber and Starch

Many producers are taking a closer look at what defines good corn silage. Ferraretto brings the focus back to the fundamentals that drive performance in the ration.

“From a corn silage perspective, I think there are two main things we need to focus on,” he says. “First is fiber and the other is starch.”

Fiber and starch together often make up close to half the plant. But total nutrients alone do not tell the full story. What matters is how much of those nutrients the cow can actually use.

“If we talk about fiber, we need to understand digestibility,” Ferraretto says. “And if we talk about starch, we need to understand digestibility, because having a nutrient there but not being available does not help us either.”

(North Dakota State University Extension)

Goeser says it’s easy to focus too narrowly when evaluating forage quality.

“We are enamored with discussing fiber digestibility,” he says. “But it is only one component. There are really four components that drive forage quality with corn silage and equate to the milk per ton we’re ultimately going to look for.”

Those include fiber content, fiber digestibility, starch content and starch digestibility. Looking at all four together provides a clearer picture of how a crop will perform in a ration.

He also encourages producers to think beyond forage quality alone and consider total return.

“We need to take into account the agronomic costs and considerations, the acres needed to feed the herd, as well as the intake and milk production in our economic scenarios,” Goeser says.

Feed Hygiene: An Overlooked Limiter

Even high-quality silage can fall short if feed hygiene isn’t managed well. Spoilage yeasts, molds, mycotoxins and other unwanted organisms can be introduced at harvest or develop during storage and feedout.

“Feed hygiene i ncludes all the anti-nutritional components that can show up in forages or in the ration when it’s fed to cows,” Goeser says. “Even when forage quality is good, spoilage organisms can still be present. Those microbes can disrupt rumen energy use and reduce performance, almost like water in diesel fuel.”

Ferraretto points to yeast as a common concern in corn silage systems.

“If there’s a lot of yeast contamination for whatever reason, you should expect lower milk production,” he says. “That can be tied to lower intake, reduced palatability and also impacts on fiber digestibility.”

(Trey Cambern)

One of the challenges is that spoilage is not always obvious.

“These are not things we can see,” Goeser says. “We need laboratory testing. Infrared cameras can also be very helpful, because when we’re talking about yeast, we’re really talking about spoilage yeast.”

He notes that yeast counts can range widely across farms, sometimes reaching tens of millions of colony-forming units per gram.

“If we have 10,000 or even 30 million CFU per gram, that means there can be millions of yeast organisms in just a small amount of feed,” Goeser says. “Now think about how much of that feed a cow eats every day, and how quickly that adds up.”

Ferraretto adds that controlling contamination starts with basics in harvest and storage. Clean surfaces, good packing, and consistent feedout all help reduce spoilage risk. Soil, dust and manure contamination can add to the problem.

“A lot of different avenues could act and compromise some of the hard work that you put into preparing that silage,” Ferraretto says.

Managing Stability at Feedout

To help limit spoilage, both Ferraaretto and Goeser point to inoculants and organic acids as tools that can support stability under the right conditions.

For corn silage, Ferraretto highlights Lactobacillus buchneri–based inoculants.

“The Buchneri type inoculant shift fermentation towards acetic acid at a certain point,” he says. “Acetic acid actually delays the proliferation of these molds when we are feeding cows after opening the silo.”

Better stability can show up as reduced heating at the bunk and more consistent intake.

Jerseys

(Trey Cambern)

“If you’ve ever been to a feed bunk, put your hand in the TMR, and you saw that the TMR is very warm and the cows don’t want to eat, that’s what we’re talking about,” Ferraretto says.

Goeser adds that the benefit can extend beyond the bunker and into the TMR.

“Silage has a longer shelf life,” he says. “It can really be valuable… so much so that it can carry into the total mix ration and actually increase the shelf life of the total TMR to a measurable amount.”

For wetter forages, inoculants alone may not fully control spoilage. Organic acids may be part of the solution.

“I usually think about propionic acid as the potential savior when you have all that silage warming up,” Ferraretto says. “You can kind of stabilize that for palatability a little bit.”

Application rate matters if you want to see a real response. Too little product won’t move the needle on stability or spoilage control, even if the ingredient itself works.

“One or two pounds per ton isn’t going to make a difference,” Goeser says. “Fifteen to twenty pounds per ton would be equivalent to what a fermentation would create.”

Chop Height: A Measurable Tradeoff

Chop height is one of the most direct ways to influence fiber digestibility, but it comes with a clear yield tradeoff. Ferraretto shares results from a meta-analysis that breaks down the impact in numbers.

“For every 10 inches of increase, you have about 2.5 percentage units increase in NDF digestibility, about the same amount increase in starch, but then you have a half ton decrease per acre in dry matter yield,” he says.

On an as-fed basis, that equates to roughly 1.5 tons per acre lost for every 10-inch increase in cut height.

Goeser says that tradeoff deserves attention.

“To me, that’s something that we should be looking at each year,” he says.

Harvesting corn silage.

(Farm Journal, Inc.)

Response depends heavily on crop conditions. More mature corn tends to benefit more from higher chop height, while immature corn shows less response. Drought-stressed fields are generally less suitable.

“Drier plants benefit more than immature plants when you are increasing chop height,” Ferraretto says.

Field conditions also play a role. In fields with disease pressure or significant lower canopy dieback, leaving more of that material in the field can improve forage quality going into the silo.

“If we had a diseased field, it may be beneficial to raise that cutter head up just to limit some of that less digestible material,” Goeser says.

Connecting the System

Corn silage performance comes back to how the whole system works together. Hybrid selection, plant health, soil fertility, harvest timing, and feed management all influence what ends up in the bunk and in milk production. Ferraretto and Goeser emphasize that no single decision drives results on its own.

For dairy producers, the opportunity is in seeing how these pieces fit together across the season and not treating any one of them in isolation. Small improvements in multiple areas can add up over time, and measuring how those changes show up in intake, milk production, and overall feed efficiency helps fine-tune decisions year after year.

Where Crossbreds Fit in Today’s Genetic Evaluations

Fri, 01 May 2026 18:26:15 GMT

When crossbreeding started picking up steam in U.S. dairy herds, the genetic toolbox wasn’t really built for the cows’ producers had in their barns.

Genetic evaluations worked well for purebreds, but for Holstein–Jersey crosses and other combinations, the system only went so far and accuracy dropped. That gap is what the Council on Dairy Cattle Breeding (CDCB) set out to address.

In a recent episode of the CDCB Cow Cast, George Wiggans, longtime USDA research geneticist and current CDCB technical advisor, walked through how genomic evaluations and Breed Base Representation (BBR) have changed the way crossbred dairy cattle are evaluated.

Why Crossbreds Didn’t Quite Fit

For a long time, dairy genetic evaluations were built around purebred populations, which worked well when most herds were fairly uniform and selection stayed within a single breed.

Evaluations were done within each breed, so crossbred animals didn’t always line up as well in the system and their results were less accurate. As crossbreeding became more common in commercial herds, especially in Holstein–Jersey systems aimed at balancing production and components, those gaps became more noticeable. The system could still generate numbers, but they didn’t always reflect what was happening in mixed-breed cows.

Meanwhile, the industry’s data foundation was still developing. For decades, most genetic progress came from what Wiggans calls the basics.

“We still relied on traditional evaluations, which pulled together data from farms across the country and even around the world to figure out which animals perform best,” Wiggans says. “Then we would take all that information across the traits we measure and combine it into a profile or index that would help predict how profitable an animal would be.”

That system has long been used in dairy genetics, but it didn’t always handle animals with mixed-breed backgrounds as smoothly.

Genomics Opens the Door

Genomics changed how geneticists approach evaluations. Instead of relying only on performance records, the system now uses DNA to connect specific parts of the genome to trait outcomes.

Wiggans says this is done using what are called reference populations.

“The concept is that by having a large reference population, we can assign genetic values to these segments of the chromosome,” Wiggans says. “So, when we put it all together and add it all up, we can say, we think that this is going to be the cow’s productivity for each of the traits we analyze.”

He explains genomic evaluation as building a kind of genetic mosaic, where pieces of DNA get value based on data from large groups of known animals. This worked well for purebreds, but for crossbreds there was still a missing piece: a consistent way to describe breed makeup in a way national evaluations could use directly.

BBR Gives Crossbreds a Place

To address that gap, the industry developed Breed Base Representation, or BBR.

“Recognizing that we would like to extend the genomic evaluations to crossbreds, we needed some way of identifying what the breed background was of an animal,” Wiggans says.

BBR uses genomic data to estimate how much of each breed is in an animal.

“We used kind of an interesting approach here… Why don’t we use the same idea to estimate how much Holstein, Jersey, Guernsey, and other breeds are in an animal,” Wiggans says.

Purebred animals serve as the starting point because their genetics are clearly defined.

“We treat a purebred animal as fully belonging to its breed, like giving it a ‘1’ for that breed and a ‘0’ for all other breeds,” Wiggans says. “Then we use genetic markers, called SNPs, to estimate how much of each breed is in mixed animals.”

From there, each animal gets a breed breakdown.

“So, an animal could be 75% Holstein and 25% Jersey,” Wiggans says. “That’s what Breed Base Representation, or BBR, reports.”

BBR breaks an animal’s genetics into breed percentages, giving producers a clearer way to understand and compare crossbred animals. He adds that the approach is considered highly accurate because it’s based on large amounts of genetic data from many animals.

Putting Breed Mix into One Number

BBR describes what breeds are in an animal. The next step is turning that information into a usable evaluation.

“By having this BBR that we’ve discussed, we can say, well, let’s just do a weighted average,” Wiggans says. “We’ll multiply each evaluation by the percent of each breed that it is, add it all up, then that will be our evaluation of this animal.”

Each breed contributes to the final score based on how much of that breed is in the animal. A higher percentage of a breed means it has more influence on the outcome. The final result is one evaluation number for crossbred animals that reflects their actual genetic makeup, instead of forcing them into a single-breed category that doesn’t fully represent them.

Crossbreds are Now Part of the System

As genomic testing has expanded, crossbreds have become a bigger part of the national dataset.

“So, not surprisingly, Holstein numbers were over 9 million last year, with Jersey coming in second,” Wiggans says. “But what stands out is that crossbreds are now the third largest group. So, providing evaluations for crossbred met a real need in the industry.”

Today, crossbred animals are included in the evaluation system. Tools are now in place to better reflect how they are bred and managed on today’s dairies. As genetic evaluations continue to evolve, Wiggans expects crossbreds to remain part of the picture.

“We’re working on strategies to take this into account so that the evaluation simultaneously considers both the genetics and her traditional data,” he says. “We expect that we’ll still offer evaluations for these animals, so that the BBR will continue to have a role in the evaluations.”

The result is a system that better matches the cows’ producers are working with every day, bringing crossbreds fully into the genetic conversation.

Chocolate Reclaims the Top Spot as America’s Favorite Ice Cream Flavor

Thu, 30 Apr 2026 19:14:44 GMT

Chocolate is back on top as America’s favorite ice cream flavor, according to the International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA) National Ice Cream & Frozen Novelty Trends Survey. After briefly ceding the No. 1 spot to vanilla in 2024, chocolate has reclaimed the lead in 2026. Butter pecan also continues its climb, moving ahead of vanilla among U.S. consumers.

The biannual survey reflects responses from more than 2,200 U.S. adults and tracks how Americans choose ice cream and frozen novelties, from flavors and formats to toppings and traditions.

IDFA’s latest results point to a mix of nostalgia and indulgence shaping consumer preference. Classic flavors remain strong, while richer, more decadent options continue gaining traction.

Top 5 flavors among U.S. consumers:

Chocolate
Butter Pecan
Vanilla
Cookies and Cream/Oreo
Caramel/Salted Caramel

Compared with previous years, the rankings show continued movement toward richer, mix-in driven flavors, while traditional staples still anchor the category.

“Americans’ love for ice cream is as strong as ever,” says Michael Dykes, D.V.M., president and CEO of IDFA. “From timeless favorites like chocolate and butter pecan to newer indulgent options, ice cream continues to bring people together and create moments of joy across the country. As we look ahead to National Ice Cream Month, it’s clear this remains a staple in American life.”

The Sweetest States: Where America Loves Ice Cream Most

Other findings from the survey show how consumers enjoy their ice cream:

Cone preference leads among formats, with 40% of Americans choosing cones, followed by sandwiches at 24% and mini cups at 14%.

(Source: 2026 IDFA National Ice Cream & Frozen Novelty Trends Survey)

Waffle cones or bowls remain the most popular vessel across generations, with Gen Z splitting more evenly between bowls and waffle bowls compared to older groups.

Hot fudge ranks as the top topping at 31%, followed by whipped cream at 27%, caramel sauce at 21%, and chocolate sauce at 18%. Flavor remains the primary purchase driver, with 70% of consumers saying it is very important, ahead of price and portion size.

When asked about iconic ice cream memories, respondents most often pointed to neighborhood ice cream trucks, followed by birthday ice cream cakes and visits to local scoop shops.

Separating Signal From Noise in a Data-Heavy Dairy

Thu, 30 Apr 2026 16:22:54 GMT

The beauty and curse of farming in the technological age comes in the form of 0’s and 1’s. There never seems to be an end to the measurables we collect and breakdown on a farm.

As our capabilities grow in terms of systems and software, this mound of data continues to grow.

But how do we know what is important?

Many seasoned herdsmen that I work with often bemoan just how hard it is to train the next generation of farm workers. “They just don’t have cow sense.” “They’re too deep in the numbers, and not the cows.” “Why can’t they just see it?”

What they are describing is a little-known skill they already possess known as Signal to Noise Positivity (SNP). Our seasoned herdsmen have developed an unconscious skill that allows them to differentiate between meaningful information (signal) and irrelevant information (noise). However, they had a significant advantage of developing this skillset during a time when the “noise” or extra irrelevant data was much less overwhelming.

Our farms are full of positive noise and signals that can be valuable in animal management. Feed intakes, milk production, lbs. of solids, rumination, SCC, milk deviation, etc. etc. all represent measures that indicate if things are headed in the right or wrong direction.

However, each of these factors is not important in each situation. Irrelevant noise from time to time causes new decision makers to make incorrect decisions based upon that noise rather than the more meaningful signals.

Taken together Signal and Noise Ratio (SNR) indicates whether positive noise is more or less likely to stick out. A higher SNR, or more meaningful noise vs irrelevant noise, means the decision maker is more likely to ID the important data whereas a low SNR means more confusion in the data.

But on today’s operations it is extremely difficult to learn how to increase a SNR and use it as our data pool, and subsequent noise grows.

For example, your herdsmen today may work a fresh pen and ID a sick cow with the following information; 7 DIM, rapid breathing, temp is 103 on the parlor meter, milk production is down 30 lbs., her ears are droopy, her rumination is down 40%, her eating time is 2%, and her activity is 50% what it was yesterday. These symptoms when taken together could be indicative of 5+ infectious diseases in a fresh cow and can rapidly confuse new workers.

However, an experienced herdsmen knows the most important part of all this noise is the 7 DIM signal which limits the likely diagnosis to only 2 or 3 possibilities. Their unique SNP ability filters the signal from the noise so no matter how much data we pile on top of the signal they can ignore the unimportant noise.

So how can we improve the SNP for new workers?

First, we need to eliminate multitasking. This only adds noise to the scenario and scatters attention. When working sick cows or doing other health tasks, new employees need to focus upon that singular task until deemed to have developed a sufficient SNP.

Second, we need to encourage monitoring of longer-term trends and react less to the hour to hour or day to day fluctuations. Certainly, there are cases that will change hour to hour but when training we need to help employees understand common cases and that cows generally will trend toward “healthy” or “sick” no matter how complex or simple our data collection system is.

Third, we need to expose these individuals to training from others who have advanced SNP skills. Many times, this involves an outside consultant such as your herd veterinarian who can use hands on training and also create SOP programs to help the individual navigate the noise.

Signals of disease are not always strong. However, by reducing noise for new team members we can increase the correct disease diagnosis while still implementing the latest in smart technology.

Train for the Why: How Understanding Reduces Treatment Errors on Dairy Farms

Tue, 28 Apr 2026 17:37:20 GMT

Most dairy farms are training their teams.

They’re holding sessions, reviewing protocols and preparing for audits. On paper, the boxes are checked. On the ground, the same issues persist: missed steps, inconsistent execution, repeated corrective actions.

The problem isn’t a lack of training. It’s a lack of understanding.

“When timing is tight, which it usually is on a dairy farm, training becomes about getting through the steps of the job, not building understanding, and it often happens too late or too far apart to really stick,” says Michelle Schack , dairy cow veterinarian and founder of DairyKind , a training resource for dairies.

Across many operations, training is built around urgency. The audit is coming. The team needs a refresher. Protocols are reviewed quickly, often in a single session, with a focus on what to do and what not to do.

This approach creates a necessary foundation but also leaves a critical gap. Employees may know the steps, but they don’t always know why they’re being asked to perform them.

From Compliance to Understanding

“Dip the navel.”
“Don’t stress cows.”
“Give the shot here.”

These instructions are clear, repeatable and easy to audit. But without context, they are also easy to forget, misapply or ignore under pressure.

Training that focuses only on protocols asks employees to memorize. Training that includes the “why” asks them to understand.

“This isn’t a motivation problem. People generally want to do the right thing for the animals they are caring for. This is an understanding problem. We often assume knowledge that was never actually taught,” Schack explains.

When employees understand the biological or physiological reason behind a task, compliance becomes more consistent. Decision-making improves in situations that fall outside strict protocols. The work itself becomes more purposeful. Without that understanding, the same issues repeat.

The result is a cycle many veterinarians and producers recognize: retraining without resolution.

Where Training Breaks Down — and How to Fix It

The gap between protocol and understanding shows up in everyday tasks on dairy farms. In each case, the issue is not the protocol itself. It is what is missing behind it.

Here are some examples of everyday tasks performed on the farm, how they’re trained and improvements that could be made to the training to increase worker understanding and engagement.

Navel Dipping in Calves

Standard training: Dip the navel.
What’s missing: The umbilicus is a direct pathway into the calf’s body. Without proper disinfection, bacteria can enter and lead to systemic infection.
What changes when the “why” is explained: Employees recognize the procedure as a disease prevention step rather than a routine task and consistency improves.

If she happens to be performing a necropsy, Schack will show workers the internal structures to help them better understand why navels need to be dipped.

“You can tell someone to dip navels to prevent infection, but when they see for themselves that the navel connects directly to the liver, it changes how seriously they take that step,” she explains.

Broken Tails in Dairy Cattle

Standard training: Don’t pull tails.
What’s missing: The tail is an extension of the spine, made up of bones and joints. Excessive force can cause permanent injury.
Key issue: Many employees are unaware tails can be broken. Broken tails cannot be corrected after the fact. Prevention depends on handling practices.

“I’ve had conversations with employees that were using a calf’s tail to move the calf who were genuinely surprised to learn that tails can be broken. That moment of realization shifts how they handle calves and cows moving forward,” Schack says.

What changes when the “why” is explained: Handling behavior shifts because the risk becomes concrete rather than abstract.

Stockmanship and Milk Letdown

Standard training: Don’t stress the cows.
What’s missing: Stress activates physiological pathways that inhibit milk letdown. This slows milking and reduces parlor efficiency.
What changes when the “why” is explained: Calm handling becomes directly tied to workflow, time and performance in the parlor.

“Employees recognize that a cow that balks slows down the workflow, but they don’t always connect that to stress. When you make that link, animal well-being stops being abstract and starts being something that not only helps the cows but also makes their job easier,” Schack explains.

Injection Technique (SQ vs IM)

Standard training: Give the shot here.
What’s missing: Route of administration affects drug absorption, tissue damage and treatment effectiveness.
Key issue: Employees may not understand the difference between subcutaneous and intramuscular injections.
What changes when the “why” is explained: Accuracy improves, particularly in fast-paced situations where shortcuts are more likely.

“In a fast-paced environment, people default to what’s easiest, unless they understand why it matters. That’s what keeps accuracy from slipping,” Schack explains.

The Veterinarian’s Role in Making Training Stick

Veterinarians are positioned to translate biology into practical, actionable knowledge. Even short explanations can shift how employees approach routine tasks. However, training is not always viewed as part of the veterinary role. Time is limited. Priorities compete.

Producers also influence how training is delivered.

When farms involve veterinarians in training conversations, not just for protocols but for explanation, the information is more likely to be applied. The reasoning carries weight when it is grounded in biology and delivered by a trusted source.

For producers, that may mean asking a simple question during the next visit: Can you help explain the “why” behind this protocol to our team?

Even brief moments of explanation from a veterinarian during a routine visit can have lasting impact. When the biology is clear, the protocol becomes logical rather than arbitrary.

From One-Time Training to Continuous Learning

That shared effort between veterinarians and producers also requires rethinking when and how training happens. Training is often treated as a one-time event. In practice, it functions as an ongoing system.

One-time, in-person sessions cannot reach every employee.

“Between turnover, schedules and time constraints, there is no way one training reaches everyone, so it has to be something people can come back and build on,” Schack says.

No single format is sufficient on its own. In-person training creates engagement. Digital tools provide accessibility. Language accessibility ensures the message is understood. Repetition reinforces it over time.

Every training instance should include:
● What to do and what not to do (addressing common shortcuts/mistakes)
● Why it matters (biological/physiological context)
● What happens if it’s done incorrectly
● Instilling pride in the importance of this task or their job

“When training is consistent and covers why the work matters and the impact of getting it right or wrong, the work becomes something they take pride in, not just something they complete.” Schack says.

Training will always be part of dairy operations. If the goal is lasting change, it cannot stop at protocols.

Protocols create consistency. Understanding creates ownership.

Clearing the Air About Ammonia in Calf Hutches

Fri, 24 Apr 2026 17:52:09 GMT

Most calf hutches look fine from the outside. But what’s happening inside the hutch, especially at calf level, is not always as obvious.

When wet bedding and manure break down, they release ammonia. In hutches, it builds up right where calves are breathing. Even at fairly low levels, it can affect intake, growth and overall performance.

During a recent episode of The Dairy Podcast Show, David Casper, a dairy nutritionist and owner of Casper’s Calf Ranch in Illinois, explains how ammonia develops in calf hutches and what it means from a management standpoint.

Airflow is a Strength

Calf hutches continue to be widely used across dairies because they naturally provide strong ventilation and keep calves in individual spaces that are easy to manage. They also offer flexibility as herds grow and do not require the same level of infrastructure as enclosed barns.

“In my opinion, the hutch would still be the gold standard as far as having the best environmental quality you could have, especially air quality, and not have to deal with ventilation problems,” Casper says.

Even so, ammonia can increase as bedding becomes damp. By the time it’s noticeable, calves have already been exposed.

“When we started using soy hulls, I started noticing ammonia in the hutches,” Casper says. “I could smell it and really picked up on it. And that’s when we started getting concerned.”

That realization prompted a closer look at ammonia levels in hutches and how they relate to calf growth and health.

Measuring Ammonia

To better understand the issue, Casper evaluated ammonia levels in 90 calf hutches. Calves were placed in alternating hutches assigned to either a control or treatment group, and ammonia was measured weekly.

“Once a week, we come through with a personal ammonia detector that’s digital, and we would turn that with the measuring system face down on the bedding,” he says. “After 30 seconds, you get a stable reading, and that was the ammonia reading in the hutch.”

Control hutches averaged about 10 parts per million, while treated hutches averaged around 1.5 parts per million, an 85% reduction.

“We actually reduced the ammonia levels in the hutches by 85%,” Casper says.

That difference was significat, as performance challenges can begin once ammonia exceeds about 4 to 6 parts per million.

“Basically the range is four to six parts per million,” he says. “Above that, you will actually start seeing performance losses or performance challenges.”

Ammonia levels varied widely between hutches. Wetter bedding, scours and older calves were all associated with higher readings.

“Some hutches would have values up to 100 parts per million and other ones would be very low,” Casper says.

Ammonia also tended to increase later in the preweaning period as calves consumed more starter.

“For our studies, week seven and eight were probably the higher ammonia readings,” Casper says. “The first week had almost no ammonia readings because they’re on freshly bedded straw and fecal output is very minimal.”

Impact on Calf Growth

Lower ammonia levels were also tied to better performance. Calves in lower ammonia environments gained more weight during the preweaning period.

“We actually picked up on a growth response as well,” Casper says. “We got .14 pounds more average daily gain.”

Milk feeding remained the same, pointing to differences in intake and environment.

“The calves that were in the lower ammonia levels in the hutches ate more calf starter and had better growth rates,” he says.

Calves in lower ammonia hutches also showed greater increases in heart girth, indicating more overall body development.

Managing Ammonia in the Hutch

While most dairies are not measuring ammonia regularly, several management areas influence how much builds up in hutches.

Bedding is the biggest driver. Keeping bedding dry and well maintained helps limit ammonia. Deep straw provides insulation and absorbs moisture, but it needs to be refreshed regularly, especially later in the preweaning period.

“A calf can take a lot of cold weather if they’ve got deep straw bedding that they can nest down into and stay warm,” Casper says.

Moisture control is also important. Hutches with scours or poor drainage tend to have higher ammonia levels, so identifying problem hutches early can help target extra bedding or cleanout.

Smell is another indicator. If ammonia is noticeable when checking calves, levels are already elevated.

Timing matters as well. Ammonia tends to increase as calves get older and consume more starter, so bedding management often needs to be more aggressive in the later weeks before weaning.

A few practical hutch-specific steps producers can use include:

Add fresh straw more often in the back third of the hutch, where moisture tends to build first
Pull wet bedding away from the calf’s resting area instead of just layering on top
Pay close attention to hutches with scouring calves and re-bed them first
Check bedding depth at the calf level, not just at the front entrance of the hutch
Clean or fully reset hutches between groups when possible to reduce carryover moisture

Paying attention to these areas can help keep ammonia levels lower and support more consistent calf performance through the preweaning period.

Feed Handling Hiccups Hit Hard

Mon, 20 Apr 2026 21:27:23 GMT

Feed is likely the single largest expense on a dairy, whether it is grown on farm or purchased from outside suppliers. Because of that, even small inefficiencies in storage, handling or mixing can quickly become expensive.

When feed accounts for close to half of a dairy’s total costs, managing it well becomes one of the biggest opportunities to improve profitability. Feed management goes well beyond ration formulation. How feed is stored, tracked, mixed and delivered can have just as much influence on the true cost of feeding the herd.

Shrink Starts Before the Bunk

Feed loss often happens unnoticed. Unlike milk production or reproduction metrics, shrink is not always measured directly. Yet it can occur at multiple points between harvest and the feed bunk.

Commodity sheds, silage piles, storage bags, loading areas and mixing processes all create opportunities for loss. Without a system to track or control it, small inefficiencies can build over time and eat into profitability.

Mike Brouk, Ph.D., professor and Extension specialist in the Department of Animal Sciences and Industry at Kansas State University, says minimizing shrink is one of the most overlooked economic opportunities on many dairies.

Designing Storage with Loss in Mind

When building or upgrading commodity storage, the design of the structure can have a long-term impact on feed retention and efficiency. Many sheds are poorly protected from wind and moisture or are not sized appropriately for the ingredients they hold.

Over time, exposure to weather can degrade feed quality and increase losses.

Producers planning new storage facilities should think carefully about several design factors. Sevel tips include:

• Match the number and size of bays to actual feed use patterns
• Locate sheds where they are protected from prevailing wind, rain and snow
• Grade the site so water drains away from the storage area
• Allow easy access for loaders and mixing equipment

Brouk notes that some facilities end up using less than half of their physical storage space effectively because of poor layout or design limitations.

commodity barn

(Farm Journal)

Managing Feed Inside the Shed

Infrastructure is important, but daily management also plays a major role in how much feed is ultimately preserved.

One of the most important principles is maintaining proper inventory rotation. Without it, older feed can accumulate in the back of bays where it loses quality or becomes spoiled.

Good feed management starts with simple practices.

• Use an all in, all out approach whenever possible
• Push older feed to the front before unloading new deliveries
• Keep batches separated so their nutrient values remain accurate
• Avoid unintentionally blending old and new ingredients

“Otherwise, you’ll end up with a back end containing feed that is months or even years old, lower quality and potentially spoiled,” Brouk says.

When outdated feed works its way into the ration, it does more than create physical loss. It can also reduce ration consistency and make it harder for nutritionists to predict cow performance.

Weather and Wind Losses Add Up

Environmental exposure is another common source of feed shrink that is easy to overlook.

Wind can carry away fine particles from dry commodity ingredients during both storage and loading. Rain and snow can also lead to spoilage along the edges of piles or near open shed entrances.

Several simple adjustments can help limit those losses.

• Install roll down curtains or tarps on open shed sides during periods when the building is not in use
• Use stacked bales or barriers to block wind from entering the structure
• Position loading areas where they are shielded from direct wind exposure
• Consider partially enclosed loading systems where possible

Even when feeding activity stops overnight, leaving commodity sheds wide open can allow wind to remove a surprising amount of feed by morning.

Mixing TMR - Bridgewater Dairy.jpg

(Farm Journal)

Loading Matters More than Expected

Another area where feed loss can occur is during the loading process itself.

When ingredients are loaded into mixers outdoors or in windy conditions, fine particles can easily be blown away before they ever reach the ration. Brouk says the load out location and technique can have a noticeable impact on feed retention.

“Load out itself is a critical control point where feed is lost if it is conducted out in the open,” Brouk adds.

Daily operating practices can also influence how much feed is preserved.

• Train feeders to avoid taking oversized scoops with loader buckets
• Watch for spillage along bucket edges during loading
• Use windbreaks near commodity sheds when possible
• Clean up spilled feed quickly before it spoils

Some dairies use power broom attachments on skid loaders to recover spilled feed and keep traffic areas clean. While the recovered feed may not always return to the ration, it prevents unnecessary waste and keeps work areas safer.

Managing Feed as One system

Reducing shrink is only one part of a larger shift in how many dairies are approaching feed management. Increasingly, farms are looking at feeding as a connected system rather than a series of separate steps.

That process often begins with better inventory tracking. Simple tools that monitor feed supplies and link them to ration requirements can help producers understand how long feed inventories will last.

By connecting inventories to herd size and ration formulation, producers can identify potential shortages earlier. That information can guide purchasing decisions, help plan crop acres and reduce the risk of emergency feed purchases later in the year.

Feed alley.

(Trey Cambern)

Accuracy and Consistency

Once feed is properly stored and protected, the next step is making sure it is delivered accurately.

Small inconsistencies during batching can create ration variation that adds up over time. While shrink is often discussed in terms of physical loss, variation in ingredient loading can have similar economic consequences.

Some dairies are turning to automated batching systems that control ingredient loading with greater precision. In some cases, these systems have reduced deviations to very small margins. Improving batching accuracy not only reduces waste but also helps ensure cows receive the ration the nutritionist intended.

Feeding Systems are Becoming More Continuous

Feed delivery strategies are also evolving. Instead of delivering one or two large loads each day, some farms are shifting toward more frequent feeding.

Automated feeding equipment can mix and deliver smaller loads throughout the day, keeping feed fresher and more evenly distributed along the bunk. More frequent feed delivery can reduce refusals and encourage more consistent eating patterns. In some situations it also allows producers to manage bunk space more efficiently while maintaining stable intakes.

Small Improvements Can Have a Big Impact

The tools used to improve feed management vary widely from farm to farm. Some start with simple inventory tracking, while others invest in new storage facilities or automated feeding systems. Regardless of the approach, the underlying principle is the same. Small inefficiencies in feed handling can compound quickly when feed represents such a large share of total farm expenses.

Improving feed management does not always require major capital investment. Often the first step is simply measuring more carefully, managing storage more intentionally and tightening daily feeding practices. Over time, those incremental improvements in storage design, shrink reduction and batching accuracy can add up to meaningful gains in both efficiency and profitability.

Hidden Pneumonia in Calves: Why More Dairies Use Ultrasound to Catch Respiratory Disease Early

Fri, 17 Apr 2026 20:06:16 GMT

Bovine respiratory disease (BRD) remains one of the most common and costly health challenges in preweaned dairy calves. The challenge is that many cases develop long before calves show visible symptoms.

“By the time calves show obvious clinical signs of respiratory disease, lung damage may already be present,” says Aerica Bjurstrom, regional dairy educator at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “That’s why tools that help us detect pneumonia earlier can make a big difference in calf health and long-term performance.”

Traditional diagnosis relies on symptoms such as coughing, nasal discharge, or elevated temperature. But these signs often appear late in the disease process. In many cases, calves may look completely healthy while still carrying lung infections.

This form of illness, known as subclinical pneumonia, can reduce growth, feed efficiency and even future milk production.

“The lungs can really act as an indicator organ,” Bjurstrom explains. “Respiratory disease often reflects larger management challenges, such as poor colostrum intake, nutrition issues, or environmental stress.”

The Hidden Pneumonia Problem

Research has shown that pneumonia often develops days before visible symptoms appear.

“Ultrasound allows us to see what’s happening inside the lung tissue, even when the calf looks normal from the outside,” Bjurstrom says. “In many cases, pneumonia can be present for days before any clinical signs appear.”

Studies suggest that 50% to 80% of pneumonia cases may remain subclinical for 7 to 14 days before producers notice symptoms. That delay can allow lung damage to progress before treatment begins.

“Sometimes calves with severe pneumonia don’t show obvious symptoms,” Bjurstrom says. “But an ultrasound exam can reveal lung lesions that tell us the disease is already present.”

How Lung Ultrasound Works

Lung ultrasonography allows veterinarians to examine calf lungs in real time using portable ultrasound equipment.

A normal lung appears air-filled on the scan and produces horizontal white lines that move with each breath. These lines indicate healthy lung tissue.

Changes in the image can reveal early disease.

“Comet tails are bright vertical lines that extend down from the lung surface,” Bjurstrom says. “A few may be normal, but severe or diffuse comet tailing can suggest interstitial disease caused by fluid or inflammation within the lung.”

More advanced disease appears as lung consolidation, where portions of the lung fill with inflammatory material instead of air. On ultrasound, these areas appear as solid gray regions.

Veterinarians often use a 0 to 5 lung scoring system to evaluate severity.

“This scoring system helps identify disease before calves begin coughing or showing nasal discharge,” Bjurstrom says. “Early detection allows for earlier treatment and better outcomes.”

Dr. Ollivett demonstrates positioning for thoracic ultrasound scanning on a calf’s right lung.

(Denise Garlow, University of Wisconsin)

Why Early Detection Matters

Even when calves show no visible symptoms, lung damage can affect their long-term performance.

In one study of more than 600 Holstein heifers, calves with lung consolidation detected at weaning were less likely to become pregnant and more likely to leave the herd before first calving.

Another study found calves with significant lung lesions in the first eight weeks of life produced 1,155 pounds less milk during their first lactation.

“These findings highlight why early detection matters,” Bjurstrom says. “Subclinical disease can still influence growth, reproduction, and milk production later in life.”

Improving Treatment Outcomes

Early detection can also make treatment more effective.

“When pneumonia is caught earlier, treatment tends to work better,” Bjurstrom explains. “We’re able to intervene before the disease becomes severe and causes permanent lung damage.”

Ultrasound can also help veterinarians monitor recovery.

“That monitoring aspect is important,” she says. “It helps ensure calves are improving and reduces unnecessary retreatment.”

A Management Tool for Farms

Beyond diagnosis, lung ultrasound is increasingly used as a herd management tool.

“Ultrasound gives producers objective information about lung health,” Bjurstrom says. “That can help guide decisions about treatment, culling, or adjusting weaning timing for calves that may need more time to recover.”

Regular scanning can also reveal herd-level trends tied to management practices.

“When used consistently, ultrasound becomes a benchmarking tool,” Bjurstrom says. “It can help farms evaluate colostrum programs, ventilation, sanitation, and other factors that influence calf health.”

A Growing Tool in Calf Health Programs

Portable ultrasound units have become more accessible and easier to use, making them more common in calf health programs. With proper training, scanning a calf’s lungs typically takes less than a minute.

“The equipment requires an initial investment, but the information it provides can be incredibly valuable,” Bjurstrom says. “Earlier detection can lead to better management decisions, improved calf growth, and fewer losses.”

As dairy farms continue adopting more data-driven management practices, lung ultrasound is giving producers a new way to detect disease sooner and protect the long-term potential of their calves.

“Lung ultrasound helps us move beyond waiting for visible symptoms,” Bjurstrom says. “It allows producers and veterinarians to identify problems earlier and take action before long-term damage occurs.”

Will machine learning transform the dairy industry?

Tue, 07 Apr 2026 15:01:18 GMT

What is machine learning?

Machine Learning (ML) is a branch of artificial intelligence (AI) that enables systems to learn from vast amounts of data by identifying patterns and thus making predictions about future events. Machine learning models can uncover relationships and trends at the speed of light that would otherwise be impossible to detect manually or with the naked eye.

Traditional software systems that focus on predictions rely on a set of predefined given rules. Machine learning, on the other hand, continuously improves patterns as more data becomes available. Businesses can now move from static reporting of previous events towards more predictive and data-driven decision-making and forward planning. Rather than simply describing what has happened, organizations can anticipate future outcomes and act accordingly. This shift from reactive to predictive decision-making is driving significant value across industries.

How machine learning is being used across industries

Globally, machine learning is already playing a significant role in improving productivity, efficiency, and decision-making. Industries such as finance, healthcare, logistics, and retail are leveraging these new artificial intelligence capabilities to analyze large datasets, automate processes, and support more informed strategies.

In finance, for instance, machine learning models are used to detect fraud, assess risk, and predict market trends. In healthcare, they support diagnostics, treatment planning, and medical research by identifying patterns in patient data. In logistics they improve demand forecasting and supply chain efficiency.

The emergence of machine learning in the dairy industry

The dairy industry is also beginning to harness the potential of machine learning and data-driven technologies. Modern dairy farming generates enormous amounts of data, from herd management systems, milking robots, cow- and barn sensors, milk recording data as well as from ration-balancing and feeding software. In addition, other inputs such as market prices for feed stuffs, milk, carcass or replacement animals can complete the picture.

This data holds a wealth of information, but interpreting it requires subject matter expertise and is time-consuming. Moreover, it could be hard to compare information from different data sources since they tend to use different logical rules, for instance different inclusion and exclusion criteria for evaluating the number of milking cows present in the herd at a given moment. Dairy industry stakeholders like farmers, vets and consultants often face the difficulty of turning this vast amount of complex data into pieces of information they can use for future business decisions.

Machine learning tools can help interpret information more efficiently and highlight trends that might otherwise go unnoticed. They can assist with analyzing herd performance data, identifying patterns in feeding strategies, or highlighting potential health risks. At Dairy Data Warehouse, tools such as Predicta use machine learning to predict, at dry-off, the risk of transition cow diseases, something that cannot be reliably identified through observation alone, regardless of experience. These predictive capabilities allow dairy farmers and advisors to take proactive action, improving both animal health and farm performance.

Despite its potential, the adoption of machine learning in the dairy sector is still in its early stages. Some farmers and industry stakeholders are already using data-driven tools, while others remain cautious due to a lack of understanding or uncertainty around practical application. Bridging this gap is essential to unlocking the full value of AI in dairy. Dairy Data Warehouse’s mission is to accelerate the digital transformation of the dairy value chain.

Of utmost importance is making sure that the data feeding the tools is of good quality and is comparable. Our role is to ensure that data collected from farms is clean, standardized, and comparable across systems. By integrating data from multiple sources and applying consistent logic, we create a strong foundation for machine learning models to deliver accurate and reliable insights. Using the latest generation of our local source connecter (LSC), it is easier than ever for farmers to connect their herds to DDW and get data flowing to the advisor/consultant seamlessly while they remain the rightful owners and in full control of the data they share.

These technologies act as a support tool, helping farmers, advisors, and industry organizations unlock the full value of the data they already generate.

The future of machine learning in dairy

From our perspective, machine learning will play an increasingly important role in the future of the dairy industry. As more farms adopt digital technologies and data collection continues to grow, the potential for machine learning in the dairy world will expand significantly.

Machine learning will enable more precise and predictive herd management, supporting improvements in feed efficiency, animal health, and overall farm productivity. It will also contribute to more sustainable dairy systems by helping optimize resource use and reduce environmental impact. Organizations that invest in data quality, connectivity, and machine learning capabilities will be better positioned to drive efficiency and long-term sustainability.

To find out how data and artificial intelligence can improve your efficiency we invite you to get more information by checking www.dairydatawarehouse.com or send us an email directly on inquiries@dairydatawarehouse.com

Your Vet Recommended RT-PCR for Mastitis — Now What?

Fri, 10 Apr 2026 15:03:58 GMT

If your veterinarian is recommending RT-PCR (real-time polymerase chain reaction), it’s usually tied to a specific frustration point on the dairy. That might be repeated “no growth” culture results, ongoing contagious mastitis challenges or a high number of clinical cases without clear answers.

As Dr. Jim Rhoades, veterinarian with IDEXX, put it:

“PCR is not new, but it may be new to some of our producers. It’s a tool that is really applicable to diagnosing mastitis on commercial dairy farms now. Getting good, timely information to make management decisions is probably undervalued in many cases.”

At its core, this isn’t about adding another test. It’s about getting clearer, more actionable information to guide management decisions. RT-PCR is one key in the advancement of technology for mastitis detection and prevention .

What RT-PCR Actually Does

RT-PCR works by detecting the genetic fingerprint of bacteria rather than trying to grow them in the lab.

Here’s the simple version:

Every pathogen has unique DNA. RT-PCR takes a milk sample mixed with fluorescence-tagged pathogen-specific DNA primers and runs it through repeated heating and cooling cycles that facilitate the amplification of the target pathogen DNA. As that DNA builds up through the cycles, a fluorescent signal increases, and once that signal crosses a defined threshold, the test reads as positive.

This amplification process is what allows PCR to detect even very small amounts of bacteria that culture might miss.

“PCR is grounded in specific genetic sequences that make the bacteria the bacteria. It is very specific to a single target. We’re not casting a wide net to see what grows. We’re looking for specific pathogens or groups of pathogens,” Rhoades explains.

How to Interpret a PCR Result

Instead of colony counts, PCR reports a cycle threshold, or Ct value. This reflects how many amplification cycles, the repeated heating and cooling cycles, were needed before bacterial DNA was detected via fluorescence.

The key takeaway is straightforward:

Low Ct = more bacteria present
High Ct = less bacterial DNA present

That’s the opposite of what most people are used to with culture, but once understood, it becomes a reliable way to gauge how significant a result may be.

Why PCR Can Still Be Positive When Culture Isn’t

In practical terms, culture depends on live bacteria being able to grow, while PCR detects DNA whether or not those organisms are still viable, which is why it can pick up infections that culture misses.

“With PCR we can have positive results that may have been negative with culture. It can give us information we may not have gotten from culture,” Dr. Pamela Adkins, associate professor of food animal medicine at the University of Missouri, says. “About 30% of clinical mastitis cases will come back culture-negative. When we use PCR, we find only 8% of those cases are actually negative.”

In practice, PCR is especially useful when:

Bacterial levels are too low to grow in culture
The cow has already started clearing the infection
Sample handling reduces bacterial viability

One of the most important things to understand is that PCR detects DNA, not necessarily live bacteria.

“The immune system may clear the pathogen, which is great. If that happens too quickly, we may not get an answer from culture, but the PCR will still be positive,” Adkins explains.

This is where interpretation is important. A PCR-positive result doesn’t always mean an active infection that needs treatment; it may reflect a recent infection that has already resolved.

Where PCR Fits and What to Do With It

PCR is best thought of as part of a broader diagnostic approach rather than a replacement for existing tools. Rather than replacing culture, it complements it by adding speed and sensitivity, particularly in situations where traditional methods fall short.

“These are all tools and we need to use all the tools in our toolbox,” Rhoades says.

In practice, PCR adds the most value when it helps you step back and understand what is happening at the herd level. It can identify infections that would otherwise be missed, clarify what pathogens are driving mastitis on your farm and point toward more effective prevention strategies.

For producers, that translates into a few key advantages:

A clearer picture of what’s actually in the herd
Better ability to reduce spread of contagious pathogens
More confidence in targeted, cost-effective decisions

When used correctly, RT-PCR can give you the information needed to make better decisions with fewer surprises, fewer missed infections and more control over the problem.

To learn more about how mastitis detection, prevention and treatment are changing, check out the following episode of “ The Bovine Vet Podcast ”.

Colostrum Quality Starts Weeks Before the Calf Arrives

Thu, 09 Apr 2026 16:00:49 GMT

On most dairies, colostrum management is treated as a short window right after calving. The first milking is collected, tested and quickly fed to the calf. But new research suggests colostrum quality is shaped weeks before it ever reaches the pail.

Research from Amanda Fischer-Tlustos examines colostrogenesis, the process that produces colostrum, and how nutrition, metabolism and mammary activity during the dry period influence what ends up in that first milking.

“We always talk about harvesting colostrum to feed the calves,” she said during a recent Dairy Health Blackbelt Podcast. “But how are the cows producing it?”

Her work suggests the answer starts much earlier than many farms think, with high-quality colostrum developing gradually in the weeks leading up to calving.

Looking Beyond IgG

Colostrum conversations often revolve around immunoglobulin G, or IgG. Because calves are born without functional immunity, they depend on these antibodies from colostrum to establish passive transfer.

While IgG remains the cornerstone of colostrum quality, Fischer-Tlustos believes focusing only on antibodies overlooks much of what makes colostrum biologically powerful.

“I wanted to focus on it more than just IgG,” she says. “There’s all these other things in colostrum aside from IgG. Not just when is IgG transferred from the serum into the colostrum prior to calving, but also when are the macronutrients starting to be synthesized, and when are bioactive compounds starting to be synthesized or transferred?”

These additional components include hormones, growth factors and specialized carbohydrates known as oligosaccharides. Although they exist in much lower concentrations than fat or antibodies, they can have meaningful effects on calf development.

“To me, the definition of a bioactive compound is something that is present in low concentrations compared to IgG or fat,” Fischer-Tlustos says. “But even though they’re present at low concentrations, they could still have a really big impact on calf development and physiology.”

Taken together, these compounds reveal colostrum as a complex biological package rather than simply the first milk produced after calving.

“It’s almost like the cow has tailored her colostrum to the calf’s needs,” Fischer-Tlustos adds.

(File Photo)

A Staggered Timeline Before Calving

To understand when these components begin forming, Fischer-Tlustos followed a group of Holstein cows from dry-off through calving. The cows were dried off approximately eight weeks before their expected calving date, allowing researchers to monitor mammary changes throughout the dry period.

The team collected small samples of mammary secretions at regular intervals leading up to calving.

“We didn’t want to take too much, because then we could induce them into lactation, which would wreck our colostrum,” Fischer-Tlustos says.

What the team discovered was a surprisingly staggered timeline of colostrum formation.

Lactose and fat production, two hallmarks of normal milk secretion, began very close to calving.

“We found that lactose and fat really only start to turn on within about one to two days prior to calving,” she says. “And that makes sense to me. They kind of turn on with lactogenesis, which is milk production.”

Protein synthesis began slightly earlier.

“We found that protein starts to turn on about a week prior to calving,” Fischer-Tlustos says.

The timeline for IgG accumulation, however, followed a different pattern.

“When we looked at IgG, what we actually found was that it started to accumulate substantially in some cows even as early as six weeks prior to calving, and some cows were accumulating it even before that,” she says.

Because the cows in the study were dried off roughly eight weeks before calving, that means antibody accumulation began soon after the dry period started. The discovery challenged the assumption that the close-up period is the primary window for influencing colostrum quality.

“It kind of really started to reframe my thinking,” Fischer-Tlustos says. “We try to put in nutritional strategies or management strategies in the close-up period to try to drive more IgG transfer. But it made me think, maybe this isn’t the time we need to be looking at that.”

Further analysis reinforced the importance of early accumulation. Cows that began building IgG earlier in the dry period consistently produced better colostrum.

“The earlier it could accumulate in the prepartum secretion, the better the colostrum would be after she calved,” she says. “And we found that the more gradual or slowly that that accumulation could happen, the better for first milking colostrum.”

(Farm Journal)

Giving the Udder Rest

While studying differences between cows, Fischer-Tlustos began looking at another important factor: mammary activity during the dry period.

Her team measured indicators of mammary metabolism including milk yield at dry-off, mammary blood flow and uptake of metabolic fuels such as glucose and acetate.

“These were kind of indicators of mammary activity during the dry period,” she says.

The findings revealed a counterintuitive relationship. Cows whose udders remained more active during the far-off dry period tended to produce poorer colostrum.

“We found that cows that had more mammary activity during the far-off period had worse colostrum production,” Fischer-Tlustos says.

Many producers have seen these cows in the dry pen. They are the animals that never seem to fully dry off.

“We see cows in the dry pen that are like three weeks dry, and they have huge udders and they’re leaking milk still,” she says. “And I think these are those cows that have a lot of difficulty drying off, and they’re not able to get into that rest and regeneration state, which coincides with colostrogenesis.”

High milk production heading into dry-off appears to intensify the problem.

“We also found, too, that the more milk the cow made at dry off, she had more mammary activity in the far-off period, and then worse colostrum,” Fischer-Tlustos says. “This is even more exacerbated for our high producing cows, which are typically our ones that have trouble drying off.”

Nutrition and Metabolism Influence Composition

Additional work examined how prepartum nutrition influences colostrum formation. Beginning roughly 19 days before calving, primiparous and multiparous cows were fed diets with either high or low energy density.

Interestingly, the dietary treatments did not significantly affect IgG concentration or total colostrum yield. However, they did alter several other components.

Cows fed higher-energy diets produced colostrum with greater concentrations of insulin, somatic cells and sialic acid. At the same time, they had lower concentrations of total oligosaccharides.

The metabolic drivers of colostrum production also differed by parity. In first-lactation cows, colostrum yield appeared more closely linked to circulating glucose levels. Multiparous cows showed a stronger association with hormonal signaling, particularly insulin.

According to Fischer-Tlustos, these differences suggest that cows in different stages of life may rely on different metabolic pathways to support colostrum synthesis.

Rethinking Dry-Off

Another management factor that may affect colostrum development is the way cows are dried off.

According to Fischer-Tlustos, abrupt dry-off remains common practice.

“I read a review paper from 2020 that said 75% of U.S. farms are practicing abrupt dry off,” she says. “So just dry off in one day. Which is, from my standpoint, concerning from colostrum production, but that’s also really concerning for milk production.”

The challenge, she says, is that cows may not receive enough time for the mammary gland to fully transition from lactation to regeneration.

“I was trying to think of an analogy, and the Olympics were on,” she says. “You have to think they are like a pro athlete. They need to rest. They can’t just go right into the next Olympics two months later. They need a rest and regeneration period.”

Without adequate rest, the mammary gland may remain partially active during the dry period, limiting its ability to accumulate antibodies and other compounds needed for high-quality colostrum.

From Harvesting Colostrum to Developing It

Taken together, Fischer-Tlustos’ research suggests the industry may need to expand how it thinks about colostrum management.

Rather than focusing solely on the harvest and testing of colostrum at calving, her findings highlight the importance of the weeks leading up to it. Successful dry-off, controlled mammary activity and adequate time for mammary tissue to regenerate all appear to influence how colostrum develops.

For dairy producers striving to deliver consistent, high-quality colostrum to newborn calves, the most important management window may begin much earlier than previously thought. Long before the calf is born and the colostrum is harvested, the cow has already been building it.

Zeolite Strategies Reshape Milk Fever Management on Dairy Farms

Thu, 09 Apr 2026 14:13:41 GMT

Milk fever remains one of the most well-known metabolic diseases in dairy cattle, yet it is far from solved. While clinical cases still occur on most farms, the larger — and often more costly — challenge lies beneath the surface: subclinical hypocalcemia.

That’s why transition cow management continues to be a critical focus for veterinarians and producers alike.

“If you have transition cow issues, you’re going to have metabolic issues. Cows aren’t going to come in and perform the way you think they should. You’re going to have repro issues. You’re going to see a whole host of effects,” Meghan Connelly says, research and technical director at Protekta and guest on the most recent episode of “The Bovine Vet Podcast” .

Against that backdrop, a growing number of nutritionists and veterinarians are turning to zeolite-based pre-fresh diets, a relatively new approach that is reshaping how the industry manages calcium metabolism during the transition period.

The Hidden Burden of Hypocalcemia in Dairy Cows

On most dairies, clinical milk fever rates fall between 1% and 5%, depending on herd management and nutrition strategies. Subclinical hypocalcemia, however, is far more prevalent, affecting an estimated 25% to 45% of cows in many herds.

Unlike clinical cases, subclinical hypocalcemia is difficult to detect — but no less important.

“Subclinical is where we can’t see it, but it’s happening. The cow has low blood calcium, but we can’t tell that she’s low. But that still has consequences for the cow. There’s all these different systems and calcium is such a critical mineral for all those systems. So many different diseases that are influenced by calcium status,” Connelly says.

Instead of obvious signs, these cows often present as subtle inefficiencies that compound over time. Reduced rumination, lower feed intake and increased rates of retained placenta, metritis and mastitis are all commonly linked to inadequate calcium status. These hidden cases can quietly erode both performance and profitability.

DCAD Diets: The Traditional Approach to Milk Fever Prevention

For decades, the primary strategy for preventing milk fever has been the negative DCAD (dietary cation-anion difference) diet, which works by inducing a mild metabolic acidosis that improves the cow’s responsiveness to parathyroid hormone (PTH).

“We feed different feed supplements that contain anions in order to drop urine pH. When urine pH drops, the system is primed for PTH to work and mobilize bone and help support calcium homeostasis when the cow calves,” Connelly says.

This approach is well validated and remains a cornerstone of transition cow nutrition. However, it comes with practical constraints that can limit its use, particularly in larger or more complex feeding systems.

Where DCAD can create friction:

Requires consistent access to low-potassium forages
Can reduce dry matter intake due to metabolic acidification
Depends on monitoring tools such as urine pH
Often still requires post-calving calcium supplementation

As operations scale and feed variability increases, these limitations have driven interest in alternative strategies that can deliver similar or improved outcomes with fewer constraints.

(Meghan Connelly)

How Zeolite Works: A New Strategy for Hypocalcemia Management

Zeolite offers a fundamentally different approach to milk fever prevention, one that targets phosphorus rather than acid-base balance.

“When we feed a zeolite diet pre-fresh, we bind dietary phosphorus. The cow goes, ‘Oh, I better go get more phosphorus.’ The main storage for phosphorus is in the bone. When she mobilizes bone, she brings double the amount of calcium with it,” Connelly says, referencing the P:Ca ratio in bone.

By binding dietary phosphorus in the gastrointestinal tract, zeolite creates a mild, controlled drop in blood phosphorus. The cow responds by mobilizing bone reserves to restore balance. Because bone contains both phosphorus and calcium in a fixed ratio, this process results in a simultaneous release of calcium into circulation.

Unlike DCAD diets, which rely on parathyroid hormone sensitivity, zeolite operates through a separate pathway involving fibroblast growth factor-23, a hormone produced in bone cells that acts on the kidneys to regulate phosphate levels, and vitamin D metabolism. The outcome — improved calcium availability at calving — is similar, but the biological mechanism is distinct.

Why Zeolite Adoption Is Increasing on Dairy Farms

Although zeolite has only been available in the U.S. since 2017, adoption has accelerated rapidly, according to Connelly. Much of that momentum is driven by a combination of visible on-farm results and meaningful management advantages.

Producers implementing zeolite programs often report improved calcium status through the first 48 to 72 hours after calving, along with fewer clinical milk fever cases.

“If you go from having 30 down cows a month to four, that’s a pretty big change,” Connelly says, referencing the improvement she has seen on farms changing to zeolite.

Beyond clinical outcomes, zeolite introduces greater flexibility into ration formulation. Because it does not depend on lowering dietary potassium, producers can incorporate a wider range of forages — including haylage, rye and sorghum — that would typically be restricted in DCAD programs. This allows better use of homegrown feeds and can reduce reliance on purchased inputs.

Zeolite programs are also associated with reduced dependence on calcium supplementation after calving. With cows already mobilizing calcium effectively, the need for boluses and intravenous treatments often declines, lowering both labor and treatment costs.

Management simplicity is another advantage. Zeolite eliminates the need for urine pH monitoring and reduces the number of adjustments required in close-up groups. In addition, because it does not induce metabolic acidosis, it avoids the intake suppression sometimes observed with DCAD diets, helping support dry matter intake during a critical window.

Where Zeolite May Not Be the Best Fit

Despite its advantages, zeolite is not universally applicable. Its effectiveness depends heavily on overall diet composition, particularly phosphorus levels.

Situations where DCAD may still be the better fit:

Diets high in phosphorus (e.g., distillers grains, canola meal)
Operations with well-optimized DCAD programs already in place
Systems where tight ration control supports consistent acidification

In high-phosphorus diets, zeolite may become saturated, allowing the absorption of the remaining free phosphorus, reducing its effectiveness and making DCAD the more reliable strategy.

A Technology Still Evolving and the Veterinarian’s Role

Compared to DCAD, which has decades of supporting research, zeolite remains a relatively new tool. Since its introduction in 2017, both research and field experience have rapidly expanded understanding of how best to implement it.

“We didn’t necessarily know everything about it when it came out. I like to say that we continue to learn in real time with this strategy,” Connelly says.

Advances in feeding guidelines, monitoring approaches and troubleshooting frameworks have already improved consistency across farms, and further refinement is expected as adoption continues.

As that evolution continues, veterinarians are playing an increasingly central role. Transition cow programs are becoming more nuanced, and selecting the right strategy requires more than simply choosing between DCAD and zeolite. It involves identifying herd-level challenges, interpreting blood calcium data and aligning protocols with nutrition and management realities on each operation.

Close collaboration between veterinarians, nutritionists and producers remains essential. No single approach fits every farm, and the most successful programs are those tailored to available feed resources, labor capacity and herd goals.

Zeolite is not a replacement for DCAD, it is an expansion of the milk fever management toolbox.

It represents a shift from priming calcium regulation through acidification to directly driving mineral mobilization through phosphorus control. For many dairies, that shift is delivering higher blood calcium, fewer clinical cases and simpler management during one of the most critical periods in the production cycle.

As the industry continues to refine its use, zeolite is quickly moving from a novel concept to a practical, field-proven strategy in transition cow nutrition.

To hear more from Connelly on using zeolite for the management of transition cows to avoid hypocalcemia, listen to the full conversation on the latest episode of “The Bovine Vet Podcast.”

Meet the Next Generation of Robotic Milking: The Lely Astronaut A5 Next

Fri, 03 Apr 2026 19:53:47 GMT

The Lely Astronaut A5 Next robotic milking system builds on more than 30 years of innovation from Lely, combining proven robotic milking performance with new features that enhance cow comfort, efficiency, and data-driven herd management through Lely Horizon farm management software.

Designed with both cows and farmers in mind, the Lely A5 Next introduces new technologies and improvements that help streamline daily routines, deliver deeper herd insights, and create a more comfortable milking experience for the herd.

Designed for Cow Comfort and Natural Behavior

A defining feature of the Lely A5 Next system is its free cow traffic philosophy, which allows cows to decide when they eat, rest, or visit the robot for milking. This freedom reduces stress and supports more natural behavior, which can positively influence milk production and herd health.

The Lely A5 Next continues this approach with the I-flow design, allowing cows to enter and exit the milking unit in a straight, natural path. The open, spacious cow box ensures cows remain comfortable and close to the herd during milking, helping create a relaxed environment in the barn.

Smarter Technology for More Precise Milking

The Lely A5 Next introduces several new technologies that enhance the milking process while maintaining consistency for each cow.

Completely New Operating System (AOS-2)

The Lely A5 Next comes with a completely new operating system (AOS-2). It is a smart partner that offers more resilience, adaptability, and digital protection. The AOS-2 will help you today and in the future.

Teat Detection System 2+

The completely renewed Teat Detection System 2+ provides optimal teat detection and connects like a farmer. It has an improved connection performance combining the focus of the laser with the wide view of the camera. It also provides insights into failed milkings.

Improved Pre-Treatment Brush

The healthier the udders, the better the milk. This is why the Lely A5 Next is equipped with a unique brush cleaning system that is designed to remove dirt and manure around the teats and the underside of the udders, ultimately stimulating milk let-down. After cleaning the teats, the brushes are thoroughly disinfected to help minimize the risk of cross-contamination.

Automatic Milk Filter Replaces Filter Socks

An optional automatic milk filter replaces filter socks up to three times per day, eliminating a repetitive task that can easily be forgotten during busy farm schedules.

Milk for Use Separation

Improved milk separation technology makes it easier and cleaner to handle colostrum or milk that needs to be diverted from the main tank.

Enhanced Identification Options

New ear-tag identification technology provides a flexible entry-level cow identification system that can integrate with monitoring tools.

Seamless Data-Driven Herd Management with Lely Horizon

The Lely A5 Next works seamlessly with Lely Horizon farm management system , which collects more than 100 data points during every milking. This information helps farmers monitor:

Milk quality and yield
Cow health indicators
Reproductive status
Feeding and milking patterns

The system turns this data into actionable insights, generating alerts and tasks so farmers can quickly identify cows that require attention. With access through smartphones and dashboards, producers can stay connected to their herd at any time.

More Time for What Matters Most

By automating the milking process, the Lely A5 Next helps dairy farmers spend less time on repetitive tasks and more time focusing on herd management, cow health, and strategic decision-making.

Automation also allows for more flexible daily routines while maintaining consistent milking schedules and monitoring cow performance around the clock.

The new Lely Astronaut A5 Next is available at your local Lely Center.

Beef-on-dairy or replacements? Evaluating breeding strategy in a strong calf market

Fri, 27 Mar 2026 17:52:04 GMT

Sponsor: Purina Animal Nutrition

Breeding decisions have always shaped the long-term trajectory of a dairy herd. Today, strong calf prices are prompting producers to evaluate how many replacement heifers they truly need and how many cows should instead be bred to beef sires.

For many operations, the answer is not a simple either-or decision. Instead, it reflects a broader evaluation of herd structure, market conditions and long-term business goals.

Calf value is reshaping the conversation

Strong beef markets have dramatically increased the value of day-old calves, creating a new revenue stream for dairy producers. In some cases, calves are bringing prices few producers imagined possible just a few years ago.

That shift has changed the way some dairies view their breeding programs. Rather than focusing solely on producing replacement heifers, many operations are balancing their replacement needs with opportunities to capture additional value from beef-on-dairy calves.

When calf values rise, the economics can have a meaningful impact on overall dairy profitability. Spreading calf income across a full 305-day lactation can help offset lower milk prices or periods of market volatility. As a result, breeding strategy has become a more intentional financial decision.

Most herds already follow a blended approach

A common approach is breeding roughly the top third of the herd to dairy sires to produce replacement heifers, while the remaining cows are bred to beef sires. This allows producers to maintain adequate replacement numbers while also participating in the growing beef-on-dairy market.

For many farms, the question is not whether to produce replacement heifers at all, but how many are truly necessary. Replacement heifers represent a long-term investment. It takes nearly two years before a heifer enters the milking herd; during that time, producers incur significant costs for feed, labor, housing, health care and breeding. These costs must be carefully weighed against the potential revenue from beef-on-dairy calves.

Understanding the true cost of replacements

Many producers are very good at tracking variable costs such as feed and health care. Facilities, labor and capital costs can be harder to assign to individual animals, making replacement heifers appear less expensive than they actually are.

For that reason, financial modeling and careful recordkeeping are essential. Each farm’s financial picture is unique; producers who understand their cost structures and regularly review their numbers are better equipped to make informed breeding decisions.

Genetics and strategy are becoming more deliberate

As beef-on-dairy calves become more valuable, producers are paying closer attention to the genetics behind those animals. Rather than simply breeding lower-producing cows to beef semen, some dairies are taking a more strategic approach to sire selection. The goal is to produce calves that perform well in the beef supply chain while maintaining the quality of replacement animals entering the dairy herd.

Some operations are even exploring ways to remain involved in the beef value chain beyond the day-old calf stage. By retaining ownership or partnering with calf raisers or feedlots, dairies may capture additional value as the animal moves through the production system.

A systems approach to breeding decisions

Ultimately, breeding strategy should be considered as part of a larger management system. Market conditions, herd demographics, culling rates and milk prices all influence the number of replacement heifers a dairy truly needs. Breeding decisions should be reviewed at least every six months to ensure the strategy still aligns with market conditions, culling strategies and herd needs.

Producers also are adjusting other management decisions in response to strong calf values. Some dairies, for example, are keeping cows for an additional lactation or partial lactation to capture the value of another calf before culling.

Early calf care still matters

Regardless of whether a calf is destined to become a replacement heifer or a beef animal, early-life management remains critical. Ensuring calves receive proper colostrum, consistent nutrition and low-stress handling helps maximize both productivity and value. A calf raised for beef production still requires the same strong start as one entering the milking herd.

Producers who shortchange early management may see negative effects later in the value chain, whether it’s poorer growth performance or reduced carcass quality.

As beef-on-dairy continues to evolve, the most successful dairies will be those that approach breeding decisions with a long-term, systems-oriented mindset, balancing replacement needs with new opportunities created by today’s strong calf market.

To learn more about how Purina Animal Nutrition can support producers’ breeding decisions, whether raising beef-on-dairy or replacement heifers, reach out to your local Purina representative or visit purinamills.com/dairy-beef .

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