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Improving Dairy Herd Management

Today’s dairy farmers have a lot on their minds: the slower economy has reduced the demand for milk and decreased its price, while at the same time the costs of feed and fuel are up. Operating a profitable dairy takes strong management skills – something Virginia Cooperative Extension’s Improving Dairy Herd Management program is helping farmers focus on.

The effort is funded through the Virginia State Dairymen’s Association and aims to help farmers improve their reproductive programs. “We found that the No. 1 production concern of dairy farmers we surveyed was reproduction,” says Beverly Cox, agriculture and natural resources Extension agent in Franklin County. “This program was designed to help improve long-term farm profits by increasing the reproductive efficiency of cows.”

According to John Currin, Extension specialist in the Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine, “Farming is big business and dairy farms are no exception. We are trying to increase producers’ awareness of how profitability can increase with better reproductive management. And, we’re hoping that by demonstrating these techniques on local farms, other producers will be able to see the results firsthand.”

Extension agents Chase Scott in Wythe County, John Welsh in Rockingham County, and Cox deliver the program to dairy farms by facilitating meetings of an individual farm’s entire management team. They bring together the owners, managers, and their veterinarian and provide a structure that helps the group look for weak spots in their reproductive program. The management team then sets goals and benchmarks for what they want to achieve.
"We’re not teaching any new science,” says Scott. “What we’re doing is making sure that they are communicating effectively with each other, and that they are using the data and techniques they already have to their best advantage.”