Picture this: Cows moving freely and independently between milking, feeding, and resting all within their own pen. This is called a free cow traffic system and is the most common barn design containing an automatic milking system (AMS). This system seems optimal because cows can perform natural behaviors and choose their schedule and farmers can sit back and watch…right?

When considering milk replacer options on the market, there is no shortage. However, what information do you need to be able to confidently make the right decision on which one to pick for your calves? This includes the nutrients the milk replacer provides, the ingredients, and the cost. Some of this information is on the milk replacer tag . A basic milk replacer tag would typically have something like 24/20 or 28/15 in the title. This is the protein and fat content, with oth

Advances in portable near-infrared spectroscopy (NIR) may provide another way to evaluate TMR consistency. Portable NIR instruments can rapidly estimate feed composition without sending every sample to a laboratory. This makes it possible to collect multiple TMR samples and quickly determine whether key nutritional components remain consistent throughout mixer discharge.

The arrival of fall in upstate New York brings beautiful foliage and brisk mornings, along with an often 30-degree swing in temperature between sunrise and midafternoon. As evening temperatures begin to drop and persist throughout the morning hours, many producers are starting to ask the same question: Is it time to break out the calf jackets?

As we head into winter months, the barns are, rather reluctantly, beginning to feel colder temperatures. Despite changing weather, our herd remains consistent, withstanding the fluctuating conditions quite well. With 593 lactating animals, averages are holding steady at 100.9 pounds of milk per day, with fat and protein sitting at 4.5% and 3.2%, respectively.

There was a time in my life when I was considering becoming a meteorologist, but when I realized how often people get annoyed with an inaccurate weather forecast I decided it wasn’t for me. The fact of the matter is, even our most advanced artificial intelligence weather models are wrong more often than most weather men would like to admit. That said, I have always been fascinated with how certain factors can be correlated with seasonal temperature and precipitation patterns

According to U.S. fertilizer industry representatives, since 2024 the price of sulfur fertilizer has increased by 1000%. (Not a typo!) A recent price for calcium sulfate (gypsum) was about $500 per ton, depending on supplier and transportation costs. The high prices are in part because of the war in the Middle East but are also due to export controls and high industrial demand.

It’s the time of year when, hopefully, everyone is deep into harvesting corn silage or has already finished. It goes without saying that the work doesn’t end once the feed has been delivered to the bunk. The timing of harvest is certainly important for determining the quality of forage ensiled and ultimately fed to the cow, but how the forage is delivered and packed into the bunk can have a major impact on how well that quality is preserved.

Every year they seem to show up at about the same time. Corn silage harvest is wrapping up, temperatures begin to drop, and suddenly there are birds everywhere. My dislike for birds on dairy farms goes back much farther than my time at Miner Institute. As a graduate student at the University of Illinois, the dairy farm had several large trees near the barns that served as roosting sites for thousands of birds, primarily starlings. During the winter after the leaves had fallen

Although he’s been around horses his entire life, Steve Hazen came into the farrier business by accident. He was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Marine Corps after graduating from Castleton State College and was sent to Vietnam in 1968.