Milk Quality
Robots and sensors can spot mastitis before symptoms appear, but keeping cows healthy still comes down to careful management.
Five years to the day after her father’s cows left, Mitzie Blanchard moved back to the family farm. The determined young woman raised a successful herd of cows and four sons who learned the true meaning of hard work.
Milk yield, components and udder health metrics can reveal early disease long before clinical signs emerge. Learning to interpret these signals can transform routine milk data into proactive herd health interventions.
Through remarkable advancements in genetic testing and data-driven strategies, McCarty Family Farms are setting new standards in productivity, quality and sustainability.
With tight grain storage and relatively low corn prices, many dairy producers are contemplating the strategic move of chopping additional acreage of corn.
Small changes in milking parlor protocols can unlock major efficiency gains, boosting cow flow, milk output, and income without adding labor.
Rising heat and humidity can drive up SCC, but with proactive management and attention to detail, summer doesn’t have to compromise milk quality.
Staph. aureus is being Confirmed More Frequently as the Culprit Contributing to Subclinical Mastitis
One researcher says of the 7,800 bulk tank milk samples her company tests annually, 45% of them are positive for the bacterium.
Three innovative dairy producers illustrate that with dedicated teams, efficient operations and innovative technology, the dairy industry can achieve remarkable quality and productivity.
Nobody would want to show up to their first day on the job sick, but that’s exactly what happens when a first-lactation animal enters the milking herd with mastitis.
Along with much planning, open communication, hard work and strong values have allowed Steinhurst Dairy to pass the torch from one generation to the next despite a string of grief and mountains of heartache.
Understanding the economics of management practice adoption can make it easier to make adoption decisions.
Cracked hoses, worn-out inflations, air bleeds—these are just a few of the common problems that can pop up when maintaining milking equipment.
According to FDA, the additional testing confirms the safety of the commercial milk supply with what it calls substantial data. The tests were done on 297 samples of milk from 38 states.
Are you pulling your hair out because your milking parlor is constantly running behind schedule? This is one of the biggest frustrations and time and money drains for a lot of dairies.
For decades, 305 days of lactation, plus a 60-day dry period, has added up to a dairy cow’s target calving interval of one year. But is this a standard that needs to be broken?
Paul Virkler, DVM, Cornell University, says teat end scoring is a good way to gather insights on a dairy’s milking processes and whether adjustments are needed to improve an individual cow’s comfort and care.
Somatic cell count averages for 2022 were highest in the year’s late fall and winter months. Below are some considerations for managing mastitis as the weather changes.
The president and CEO of Tillamook County Creamery Association (TCCA), Patrick Criteser shares his career path, advice, lessons learned and more in a casual sit-down conversation.
Named IDFA 2022 Innovative Dairy Farmer of the Year, the Hildebrand’s have been at the forefront of innovation — from their processing plant to multifaceted industry partnerships to tapping into the A2 milk market.
The names Evelyn, Claudia and Jojo Leubner might not ring a bell, but if you search for NYFarmGirls on social media, you’ll quickly see they certainly have made a name for themselves by sharing their dairy story.
Whether they’re used for pregnancy checking, herd health days or A.I. breeding, headlocks come in handy for a multitude of reasons. But are our cows spending unnecessary time locked up?
Somatic cell counts have long been an indicator of milk quality and udder health. But can a cow’s SCC get too low?
Diving into the international supply and demand picture, Alyssa Badger of HighGround Trading Group explained that every country has its own set of issues that factor into the supply side of things.
“Similar to Staph aureus and mycoplasma, Prototheca [mastitis] is hard to detect, has no known cure, and is contagious by intermittently shedding from cow to cow.”
As the monetary worth of milk fat grows, so does the pay price for the per hundredweight of milk. But what number is more important for a dairy farm’s income – milk fat percentage or milk yield?