The Herd and Feed Blog

Attending the World Ag Expo as an exhibitor has always been a great way for me to get current with customers and meet new people to talk about herd management solutions that make running a dairy operation better. This event is always a boost and I...

I had an interesting moment while moving cattle recently. I was working with a 14-year-old who had never worked—or even been around cattle before.

Testing for disease in cows is essential for maintaining cow health and preventing the spread of illness within the herd. Even when a test comes back negative, could the cow still be sick? And if a test is positive, is it always accurate?

In my last article on mental health I talked about the depression and mental health condition of Dairy Farmers. Another interesting thing is that it bleeds over to the professions that serve them.

When analyzing mastitis infections in dairy milk production, it’s important to understand how mastitis impacts a milking cow and overall herd health management. After taking the time to analyze mastitis in a herd, I like to ask the questions, "What...

One thing that I’ve had good success with in managing farms is a discussion of people, process, or tools. All problems that occur can fit nicely in one of these buckets.

I read an article with interest recently named Farming No. 1 for the first time in Gallup industry poll in the newspaper Intermountain Farm & Ranch. It refers to a poll asking Americans about their view of certain businesses and industries.

In my career I have asked to turn dairies around financially. When investigating the situations, the real issues behind the problems have been most interesting. These have ranged from family struggles, divorces in process, depression, burn out, and...

Working at the help desk, I often get into conversations with dairy producers and managers about cow health data. Recently I was having a conversation with a dairyman about mastitis in cows treatment and asked him this question: "Do you know the...

Motivating people to change is the biggest challenge for today’s manager or veterinarian who is trying to improve an animal’s situation. Most people only change when you apply either pain or pride. Both of these are negative to a relationship.

Proper placement of the EID tag in the cow’s ear can aid in preventing infection and help with tag retention. A recent conversation one of our customer service reps had with a customer about this spurred me to address the topic of best practices for...

I often get some questions on what is known as the slick bunk approach to feeding dairy cows. The idea comes from the feed lot industry and is called the staying ahead of the cattle approach or limiting feeding.