Let’s face it, if you’re growing anything in the ground, you need to start with good soil. Nutrient-rich, water-holding, aerated soil. It’s the key to a good flower bed, vegetable patch, or even wildlife food plot. But like most things in life, the soil doesn’t speak to you and say,
Walk on to almost any dairy farm today and you are likely to find more than one language being spoken. With a diverse workforce, communication is important but is often difficult when there is a language barrier. It can be a struggle to ensure that protocols and messages are being
Dairy farming is a profession with various avenues for career opportunities. While most people think dairy farmers, are well, dairy farmers, the industry relies on more than just a farm owner. It takes a literal village to care for cows. On larger modern farms, there could be a herd manager,
There are many organizations that offer farms a variety of different services, but it’s the people actually providing the service that really make the difference. As a service organization, Dairy One prides itself on its people. They often come from agricultural backgrounds themselves and have an appreciation and respect for
Modern management tools for today’s dairy operation Dairy One is excited to announce a new partnership with two software systems – BoviSync and Feedlync! These technology tools, supported by the outstanding Dairy One Integrated Farming Solutions team will help bring farms to the next level of herd and feed
Here in the Northeast, winter has its own list of chores that need to be done to prepare for the cold and the snowfall. Amid winterizing barns either by testing curtains or checking for possible frozen pipe areas, there are some items on the To-Do list that Dairy One can
As fertility costs continue to rise, so too does the need to maximize efficiency of inputs. Carefully managing inputs becomes a topic of concern when costs are high. However, maximizing the return inputs provide should always be a focus of your cropping program. This not only helps manage expenses when
The success of your planting season starts in a few short months, and any errors that are made during planting have the potential to impact final yields this fall. Tuning up your planter before planting begins will help maximum yield and profitability, while also minimizing singulation and emergence issues. We
Analysis can only be as good as the sample that was submitted. For the most accurate results, every effort should be made to ensure that the sample truly reflects and characterizes the material to be analyzed. There are a few things to keep in mind when collecting the optimal sample
It is a great time of year to re-visit some basic feeding tools. Our Dairy One team shares some of their tips and insights on which services they think will have the biggest impact on your fall feed management. Forage Analysis To properly manage your feed program it’s essential to
Mike Reuter, Director of Analytical Services Mike Reuter has been a part of the Dairy One Forage Lab team for the last 34 years. As director of analytical services for the forage and soils labs, his primary role is providing leadership and oversight to those teams. An important part of
By Taylor Gilbert, Marketing and Communications Intern As a recent Cornell graduate of the Animal Science Department with a dairy management concentration, one of the many things ingrained in us as students early on is the power of internships. Find out what you like, more importantly, find out what you
The first step in getting timely sample results is a timely arrival of samples to the lab. Recent USPS delays have slowed the submission process of some samples. While this does not affect the time it takes to analyze samples once they arrive, it does delay the start of that
For most herds, individual cow data is the foundation of cow management. DHI testing has been around for a long time. Like many service providers it has evolved to accommodate the changing needs of customers. If one of the following obstacles have kept you from testing, call us. It may
Congratulations to our outstanding Quality Milk Award recipients! Each year, we are pleased to recognize those members whose herds have maintained a rolling herd average somatic cell count of 175,000 or less in the previous calendar year.
While we have begun to see some improvement in milk prices, there are still some farms that are being asked to maintain a lower level of production than they are used to. Many industry leaders have cautioned the importance of balanced production when it comes to sustaining an ideal milk
In these challenging times, many farms are being asked to reduce their production. A complete picture of production helps you make informed decisions about feeding, breeding, early dry off, and culling. When adjusting to meet new market conditions, consider the following goals:• Maximize components while lowering milk volume• Improve milk
The health of the environment and climate affects few industries as directly as agriculture. From soil health to major weather events, the livelihood of farmers depends on mother nature. While we can’t control the weather, there are many things farmers are doing to address the issue of sustainability. We sat
Last week I had the pleasure of traveling to Pennsylvania to visit two of our board members and their farms. Bill Itle of Vale Woods Farms, joined the Pennsylvania DHIA Board of Directors in 1986 and became a Dairy One board member when Pennsylvania DHIA joined Dairy One in 2001.
Earlier this fall, one of our Agricultural Consulting Services (ACS) planners, was asked to put together some information for state legislators describing the value of farming in the northeast and the regulatory requirements that must be met to do so. This has great information for consumers unfamiliar with farming in
Dr. Chris Dutton, VMD Since rolling out our new MUN report earlier this summer, we’ve had some questions on how the information provided can be applied to pasture based or grazing herds. Dr. Chris Dutton, a member of Integrated Farming Solutions Support Team, was one of the team members involved
At the beginning of September, Dairy One employees from our laboratories and Ithaca office visited Sunnyside Farms in Scipio Center, NY to see Dairy One services in action. Sunnyside is a customer of Dairy One on many levels, using our cameras, networks, software support, and DHI testing services. They are
If you haven’t yet made it to the Great New York State Fair this year, be sure to put the Dairy Cow Birthing Center on your list of exhibits to visit. If you’ve already made your trip to the fair and didn’t fit the Dairy Birthing Center in, there’s still
The transportation and courier system covers about 14 states and is comprised of 25-30 couriers who drive more than 160,000 miles per month. This is the method by which the majority of Dairy One DHIA samples and bulk tank producer payment samples end up at the Dairy One Milk Laboratory
Near Infrared Reflectance spectroscopy, or NIR, is an effective and efficient method of analysis, used most commonly in the agricultural and pharmaceutical industries. In the pharmaceutical world, NIR is used as more of a quality assurance method while in agriculture it is used to analyze the nutrients present in feed
Dairy farmers are paid for their milk based on volume and quality, which is measured by fat, protein, somatic cell count (SCC), and bacteria presence. When the milk is picked up by the milk truck, a sample is taken from the farm’s bulk tank. These samples are then sent to
Nestled in the back corner of the building there is a little office where any samples from hay and corn silage to eels and banana trees are entered into the Dairy One Laboratory System to begin their nutrient analysis journey. This is home to our Forage Lab Customer Support group,
When the Dairy One center in Ithaca officially comes to life at 8 am every morning, Jennifer (pictured right) and Jyll (pictured left) assume their respective positions as Receptionist and Administrative Support/Graph Design. They take their places at the front desk, greeting anyone who walks through the front door and
Agricultural Consulting Services, or ACS, is the crop consulting organization at Dairy One. ACS offices can also be found in Henrietta, NY. While they may not appear to fall directly under the Dairy One umbrella at first glance, ACS is a crucial piece of the Dairy One puzzle. Everything on
Appropriately named, our Integrated Farming Solutions (IFS) group works to provide farms with a variety of technological resources to help manage and increase the overall efficiency of data use on your farm. The IFS group offers everything from identification tags to herd management software to on-farm camera installations. This dynamic
One of the best parts of my role at Dairy One is having the opportunity to work with a variety of different business units. This requires committing a large amount of time to gaining a better understanding of how all the different pieces of the Dairy One puzzle fit together.
My name is Molly Gildea and I am the new Assistant Manager of Marketing and Communications at Dairy One. I grew up in Southern New Hampshire and developed the horse crazy bug at a young age. I began riding at the age of 9 and spent every moment from that
