Lower costs and better grazing contributing to improved profitability By Jon Bansen  Monmouth, Oregon—Many years ago I heard the statement that it takes 20 years to become a good grazier. So as we approached 20 years of intensively managed rotational grazing, the running joke around our farm was that I’m almost a good grazier. I [...]

In Europe, buying raw milk can be as simple as putting some money in a vending machine and filling a bottle. “In all of Europe you will find some form of milk machine,” said Sylvia Onusic, a nutritionist and food writer. The phenomenon started in Switzerland, and each European country establishes its own rules regarding [...]

Jim Gardiner adds molasses, but no grain, to great forage in making 16,000 lbs./cow Otselic, New York — Talk to Jim Gardiner for any length of time, and you’ll realize he is turning conventional dairy feeding wisdom almost completely on its well-established head. Jim says the ultra-fast breakdown of molasses in a cow’s rumen is [...]

Mechanicsville, Iowa— With more than 400 cows to milk and not a lot of labor on hand, Lee Kurtenbach likes things simple, efficient, effective and cheap. That’s why he’s using wire stock panels covered with tarps to house some 90 separate groups of young dairy calves, five to a group. Lee calves seasonally starting in [...]

Hudsons learned first, purchased later Dublin, Virginia—When George and Julie Hudson took the Hoard’s Dairyman dairy knowledge test not too long ago, they both failed. Maybe that’s because milking cows is their means to an end, rather than the be-all, end-all of their existence. “We’re not dairy people,” admits George, who actually did grow up [...]

Can OAD and no grain combine to create wealth and happiness? Chambersburg, Pennsylvania—Let’s talk about radical change and alternative dairy economics. A dozen years ago, Cliff Hawbaker was milking cows three times a day, housing them in freestalls, earning and burning a lot of cash, and just starting to think about getting his cows out [...]