Pennywise rules
By Jim Paulson, Dairy Extension Educator, University of Minnesota
Pennies per hundredweight trump dollars per cow per year in most years.
What is better for your dairy? Trying to cut expenses by a dollar per cow per year or a nickel per cow per day or a penny per hundredweight? For every hundred cows you milk, you will save $100 for every dollar you cut in production costs per cow. If each of those cows is putting 24,000 pounds of milk in the tank each year, finding one cent per hundredweight in savings will save $240 per 100 cows per year. If you can save $.05 per cow per day in feed costs or other costs, that will add up to $1245 per 100 cows per year. Continue...
Email: jcp@umn.edu
Website: http://www.extension.umn.edu/agriculture/dairy/
Location: 863 30th Ave. S.E. Rochester, MN 55904
Phone: (507) 280-2871
2016 Dairy Beef Short Course & Tour at the Central Plains Dairy Expo
More than 70 dairy beef producers, students,agriculture industry personnel, extension staff and media from Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota attended the I-29 Moo University - Dairy Beef Short Course & Tour on March 29, 2016 during this year’s Central Plains Dairy Expo in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
The program began with a tour of the Tom and Katy VanderWal Dairy Beef operation in Brookings,South Dakota. The VanderWal’s raise and finish out dairy steers in their newly constructed hoop barn. Attendees of the tour learned first-hand the efforts it took to construct this facility as well as permitting,Department of Natural Resources (DNR) regulations, neighbor relations, manure handling, animal husbandry and the dairy beef market from a producer’s prospective. Continue...
Website: Igrow.org/livestock/dairy
Facebook: facebook.com/I29MooUniversity
What Are Lenders Thinking About the US Ag Economy?
By Robert Tigner, Nebraska Extension, Red Willow County
The US agricultural economy has had a tough ride in 2015. Recently the Kansas City Federal Reserve (KCFR) reported the 2015 Net Farm Income (NFI) Index at 55 (2004=100) and the operating loan index at 150 (2004=100). The NFI index is at its lowest and the operating index at its highest since 2004. Those data points reflect ongoing KCFR declining credit conditions. Continue...
Email: Robert.Tigner@unl.edu
Website: redwillowfarmranch.wordpress.com
Location: McCook, NE, United States
Phone: (308) 345.3390
Branding Methods: Understanding Which are Preferred and Why
Branding time elicits different feelings depending on who you talk to. Ask a rancher about branding and you may hear phrases about tradition, family, friends and neighbors, or “It’s a happy time of the year!” However, if you ask someone from the city that did not grow up around cattle, you may hear comments about pain, cruelty, gross, or “That’s awful abuse!” So why the drastic difference in perception of this husbandry practice? How do these different perceptions impact the recommendations that ranchers are suggested to use on their cattle? Continue...
Email: Heidi.Carroll@SDState.edu
Website: iGrow.org/Livestock/Dairy
Location: Brookings, SD, United States
Phone: (605) 688.6623
Ag Employees First Day on the Job vs. Employee Retention
Many employers complain, including those in agriculture, that they can’t keep people around. Statements such as “we just get them trained and they leave” are common. If this statement is all too familiar, you may need to take a look at your “onboarding” program. Many have heard that statement that “first impressions are lasting impressions”, this is also true when it comes to retention of employees. Continue...
Email: Tracey.erickson@sdstate.edu
Website: iGrow.org/Livestock/Dairy
Location: Watertown, SD, United States
Phone: (605) 882.5140
Facebook: Facebook.com/I29MooUniversity
About Us
Website: iGrow.org/Livestock/Dairy
Location: I29 Corridor
Facebook: Facebook.com/I29DairyOutreachConsortium
University of Minnesota Extenstion
Contacts:
Jim Salfer (Extension): salfe001@umn.edu; phone: 320.203.6093
Jim Paulson (Extension): jcp@umn.edu; phone: 507.251.4694
Betty Berning (Extension): bberning@umn.edu; phone: 320.203.6104
Keela Fick (Minnesota Dairy Initiative-SW Region): Keela.Fick@co.pipestone.mn.us; phone: 507.290.0576
South Dakota State University Extension
Contacts:
Tracey Erickson (Extension): Tracey.Erickson@sdstate.edu phone: 605.882.5140
Maristela Rovai (Extension): Maristela.Rovai@sdstate.edu; phone: 605.688.5488
Heidi Carroll (Extension): Heidi.Carroll@sdstate.edu; phone: 605.688.6623
Roger Scheibe (SDDP): SDDairyProducers@gmail.com;
phone: 605.692.1775
Nebraska Extension
Contacts:
Kim Clark (Extension): KimClark@unl.edu; phone: 402.472.6065
Robert Tigner (Extension): Robert.Tigner@unl.edu; phone: 308.345.3390
Paul Kononoff (Extension): PKononoff2@unl.edu;
phone: 402.472.6442
Rod Johnson (NSDA): Rod@NebraskaMilk.org;
phone: 402.261.5482
North Dakota State University Dairy Extension
Contacts:
JW Schroeder (Extension-Emeriti): jw.schroeder@ndsu.edu; phone: 701.231.7663
Amber Boeshans (ND Department of Agriculture): aboeshans@nd.gov; phone: 701.328.1495
Iowa State University Dairy Extension
Contacts:
Ryan Breuer (Extension): rmbreuer@iastate.edu;
phone: 712.737.4230
Leo Timms (Extension): ltimms@iastate.edu;
phone: 515.294.4522
Hugo Ramirez-Ramirez; hramirez@iastate.edu;
phone: 515.294.2160
Sue Ann Claudon (ISDA): sueannc@iowadairy.org;
phone: 515.965.4626
Allied Partners
Midwest Dairy Association: MidwestDairy.com
Minnesota Milk Producers Association: MNMilk.org
Nebraska State Dairy Association: NebraskaMilk.org
North Dakota Department of Agriculture: https://www.nd.gov/ndda/
South Dakota Dairy Producers: SDDairyProducers.org
Minnesota Dairy Initiative-SW Region