Latest News From Livestock Benchmarking

Once a technology becomes a boring experience it means it has become proven, well-adopted, and easy to utilize. There are three "boring" technologies silently shaping the industry.

Technologies for the farm are not one size fits all. A few of the considerations that should be made before choosing the right technology is how the technology fits, works, and costs.

Smart farming robotic technology is all in the name of cow comfort, efficiency and productivity. 

As dairy tech continues to mature, new solutions must be designed with a keen focus on user experience, taking cues from Apple's strategy.

Integrating new software into your team can feel like a blind date. Worse yet, a speed date followed by an arranged marriage. This shotgun arrangement may not end well.

By integrating complex biosensors technology onto our farms, we are now capable of knowing more about our cows' bodies than ever before.

The “old” AI (artificial insemination) is intended to land cows in the maternity pen. Now, the “new” AI (Artificial Intelligence) is being engaged to monitor them.

Chris Szydel began working as a milker at Pagels Ponderosa nearly 30 years ago. Today, he's the herd manager of both the Pagel Ponderosa and Hilltop Farm dairies and oversees three different parlors and 65 employees.

Tri-Cross Dairy has recently completed a new renewable natural gas (RNG) production facility with Clean Energy and is expected to supply 1 million gallons of negative carbon-intensity RNG annually.

As a new approach to robotic milking for larger dairy operations, DeLaval has announced the launch of their new VMS™ Batch Milking system, a method advancement in robotic milking technology.

A big question on the minds of many decision makers on the dairy is: Should one invest more heavily in hiring highly skilled cow people or in adopting technology that can perform tasks that good cow people could do?

A team of Irish researchers has developed a breakthrough innovation to monitor activity and health characteristics of dairy cows – and it doesn’t involve and wires, chips, batteries, or electronics of any kind.

The best and most effective technologies in dairy production today are not necessarily the ones with the most bells and whistles. Rather, they’re the ones that simply “let cows be cows.”

Robots, sensors, connected devices, virtual reality and even artificial intelligence (AI) have become a daily presence in our hospitals. As agriculture is facing its own transformation what lessons can we learn?

“We know the pivotal role technology has played in getting us to where we are today and there’s no denying that it’s going to play an impactful part in where we go with animal health.”

Proficiency is an aspirational state that demands we make the most of the technologies.

From repro to health, activity monitors ramps up efficiency.

A recent study at a northern Colorado dairy showed whether cows had to wait a long time to be milked or a little did not have much impact on their subsequent activity and resting behavior.

These 5 apps are the most used by top dairy producers.

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.

Lely recently announced it will immediately cease commercial activities throughout Russia and Belarus.

Farmers utilizing robotic milking facilities may have an upper hand when it comes to gradually drying cows off.

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.

Switching from a herringbone to a robotic rotary parlor.

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. 

It might be time to expand tech expertise on your operation.

Give your milking parlor the tools it needs to take your operation to the next level.

Three dairy producers openly talked about technology must-haves and how ROI comes into play when making technology investments.

Only about 5% of U.S. dairy herd managers regularly assess body condition scores (BCS) in their herds, even though the value of routine body condition scoring has been well-documented.

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.

For young, technological, and progressive dairy farmers these three areas represent an exciting future.

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.

What’s one piece of technology that has drastically improved your operation in the past five to 10 years?

When it comes to life on the farm, the knowledge and efficiencies gained from technology are hard to pass up. That’s certainly true when it comes to herd reproduction.

Organic Valley is launching a pilot program that uses satellite photography to measure pasture health on its dairy farms.

Data from a recent Pulse Poll shows that dairy farmers are most interested in automated milking technology.

2020 was a year like no other. Following a year dominated by Covid-19 what can dairy farming expect moving forwards?

Introducing heifers into a robotic milking facility can be considerably stressful for both animals and farm employees.

Indiana farm’s commitment to productivity and sustainability earns them 2021 Innovative Dairy Farmer of the Year award.

It doesn’t have to be difficult or complex to pay off.

An IT professional can save a lot of money and headaches.

Setting up an on-farm culturing machine is relatively simple and fairly inexpensive, .

Two families join forces to build MVP dairy and become the 2020 Innovative Dairy Farmers of the Year.

Robotic technology continues to evolve as on-farm adoption increases.

When it comes down to installing an automated milking system, there are many variables to consider. 

Use your senses and these simple tools on a routine basis to assure healthy milking practices and equipment.