Risk Management - Safety First

Health+Safety Checklist Dairy farmers often work in isolation, facing risks from animal behavior, mechanical hazards, climatic conditions, and rushed work deadlines. To minimize and hopefully avoid completely the areas of most risk, a regular and thorough assessment of your facility should be completed annually.  The...

Pasture Management - Maintaining Balance

Pasture Management "Maintaining Balance" Utilize Pasture Effectively Pasture is an excellent low cost means of feeding livestock, but requires proper management of both the forage and the livestock. The forage must be managed to optimize growth, while the livestock must be managed to optimize utilization. Your goal as...

Herd Health - Monitoring Performance

Growth Benchmark Basics Raising dairy replacement heifers is a significant investment for most dairy operations. Monitoring performance and making adjustments as an investment grows is a key to optimizing return on investment.Without measuring calf growth from birth to weaning, post-weaning to breeding age, and then...

May 2014 Issue

Cover Story:p.20 - The Nutrient Scorecard Features: p. 6 - Guest Editorial p. 10 - Monitor Growth Performance p. 16 - Risk Management p. 31 - Effective Pasture Usage p. 33 - Udder Stuff

Vita Plus Expands Expertise

With a commitment to bringing the latest research and practical expertise to the farm, Vita Plus recently welcomed four new members to the dairy technical services team. These individuals will work closely with consultants throughout the upper Midwest to help troubleshoot on-farm challenges and provide customized...

BouMatic Appoints Behnke as PR Manager

BouMatic, the largest U.S. based, globally operating dairy equipment company, announces the appointment of Denise Behnke to Public Relations Manager. “I am excited to be taking on this new role as Public Relations Manager for BouMatic,” states Behnke. “My background in sales and product management, as well as my daily...

Ration Management Be Proactive

When it comes to managing rations for dairy cows, it is always better to be proactively making decisions versus reactively. That’s according to Dr.Dwight Roseler, a dairy nutritionist with Purina Animal Nutrition in Ohio. Roseler notes that evaluating feedstuffs with proper methods and having a ration model that...

Managing Alfalfa Under Pivot Irrigation

Thanks to its reputation for being a deep-rooted, drought-tolerant perennial with a long growing season, it might appear that alfalfa can get along just fine without irrigation. That would seem especially true when you consider that in deep, well-aerated soil, alfalfa roots can extend to depths of eight to 12 feet. ...

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