by Sally Colby
While the ‘team’ concept might sound like something from a sports league, the term also applies to dairies that want to work together for everyone’s good.
Dairy profit teams have been used effectively on dairies of many sizes. Dairies that have formed teams have found that team approach help everyone who is associated with that farm: the veterinarian, lender, nutritionist, agronomist all work together effectively for better profit. Continue reading
by Karl H. Kazaks
ATKINS, VA — Virginia does not have a Gelbvieh association breed sale. Larger breeders can have their own on-farm sales, like Knoll Crest or Little Windy Hills. Smaller breeders can submit cattle to test stations, sell off the farm, or consign to other sales.
Charlie Atkins of Flowing Spring Farm has raised Gelbvieh for over 25 years and has tried all of those methods. Lately, though, he’s decided to market his cattle through two main channels: selling off the farm and at Echo Ridge Angus’s annual fall sale (their Black Friday sale). Continue reading
by Sally Colby
When there’s trouble during a calving, someone on the farm is usually willing and able to don an obstetric sleeve and help that cow safely deliver the calf. But the decision to assist a cow should be a part of careful observation skills and overall good cow sense. Continue reading
by Karl H. Kazaks
STATESVILLE, NC — There’s something about doubling your herd size that makes you reconsider how to manage and handle inputs.
That’s how Jeff Maness decided to take a new approach to reclaiming bedding sand on his dairy. He went from dredging sand from manure pits to using passive settling lanes and a 36-inch McLanahan sand-manure separator to catch the majority of his dairy’s sand before it reaches the pits.
By installing the sand catching system, M & M Dairy (a partnership between Maness and his wife Carolyn) has cut its sand use by 95 percent.
Five years ago, the dairy was buying about five tractor trailer loads of sand a week, when milking 800 cows.
“It was a huge expense,” Maness said. Continue reading
