Dr. Whitney Knauer of the University of Minnesota joins us and delves into what is currently known about pair housing, its benefits to the calf when compared to individual housing and the current best practices for implementing this pre-weaning housing strategy. We also discuss the benefits of pair housing in terms of labor, growth, health and social behavior.

Smart dairy farming systems generate a large amount of data that can help farmers monitor barn environmental conditions, milk production, feeding, and reproduction cycles of cows. There is also growing interest in the individual-level monitoring of cow behavior in group housed cattle.

Dr. Borbala Foris of the University of British Columbia’s Animal Welfare Program chats with us on some of the latest research on promising new data streams such as social and grooming behavior that can provide insights into the experiences of individual cows living in a herd and how this impacts their welfare and productivity.

Join VES-Artex’s Key Account Manager, Joel Hornby, to learn tangible tips for building a better barn and solutions for avoiding ventilation KPI killers. Sometimes the key to success is knowing what not to do and then determining the best solution. In providing an animal-centered environment for your dairy, specific considerations need to be given to the effects of weather, building structure and facility layout and of course, the cows themselves. Whether you are building a new facility or retrofitting an existing facility, plan to begin with the end in mind and do it the right way the first time.

Lameness and lack of a proper hoof care program are issues many modern dairy farms face around the world. The losses associated with lameness directly impact the producer’s bottom line.

Karl Burgi of SaveCows Network joins us to discuss what the world’s top farms are doing to combat lameness including how to treat and prevent the top three hoof lesions, a programmed hoof trimming schedule for success, the modern hoof trimming method to achieve optimal results and hoof trimming errors to avoid. In addition, controlling digital dermatitis and hoof bath management will be discussed before discovering how to adapt a #NoLamenessTolerance policy

Automated technologies have been developed and increasingly adopted within the dairy industry to not only reduce human labor requirements, but also to increase the accuracy and precision of application of various management tasks. Various forms of feeding technologies are currently available to increase our precision in feeding strategies of dairy cows. At a herd-level, this includes automated feed preparation and delivery. While, at the animal level, this includes individualized feeding opportunities, currently primarily through automated milking in lactating cows. Dr. Trevor DeVries of the University of Guelph joins us to discuss the automations  currently available to increase our precision in feeding strategies and some of the associated challenges.

‘Dr. Paul Fricke of the University of Wisconsin, Madison joins us on the Dairy Intelligent podcast to discuss the timely topic of utilizing sexed semen in dairy herds. We dive into the history of sexed semen, its effect on a booming heifer population, technologies and tools available to help with reproduction rates and more. Additionally, Dr. Fricke discusses the advances made in semen sexing technology and the future of sexed semen.

Sustainability goals are fast emerging from industries, companies, and individuals, with varying language and science guiding these goals. Dr. Erin Cortus of the University of Minnesota joins us on the podcast to discuss how we can increase our comfort and confidence in conversations about sustainability, the Net Zero Initiative and general environmental stewardship as it relates to dairy production – both within and external to the dairy industry.

Kewaunee county in Wisconsin has the second largest number of cows, per acre, of all the counties in the eastern US. It also has a geologic base of fracture bedrock, which makes it highly susceptible to well contamination events. That, along with being located immediately adjacent to the outdoor tourism center of Wisconsin, has led to public conflict and rancor. Dr. Don Niles, Dairy Operations Manager for Pagel’s Family Businesses and Peninsula Pride Farms joins us to discuss the Kewaunee/Door County farming community’s resolution to own their own story and establish greater trust and cohabitation between the agricultural and non-agricultural communities.

Dr. Huw McConochie of Zinpro joins us for a conversation on hoof health. The cow evolved to occupy an environment very different to the one which we provide her. This environment challenges her physiology. Although big improvements have been made to enhance the cow’s environment, there are still improvements that can be made on most dairies to alleviate many of these challenges without impacting the efficiency of work routines. In fact, an environment that has a positive effect of health and welfare can even enhance operational efficiency. Problem cows often consume extra resources in terms of employee time and the occupation of a barn slot that would. Through changes to design and management we can meet some important sustainability goals – Barn slots occupied with healthy, productive and long-lived cows.

Dan Vander Heiden of DeLaval joins us to explore modern day milking system technology and automation and its potential to address present day challenges facing dairymen in the harvest of milk. Together, we review the technologies, primarily rotaries and robots, as they exist today, but will also preview potential labor saving opportunities that may be adaptable to these technologies. Additionally, Dan covered different farm management considerations, farm vision/mission & family dynamics and how they may lend themselves to the best technology adaptation.

The back of the barn is where your herd eats, lies, drinks, walks and lives the majority of their lives – make sure it’s as comfortable as possible! Dr. Mike Wolf, consulting veterinarian for VES-Artex, walks us through the freestall barn and provides tangible suggestions to improve the comfort of your cows for both the short and long term.

An environmental consultant is not always a dairy farmers’ favorite person to deal with. With more and more environmental changes and requirements, many view these changes as more of a cost output with no ROI. Tara Vander Dussen of Elevate Ag is working to bridge that gap as she’s both a dairy farmer and an environmental scientist. She sits down to chat with us about how we can all work better together as we continue to produce food for future generations as efficiently as possible while protecting our resources.

A new frontier is here! Terry Canning, CEO and Co-founder of CattleEye will discuss how far we can go with machine vision and if it could eventually become a complete replacement for wearable animal health precision solutions. He will also delve into why cows may be hiding something but AI can spot it.

VES-Artex expert, Charlie Hoffman, will explore how you can use climate and operational data to fine-tune your heat abatement strategy. Our goal? To help you prevent the costly side effects of heat stress before they affect your bottom line.

Bringing cows to the parlor as clean and as relaxed as possible is fundamental for improving or maintaining excellent udder health. “What do you see” when walking a dairy facility that can impact the overall milk quality and how to manage around these issues? Dr. David Reid of Rocky Ridge Consulting, LLC goes over some basic dairy stockmanship and cow handling skills that can significantly improve cow cleanliness when cows enter the parlor.