Be a Beauty Queen Instead of a Scream Queen
To me, data can be a beautiful thing. Yes, I am talking about all those numbers that are generated every minute, or even second, that tell the story of a dairy farm. When not maintained though, data can be more like a horror movie. You know the ones where only the monster makes it out alive. I know data isn’t always a straight line, but I also know that constant zig zags in dairy data can be frightening. There are so many data collecting programs on dairies, it can be overwhelming to think about and manage all the data being collected, much less know where to start when looking at it…
What’s Your Number?
Have you ever sat down at your computer, wanting to look for ways to improve the dairy or thought that the cows had been off a little this week only to be overwhelmed with data that, at times, seems to even contradict itself? If you have then you’re not alone. Many managers face this challenge and with the constantly improving technology it is easy to feel buried by all the new information. So, how do we resolve this issue?
Using Technology to Streamline Labor
Often it is difficult to truly measure the return on investment of a herd monitoring system. Likely, everyone is aware of the savings on hormone injections and the ability to get cows pregnant quickly when they’re ready. These are just one cost benefit. In the last year I had a farm put in a herd monitoring system and noticed that once we started getting used to the system we had to seriously re-evaluate our labor force and day to day tasks.
Reviewing the Good, Bad, and the Ugly in 2022
Throughout the year I talked about innovation, technology and data. I thought I would wrap up my blog series by reflecting on previous blogs as there were some important points that should be considered for year-end discussions when reviewing the good, bad and the ugly. What major bottlenecks were present that led to lost profits? What were those that led to profits?
Turning Good Data into GREAT Data
Data can be powerful, but it can also lead you down paths that can eat up a lot of time and leave you confused and/or frustrated. We have all seen those mislabeled health events in herd management software or inaccurate pen counts in feeding software. There is nothing worse than spending a bunch of time on something that is not an issue. On the other hand, it may lead to a discovery…