The Herd and Feed Blog

In the world of dairy farming, achieving optimal efficiency is the key to profitability and sustainability. Every process, every resource, and every aspect of the operation must be carefully managed to ensure the best results. One crucial area that...

Calving difficulty, also known as calving ease, is a critical factor in herd health management and plays a key role in the success of both dairy and beef cattle operations. This term describes the ease or struggle a cow experiences while giving...

As our understanding of antibiotic resistance deepens, new practices are being implemented to reduce unnecessary antibiotic use on dairy farms. One such practice is Selective Dry Cow Therapy (SDCT), a strategic shift from the traditional approach of...

At the end of the day we understand, it's all about the cows. Because of that, most producers find it difficult to take off a few days to leave a farm that continues to run while they're away. And because we understand that, why would we continue to...

A lot of the time, jobs don't get done right because your feeders need the right equipment. Even when you have the right equipment, it has to be carefully maintained so that your feeders and your business can be successful.

The point of bunk management is to eliminate erratic intakes. This helps to reduce feed waste and digestive upset for the cows - both of which require more feed to increase production... which needlessly increases costs.

Getting the settings right while recording dairy records data can make all the difference when it comes time to pull that data out and analyze the results. String logging is a simple setting in DHI-Plus than can make a big difference when it comes...

One of my co-workers told me a story about how it felt when he was a feeder. He talked about a problematic experience that often happened when he was building a ration.

Even on a well-run dairy, there are always potential problems. The best way to stay ahead of the problematic trends is to analyze the data to know what is working… and what isn’t.

In 2016 the results of a study1 were published identifying the opportunity dairies have to save money on feed costs purely based on feeder performance. The study was introduced because of high feed costs (at the time it represented 61-62% of the...

Feed mixer scales go through a lot every day... and over time they can become less than accurate. This can be a problem because your operation depends on the accuracy of the scale. So the question is, how do you make sure your scale is accurate?

I was having a conversation with my coworker the other day and he asked, "What motivates you?" What a great question! Have you ever stopped to think about what motivates you?