Progressive Dairy Podcast

This episode's guest is Austin Allred of Royal Family Farming. Allred talks about how he was forced to address his manure management practices due to legal action that applied retroactively to the dairy location that he now owns. He's using worms to help filter his manure water, and he's cleaned that water enough that he's personally willing to water-ski on his lagoon now. You may have seen the viral YouTube clip of him doing that. In this episode, he also talks about his beef x dairy crossbreeding program. Each beef animal on his Royal Ranch has a carbon footprint score. You'll hear tips for communicating about regenerative agriculture from someone at the forefront of the discussion.

This podcast episode focuses on Drumgoon Dairy, a South Dakota dairy farm that recently began milking with 20 DeLaval VMS V300s. Rodney, Dorothy and their son, David Elliott, share about their family’s relocation from Ireland to the United States and answer questions about their decision to go robotic. This podcast is hosted by Bill Krivanek of Farm Systems, the dairy’s local dealership. DeLaval is a full-service supplier to dairy farmers. DeLaval develops, manufactures and distributes equipment and complete systems for milk production and animal husbandry. Service, sales of a wide range of accessories, knowledge-sharing and consultancy are also key aspects of our operations. This episode is sponsored by DeLaval.

What data does your farm generate? Where is it going? How could it make your farm more profitable? A research group at the University of Wisconsin – Madison aims to answer those questions. Their work is called the Dairy Brain project. In this episode, you’ll hear from one of the researchers involved: Steve Wangan. He is a data scientist at the American Family Insurance Data Science Institute at the University of Wisconsin – Madison. He works with analytics and software development. The overarching goal of the Dairy Brain project is to take research that is done at the university and hook it up with farmers’ data streams through a web interface so they can use it to help them make better decisions for their individual farms. You’ll learn what are the most difficult obstacles to moving data from off the farm and why there is a need to agree to some data standardization for on-farm data entry.

Robotic milking continues growing in popularity, and it’s changing how dairy farmers manage their herds. In this Progressive Dairy podcast, you’ll hear from Stuart Marshall, who specializes in robotic milking systems for GEA. Stuart helps dairy farmers transition to robotic milking and optimizes their robot performance. He focuses on advancing today’s robotic technology to meet the changing demands of dairies. Stuart brings a unique perspective working with farmers from across the U.S. with varying facilities and goals. He shares insights on box robots, robotic rotaries, what the future holds and more! This episode is sponsored by GEA.

“It’s taken care of.” How often is that the response when the next generation asks the former about the plan to transition the dairy operation? In this podcast, Tim Schaefer and Liz Griffith from Encore Consultants cover four key areas dairy farm families and businesses must address for a successful transition, not only of assets, but also of roles within the operation.

As the demand for milking robots continues to rise, robotic milking or automatic milking systems (AMS) has also become increasingly popular in Norway. In this episode of Dairy Talk with Norwegian Red, together with two prominent Norwegian dairy farmers, we discuss how the dairy industry has adapted to the robotic milking transformation and what makes the Norwegian Red genetics fit with the technology. Find out what motivates Norwegian farmers to invest in AMS and how has the progressive technology supported them in achieving and maintaining sustainable farming. This episode is sponsored by Geno.

In today’s podcast, we introduce you to the New Mexico Milk Maid herself, Tara Vander Dussen. Not only is she a key influencer on social media, but she’s also a dairy farmer, and an environmental scientist who works on dairy farm projects throughout the Southwest. Hear how Tara uses her knowledge, expertise and passion to share the message of dairy’s sustainability efforts and impact, as well as some exciting new developments coming soon.

In this episode, the experts from Central Life Sciences discuss ClariFly® Larvicide and the importance of fly control on dairy operations including the importance of a complete IPM program (3:10); identifying flies and their threats (4:59) and an explanation of how a larvicide controls flies (8:14). We then hear from Cameron Dakin (12:00), a third-generation dairy farmer who speaks to benefits he’s experienced while using ClariFly® Larvicide over the past several years. This episode is sponsored by Central Life Sciences.

Do you think zero treatments and zero death loss among your calves is possible? In this episode, you’ll hear from someone who’s done it – for four consecutive years on her farm. Canadian dairy veterinarian and dairy producer Jodi Wallace of Silverstream Holsteins joins the program. She talks about zero-zero calf care and what it takes to make it obtainable and what ultimately broke her farm’s four year zero-zero streak. During this interview, she also explains how her farm used their COVID-19 lockdown time productively. Knowing she is a vet, you would guess that she’s always telling her producer clients to follow label instructions, but she talks about one label she’d actually like to see producers disregard until it gets changed. And by the end of the interview, you’ll be hungry for pancakes as she talks about her farm’s diversification into the maple sap harvesting business.

During a global pandemic, we learned that essential workers are people who provide everyday services and goods that we depend on, like milk. We are back with Tom and Simon, to get their perspective on how dairy producers can find ways to adapt in a tumultuous marketplace. This episode is sponsored by Zoetis.

In this episode of the Progressive Dairy Podcast, hear from Dr. Don Niles of Dairy Dreams LLC, a veterinarian and Wisconsin dairy producer who has traded in needles and lockups for technologies that take control of bovine leukosis virus (BLV) transmission, capture pounds of milk and get more cows pregnant.

“Have you ever wondered how Progressive Dairy got its start?” In this episode, hear from the man who started it all here at Progressive Dairy – Leon Leavitt. While Leon has retired from day-to-day tasks, he still drops by the office every once in a while and participates in Progressive Publishing functions. We hope you enjoy hearing our origin story straight from the mind who created it.

Ken McCarty is a fourth-generation owner of McCarty Family Farms, which owns MVP Dairy LLC in Celina, Ohio with partners VanTilburg Farms. MVP Dairy was recently recognized as a U.S. Dairy Sustainability Award winner. Hear from Ken about their holistic approach and mindset around cow comfort, soil health, worker care and community engagement with 4,400 cows and 4,500 acres of cropland in their care.

We are back at the Real Science Exchange and invite you to pull up a chair and join us to discuss the effects of heat stress on late gestation cows. Tonight’s guests, who have worked together on research in this area, Dr. Geoff Dahl with the University of Florida and Dr. Jimena Laporta with the University of Wisconsin-Madison, join Scott Sorrell and Dr. Clay Zimmerman. This episode is sponsored by Balchem Animal Nutrition and Health.

Hear from two guests in this commemorative podcast. The first guest is Karen Scanlon. She is the executive vice president for environmental stewardship for the Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy. She’ll talk about the purpose of the center’s annual sustainability awards and the process that goes into selecting the winners. This year is the 10th anniversary of the awards program, so she also explains how the awards are evolving and recaps some of the projects that have won in the past. The second guest is Chase Goodrich of Goodrich Family Farm in Salisbury, Vermont. Chase and his sister, Danielle, manage their family farm. It is one of several dairy farmer sustainability award winners this year. The farm has a 1.32-million-gallon anaerobic digester that produces renewable natural gas (RNG) from cow manure and food waste. It is one of the largest anaerobic digesters in the U.S. The digester is a partnership that brings together Goodrich Farm, Vanguard Renewables (developer, owner and operator of the digester), Vermont Gas Systems and Middlebury College, which will purchase much of the RNG produced at the digester.

Today we are going to talk about the past, present, and future of the dairy supply chain and how a powerful cloud-based software tool has connected all players in the industry. Joining us today from Atlantic Canada are Milk Moovement’s Co-Founder and COO Jon King along with AgriBusiness Specialist, Shelly Juurlink. This episode is sponsored by Milk Moovement.

In this Progressive Dairy Podcast, Editor Peggy Coffeen sits down with Dr. Larry Corah, Kansas State professor emeritus and now supply chain consultant for Select Sires. Corah brings his many years of experience working with cattle, feedlots and production systems to the conversation about the future of beef-on-dairy breeding.

Healthy cows are the foundation of any successful dairy, and good health begins well before lactation starts. In this episode, we continue speaking with Steven Landwehr, Annie Vannurden and Rocio Ramirez to discuss the importance of healthy cows and what a little fine-tuning and symptom identification can do for your operation. Plus, we’ll get their take on fresh cow management and the transition cow risk assessment they worked on with Zoetis. This episode is sponsored by Zoetis.

Willow Behrer Farms recently won an innovation award for producing their own on-farm videos to be used for employee training. In this episode, listeners hear from Pete Posnett who is the farm’s herdsman. He’s the one who produces the farm’s videos. And you’ll hear from the farm’s owner – Allen Behrer. Also on this podcast is an introduction to the farm by Emily Barge from the Center for Dairy Excellence. The center is the one that presented the award to the farm. She talks about the center’s own podcast – Cowside Conversations. Learn more about that podcast here.

“Dairy talk with Norwegian Red" podcast is addressing various aspects and discussions around dairy and cattle breeding development and trends. Listen in to learn what Dairy farmers, dairy producers, and subject matter experts in Norway have to say about their work to revolutionize breeding for health and fertility in addition to good productivity and sustainability. Hosted by Kate Stai, Chief Commercial Officer, and Trygve R. Solberg, Product Manager and Technical Advisor for Geno, an innovative breeding organization based in Hamar, Norway, today’s podcast are joined by Olav Østerås, a Special Advisor within Dairy Health and Welfare at TINE, the Norwegian milk processing organization. Olav has held many prestigious positions such as at the Norwegian Veterinary Institution, as Chief Veterinarian of the Norwegian Cattle Health Service, and was also a Professor at the Norwegian School of Veterinarian Science for 16 years. This episode is sponsored by Geno.

Is there a disconnect between ownership, management and employees on your dairy? In this Progressive Dairy Podcast, hear from Bill Eberle, as he provides tips on how to talk so your employees will listen. After spending 17 years as a dairy manager, Eberle brings his people skills to his current role as an account manager with Chr. Hansen.

Dairy life: It’s not for the faint of heart. Success only comes when every member of your operation is running in sync. In this episode, we’re speaking with Annie Vannurden of Silverstreak and Bluestreak dairies and Steven Landwehr and Rocio Ramirez from United Dairies. Listen in as we discuss how every single role on their dairies is important and can make an impact as well as share what antibiotic stewardship means to their dairies. This episode is sponsored by Zoetis.

Editor Walt Cooley interviews Pete Kappelman, the senior vice president of member and government relations for Land O’Lakes. They talk about sustainability and more, specifically about Land O’Lakes’ recent decision to perform on-farm sustainability assessments for all of their membership and what that will look like in practice. Kappelman says that agriculture has been “dragging its feet” a bit in the area of sustainability, but he’s excited the newest generation of dairy farmers – like the one that has taken over his own family farm – sees it as an opportunity.

This episode covers robotic manure scrapers, manure handling efficiency, becoming carbon neutral by 2050 and more with Jeramy Sanford of GEA. This episode is sponsored by GEA.

On this episode of the Progressive Dairy Podcast, Editor Peggy Coffeen sits down with Kelli Retallick, Director of Genetics and Genomic Programs, Angus Genetics, Inc. Kelli recently spoke at the Professional Dairy Producers Annual Business Conference, held in March in Wisconsin, where she informed dairy producers of the collaborative work between the American Angus Association, beef supply chain and dairy genetics industry to create a beef-x-dairy cross that please the feed yard, packers and consumer. In our time with Kelli today, she will help us understand why not just any black bull will do when it comes to selecting genetics for dairy beef crosses.

Professional Dairy Producers of Wisconsin (PDPW) and Progressive Dairy magazine recently partnered to create the Nexus Innovation Awards. Five companies were selected by a panel of dairy producers as winners of the award from among more than a dozen applicants. The companies presented their new innovations live on stage at PDPW’s Business Conference, March 17-18. Editor Walt Cooley presented the awards and moderated their live presentations. This episode contains recorded content from the live event and one-on-one interviews with a representative from each of the winning companies.

Mallory Embree is Co-Founder and Chief Science Officer at Native Microbials, a company focused on improving animal health and nutrition by leveraging the microbiome. The company has invested several years to scientific discovery to understand the complexity of the rumen microbiome, and the critical role it plays for cows. In this episode you’ll learn about the importance of the microbiome, implications for the dairy industry, and how Native Microbials is delivering novel feed additive solutions that can benefit farmers. Mallory is joined by Alfonso Lago, President of DairyExperts. This episode is brought to you by Native Microbials.

In this Progressive Dairy podcast, editor Peggy Coffeen takes a deep dive into in vitro fertilization (IVF) with Boviteq’s Dr. Shantille Kruse. They discuss how some herds are using this reproductive technology to move the needle on genetic progress, while at the same time, controlling heifer inventory and adding value to offspring.

Hillcrest Farms is home to Georgia’s first robotic dairy farm. Hillcrest Farms started in 1941 on the perimeter of Dearing, Georgia. It has continued to be owned and operated by the Rodgers family and is now on its fourth generation, three of which still work on the farm today. In this episode, you’ll have the opportunity to hear from Mark Rodgers about his family’s involvement on the farm. With the future generations in mind and to help with their labor challenges, the family made the decision in 2019 to install five DeLaval VMS V300 robots into their retrofit barn. Their herd currently sits above a 90-pound average milk production, with a positive outlook on growing that number even more. Recently, Hillcrest Farms opened up their farm for agritourism. Mark shares about the agritourism experience on their farm and shares some insight on the future of his farm with robots in this new podcast episode. This episode is brought to you by DeLaval. If you’re interested in learning more about the DeLaval VMS V300 or want to talk with a DeLaval representative, please visit our website at delaval.com.

Dr. Jennifer Walker is a former dairy veterinarian who is now the director of quality and care for Danone North America. She oversees Danone's milk quality and animal welfare programs for the 700 U.S. dairy farms that supply the company’s milk. In short, she says her job is to "make sure the cows are happy, and the milk is awesome."

On this Progressive Dairy Podcast, editor Peggy Coffeen sits down with Amy Penterman from Dutch Dairy in Thorp, Wis. She is a dairy farmer, crop insurance agent, and the newly elected president of the Dairy Business Association. Amy talks about grassroots advocating and lobbying in a virtual space and opportunities to open dialogue with the environmental community.

Wisconsin dairyman Chuck Ripp’s 900-cow farm has had a digester for more than 10 years. In this episode, you’ll hear about their recent switch over to producing renewable natural gas and whether Chuck thinks it will pay off. He’ll also explain the farm’s focus on transition cows and the protocols he uses to limit issues with fresh cows. Since the COVID-19 pandemic started, he’s using a virtual relationship with his nutritionist. He’ll talk about how that’s affected his feeding program. And finally, Chuck shares his best wisdom for younger producers from his years of dairy experience.

In this Progressive Dairy Podcast, Editor Peggy Coffeen talks to Nate Heim, herd manager at Yippee! Farms in Pennsylvania. A self-proclaimed “city slicker,” hear how his childhood job of packing apples served as a training ground for finding efficiencies on the 2,300-cow dairy he’s managed since its startup, and how his efforts are shaving time off of milking shifts to get more turns in the double-20 parlor while maintaining production, excellent cow comfort and a loyal team.

In this podcast, Progressive Dairy Editor Peggy Coffeen sits down with Kristy Pagel from GPS Dairy Consulting LLC to talk about one of the most powerful, yet simple, tools dairy teams can use to boost morale, empower people and take things to the next level in 2021.

Get to know Michigan Milk Producers through one of the organization's award-winning dairies. In this issue, Editor Walt Cooley talks with Tony Jandernoa and Brent Simon. Jandernoa is the District 6 representative for Michigan Milk. As a board member, he works with the show's second guest, Brent Simon. Earlier this year, Simon and his wife, Emily, were named Michigan Milk's young cooperators of the year. The Simons operate a farm with 930 cows and 2,300 acres. Brent is a graduate of the dairy management program at Michigan State University, while Emily has a bachelor’s degree from Davenport University.

In this episode, Editor Peggy Coffeen sits down with dairyman Lloyd Holterman to discuss all things genomics, from the early adoption of genetic technology to developing the cows in the Rosy-Lane Holsteins herd today. Holterman discusses how laser-focused, data-driven genetic selection has enabled him to create a more sustainable cow that that lives longer with fewer health incidents and greater feed efficiency. Learn about his strategy, and hear this dairyman’s thoughts on inbreeding, genetic research and the direction of the industry.

Our guest on today’s podcast is Pauly Paul, dairy management consultant and owner of Complete Management Consulting LLC., a hands-on dairy consulting company that specializes in assisting farms with improving their efficiency and income while decreasing operational expenses.

Aidan Connolly, president of AgriTech Capital, joins Editor Walt Cooley in this episode. This is an exclusive interview and a follow-up to the Global Dairy Tech Startup Spotlight which was held in the first part of October 2020. Connolly played a critical role in pulling the event together. Rewatch the event by going to www.dairystartupspotlight.com. Connolly talks more about dairy tech startups and their role in the industry in the next five years.

Editors and Progressive Dairy podcast co-hosts Walt Cooley and Peggy Coffeen treat this anniversary episode a bit differently. The Progressive Dairy podcast launched one year ago. In this episode, learn more about Walt and Peggy, the interview hosts you hear most often in our podcast episodes.

I’m here today at the Milk Source headquarters in Freedom, Wisconsin, with Jim Ostrom. Jim and his partners John Vosters and Todd Willer co-founded Milk Source in 1994, as the three men united their multi-generational farming heritages to grow what started out as a 30-cow dairy owned by John’s parents in 1965 to what is now multi-site, diversified farming operation. Milk Source operates dairies in Wisconsin, Michigan and Missouri, producing milk that is used to make cheese, butter and other dairy products. In addition, Milk Source also has a Wisconsin calf farm and a heifer-raising facility and dairy goat farm. The operation has received recognition as a leader in improving the environment and the economy, and this year, the partners were named the 2020 Dairy Producers of the Year by World Dairy Expo, an honor that will be officially recognized at the 2021 World Dairy Expo.

Editor-in-chief Walt Cooley and Wisconsin dairyman Derek Orth discuss The Culture Code by Daniel Coyle and how the principles in the book could be applied to dairy farm and employee management. Derek has written before for Progressive Dairy about his voracious “reading,” or rather, listening to books. He says The Culture Code is one of those books he’s re-read or listened to several times.

Valene Lickley and Katharine Lotspeich are the co-hosts of the Millennial Ag podcast. Editor Walt Cooley interviews them as they approach their one-year anniversary of the launch of their podcast. The mantra of their podcast is that no topic is off-limits. This episode lives up to it.

In this episode, we hear from 22-year-old dairy farmer Anna Hinchley. Her desire to return to her family’s dairy in Cambridge, Wisconsin, after graduating prompted her parents to move forward with expanding the herd and upgrading to automated milking. Anna has involved in every step of the barn design process. Hear about the key features of her robot barn here.

In this episode, we talk with dairywoman Melissa Traiser. She is the owner-operator of THF Jerseys, a 45-cow dairy in Somerset, Wisconsin. We talk about how COVID-19 has affected her and her farm. She tells us about an act of kindness from her milk hauler that was specifically meaningful to her and her local dairy community. This episode's sponsor is Cargill Animal Nutrition. Cargill is helping dairy farmers say “thank you” to anyone who has shown them an act of kindness, big or small, through their new distinguished White Heart Award. Winners and nominators will receive a year's worth of delicious dairy!

This episode is with regular Progressive Dairy columnist Tim Moffett. Tim is a dairy-farmer comedian. You can find his humor in every issue of the magazine on the inside back cover. Tim has had some time on his hands due to COVID-19 and its prohibition on large gatherings. Thus, many of his scheduled performances have been canceled. He’s itching to get back on stage. During this episode, Tim talks about his upbringing on the farm and brought a few humorous clips from his live performances. He tells the back stories of those jokes.

Canadian dairyman Ben Loewith milks 450 cows in Ontario, Canada. He’s about 2 two hours west of Buffalo, New York, or just a bit southwest of Toronto between Lake Ontario and Lake Erie. Loewith’s cows are 100-plus-pound producers. Average isn’t something he’s interested in; the highest achievable results are more fascinating to him. Loewith likes to learn about protocols and processes that produce high performance in dairy cows more so than specific cow pedigrees. He uses a “Good Book,” as he calls it, to help him understand how week-to-week changes affect the results he sees on his farm.

Dairy Management Inc. CEO Tom Gallagher joins Editor Walt Cooley for a discussion about how the dairy check-off has navigated the COVID-19 pandemic. Gallagher talks about where dairy promotion may go in the future, as well as the changing landscape for fluid milk processing and promotion.

This episode’s guest is Dr. Tom Earleywine. He is the Milk Replacer Director of Nutritional Services at Land O'Lakes. He joins Progressive Dairy Editor Walt Cooley to talk about weaning and how it’s changed over the last several years.

Vir-Clar Farms near Fond du Lac, Wisconsin has elevated the accuracy of feed storage, mixing and delivery with an innovative feed center featuring an automated kitchen and on-site grain storage that saves them time and money. The 2,000-cow dairy is owned by Gary and Rose Boyke, along with their son J.R. Boyke and daughter and son-in-law, Katie and Grant Grinstead. We’re here at Vir-Clar today, sitting down in the feed center office with Grant. It was actually Grant’s experience in the pork industry that brought to the table concepts of efficiency, automation and accuracy that make this system work on their dairy. Let’s hear from this self-proclaimed “pig guy” about how the automated feed center came to be, and how it’s working out at Vir-Clar Farms.

When prepartum cows are fed a negative DCAD diet, inducing a mild compensated metabolic acidosis, calcium status is improved, resulting in healthier, more productive cows. Recently, some nutritionist have been feeding even lower-DCAD diets (more anions) to acidify cows more deeply than the majority of published research. At these higher, more extreme levels of acidification, cows may walk a fine line between being OK and being overwhelmed by uncompensated metabolic acidosis. Progressive Dairy Editor Audrey Schmitz spoke with Tim Brown to hear more about DCAD myths and the optimum level for negative DCAD diets.