Dairy farmers must understand their farm environment

Jim Dickrell, the editor of the Dairy Herd Management said: “It is clear that as we roll further into 2016, there will be no shortages of opportunities to finetune our business acumen”. He said the coming year will be a challenging one. “Lenders tell me that here in the Midwest, dairy farmers could well see average losses of $2 to 2,50/cwt over the next six months. In the West, those losses could be even greater.” Jim added that the key to surviving and thriving in today’s dairy industry is to understand as best you can the environment in which you farm. “Control what you can, and try not to worry about the things you can’t,” he said. According to Jim, one of the few options left is to produce the same amount of milk more efficiently. “That means finetuning rations to get the most milk from each pound of feed. It means meticulous transition cow management to ensure cows calve without problems and then navigate the first 60 days of lactation trouble free. It also means culling troubled cows and low performers sooner,” he explained. To read more about this, click HERE.