Replacements
While feed costs have significantly increased year-over-year, leading dairy nutrition consultants says don’t shortchange feeding heifers, even if they are viewed as an expense for your dairy.
Learn how two Ontario dairy farmers stretch their forage acres by sandwiching rye in between regular-season no-till crops.
If walking into your heifer barn gives you replacement cost anxiety, you may have too many heifers on your hands.
Springer heifer trade currently is light nationwide.
Once farmers get to the field, they will have plenty of tractor time to think about all the challenges that face them. Reach out to your dairy team leaders to to maximize your dairy’s profit while you’re in the field.
Texas milk production growth has steadily rose over the last two decades. The latest USDA March 2022 Milk Production report shows the Lone Star State pushed past Idaho, to now rank No. 3 for milk production.
Just because a heifer can get pregnant to calve at 21 months doesn’t necessarily mean she should be bred that early.
With the cost of inflation impacting every corner of a dairy, the producer’s breeding strategy has been forced to become finetuned. More and more producers are keeping just enough replacements to fill the pipeline,.
Holstein springer values do not appear to be riding the same up-and-down waves of uncertainty that milk prices recently have.
Bottlenecks and hurdles have been something dairy producers have had to endure. From blockage at shipping terminals and labor availability, one common area that producers have been struggling with is ear tag shortages.
High beef prices over the past few years have further encouraged dairy producers to crossbreed their cows with beef genetics and that has resulted in fewer dairy bull and heifer calves.
Heifers are the most fertile females on a dairy, and also possess the most up-to-date genetics. Thus they often are the targets of the most valuable genetic investments.
Holstein springer prices through January 2022 were a mixed bag that netted out at mostly steady month-over-month.
New program provides producers the opportunity to create premium beef while maximizing dairy profit.
Consumers are asking more than “Where’s the beef,” the slogan for the fast-food chain, Wendy’s, that debuted in the 1980s. Consumers now want to know where a piece of beef came from and the story behind it.
Transplants could create unique, year-round beef marketing opportunity for dairy herds
Select Sires, Semex, URUS, and STgenetics, all major stakeholders in the cattle genetics industry, joined together to petition the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to cancel two patents owned by ABS Global.
The Nightmare Before Christmas: Plant Informs Hundreds of Producers it No Longer Will Buy Their Milk
The day before Christmas, producers Kent and Coreena Meyer opened a letter from their milk processor, Wakefern Food Corp., owner of Readington Farms informing them they no longer would be picking up their milk.
Amidst light trade through the December holidays, Holstein springer values mostly held their month-over-month values to round out 2021.
Raising quality heifers is a priority on every farm.
When the three most popular heifer housing types – confinement, dry lot, and pasture – were evaluated, University of Kentucky researchers determined that pasture was the hands-down economic winner.
Holstein springer values remained stalled in Wisconsin, but saw an upward tick in all other reported markets over the past month.
Transitioning to freestalls can be challenging for young heifers, and behaviors learned early in life can carry through as cows enter the lactating herd.
Sit down to watch a football game and you’ll likely see players sporting wristband playbooks, allowing coaches to improve communication between players. The same kind of concept is being used on dairy farms.
There has been a huge shift in consumer attitude towards food over the past four decades. Today’s consumer wants to know where their food comes from, how it was made and the succeeding impact on the environment.
Feed costs, labor costs and material increases all have increased the cost of production, resulting in a steep year-over-year decline in milk production that was illustrated in the recent USDA Milk Production Report.
Growing dairy heifers efficiently, without allowing them to get overly fat, is a longstanding nutritional challenge. Calf and heifer expert Dr. Jim Quigley weighs in on how to avoid fat deposition in the mammary tissue
The national average price for replacement Holstein dairy heifers continues to hover at about $1,100 per head, well below the cost of production.
Held in Las Vegas Nov. 30 - Dec. 2, the 18th Annual MILK Business Conference has a great line-up of speakers and sessions to help dairy producers capitalize on and further develop their strengths to work for them.
Growing the ideal heifer is an ever-changing goal. A research team from Penn State University and the University of Florida recently explored the impact of bodyweight at first calving on milk yield and herd longevity.