After more than 20 years on the market in the U.S., robotic milking systems continue to gain popularity as farms battle the ongoing challenges of labor expense and shortages.
Similar to human fingerprints, cow noses are detailed, nearly unique, difficult to change, and remain the same over the life of an individual, making them ideal long-term markers of identity.
The transition period is a critical and demanding phase for dairy cows and is associated with an increased risk for diseases and body condition loss. Technology can help to get the transition right.
Although dairy producers have made leaps and bounds in the efficiency and productivity of the cow in the last five years, the facilities haven’t kept up to the high-performance athlete that today’s cow is.
Just as oil flows from wells and milk from cows, it seems that data has the potential to inform or overwhelm the producers with more information than they can comprehend.
With so many different technologies available, the decision to invest comes down to matching the technology to the issues you want to address. This starts with managing expectations and asking the right questions.
Monitoring what's happening at the pen level, rather than for individual dairy cows, is proving to be the best approach for producers with more than 1,000 cows.
The world’s top 10 largest dairy groups now collectively milk 1 million cows, with the U.S., China, Russia and Saudi Arabia emerging as the dominant players on the global dairy stage.
Keeping milk equipment clean is one of the most important factors to producing quality milk. However, taking the time to make sure the wash system is working correctly is a chore producers often skip.
