Today marks Earth Day, and Twitter is filled with conversation about how America’s producers were the first members of the “green revolution.”
Here are a few fun facts about sustainability advancements that have taken place in agriculture:
Since 1944, the dairy industry has reduced its carbon footprint by 63% while increasing milk production by 59%.
Over 20 years, the energy used per bushel of corn produced has decreased by 37%.
Modern farming techniques have led to a significant decrease in soil erosion. Low-till farming reduced soil erosion by 65% and no-till farming cut erosion by as much as 98%.
One of our favorite additions to the agriculture conversation on Earth Day today was Will Gilmer’s video on his blog. Will “agvocates” for agriculture every day, and he did a wonderful job today sharing the story behind what dairy producers do to celebrate Earth Day, every day.
For more information on sustainable agriculture, click here.
AgriNews featured Lely robotic milking family, the Suhrs, today. Below is an excerpt from the feature:
KASSON, Minn. - Tina Suhr opened her laptop at a meeting "to milk the cows."
She noted which cows hadn't been milked in 14 hours, picked up her cell phone and called the neighbor who was watching the herd of Holsteins she owns with her husband, Doug. She told him which cows needed to be found and chased into the robotic milker.
Doug and Tina Suhr installed two Lely Astronaut A3 robotic milkers on their Dodge County dairy farm in September 2008. For the first three weeks, they were in the barn 24/7 chasing cows into the robotic milker. Once trained, the cows pretty much go into the robotic milker on their own, Tina said. ....
Robotic milkers have given them flexibility. Instead of spending 10 hours a day in the barn milking, they spend 40 minutes tending to barn chores. They are able to travel with daughter Gabrielle, 10, a hockey goalie, and see daughter Sierra, 14, a golfer, in action. They do the calve chores whenever they fit into their schedule. ...
"The flexibility is just huge," Tina said. "I wish we would have put it (the robotic milker) in years and years ago."
Each year, the National Milk Producers Federation(NMPF) awards four to five scholarships to outstanding graduate students (enrolled in masters or Ph.D. programs) who are actively pursuing dairy-related fields of research that are of immediate interest to NMPF member cooperatives.
Graduate students pursuing research of direct benefit to milk marketing cooperatives and dairy cooperatives are encouraged to submit an application.
Recommended fields of study include but are not limited to agriculture, communications and journalism, animal health, economics, environmental science, food safety, genetics, herd management, marketing and price analysis, nutrition, and product development.
Applications are due no later than Monday, April 26. For an application, or for more information, visit the NMPF website or call the NMPF office at (703) 243-6111.
The April issue of Dairy Herd Management included an article by Mary Kraft, who dairies with her husband near Fort Morgan, Colorado. Kraft provided dairy producers tips to increase profitability on their farm.
1.Review vaccination protocols. Kraft said on their farm, a veterinarian suggested a vaccination be given at the pregnancy palpitation. They later learned that vaccination was added to, rather than replaced, a vaccination a month earlier, thus, they were spending more on vaccines than necessary.
2.Combination vaccines. New generation vaccines incorporate more protections in a single injection, and while the individual dose costs more, it’s less than the cost of two separate injections.
3.Injection compliance. Be sure that what’s in the syringe is going where it’s supposed to (e.g. Kraft said they found some recombinant bovine somatotropin was still in the syringe or “supplementing the concrete”). If it’s not getting where you want, it’s not increasing milk production, or the money in your wallet.
4.Milking routine. The Krafts discovered a significant difference in milking routines and milk production between crews, and found that during one shift, the cows never had a chance to let down their milk. They spent a significant amount of time focusing on milking routines so the crews ― and the production ― became more consistent.
5.Electronic ID. While the cost of electronic ID is tough at first, long term, it reduces labor, adds accuracy to herd reports, and cuts out data entry time in the office.
6.Track milk weights. Kraft said they collect milk weights daily (through their Electronic ID system). She said low-producing cows can be found quickly with simple reports for milk production deviation, and can then be treated, sold, or dried-off more quickly, resulting in feed and medicine savings.
7.Employee training. Hard times are the most important times to ensure you’re communicating with your crew and helping them to understand company goals and processes.
What practices have you implemented on your farm that improved your bottom line?
Dairy Star recently ran a cover story on the Roers family in Garfield, Minnesota. To reach their goal of owning a dairy with their oldest son Mike, the Roers made a switch to robotic milking. Below is an excerpt from the feature.
Garfield, Minn. - When Garfield, Minn., dairy producers Kevin and Ellen Roers purchased a farmsite near their own so their oldest son, Mike, could begin dairying in 2004, their long-term goal was to one day combine their herds and dairy together. But when the prices crashed last year, that option didn't look very promising. In fact, Kevin tried talking his son out of dairying.
"When the milk prices were so low, I told Mike to go get a real job and he could still run the land," Kevin said. "But he wanted to milk cows."
Today, the Roerses' goal has become reality. On March 23, 2010, father and son combined their herds and began milking together in a brand new freestall facility with two (Lely Astronaut) robotic milkers.
"Mike wanted to stay in dairying," Kevin said. "This was an investment for the future."
The March 25 issue of AgriView included an article highlighting a recent presentation given to the Professional Dairy Producers of Wisconsin by David Kohl, professor emeritus of agricultural and applied economics at Virginia Polytechnic University.
Kohl said the agricultural business environment is going to change greatly in the next 15 years, and those producers who are optimistic about dairying will have a better future. By 2025, 70 percent of farmland in North America is going to change hands. Twenty-five percent of that land currently belongs to people who don’t have a next generation lined up to take it over, thus, providing opportunity for younger producers to expand their operations, or for new farmers to enter the market.
Kohl said producers will also need to be prepared to deal with the demands of specialty interest groups, saying agriculture is under global attack. He mentioned that 83 percent of people in the United States “have no relationship to agriculture.” This means in more cases than not, they don’t have a true understanding of modern agriculture.
Finally, Kohl urged producers to strike a balance between work and non-business activities. He said increasingly, producers are recognizing the value of such a balance with fewer people never missing a milking.
Lely USA is a company committed to helping dairy farmers enrich their professional and family lives through innovative, robotic automation. We firmly believe such technology is a direct way to help dairy farmers reduce time-consuming, laborious tasks and increase time available for higher-level management duties and more family life. We want dairymen to be able to live life!
