Markets & Management

In general, the largest expense on a dairy operation is by far the feed cost. Maybe a grazing herd’s feed costs are lower, but in the Northeast, cows cannot graze year-round and feed cost increases  in the winter with grasses dormant and perhaps covered by snow. Unfortunately, commodity prices began to rise last fall and continue to trend up. The Center for Dairy Excellence holds a  “Protecting Your Profits” webinar the fourth Wednesday of each month that I host. Dr. Jud Heinrichs, Professor of Dairy Nutrition at Penn State University, joined me for the June “Protecting  Your Profits” webinar to talk about strategies dairy producers can use to manage high feed costs. In the next few paragraphs, I will highlight three of the points Dr. Heinrichs made to help you start thinking about what you can do to implement some of his recommendations during this and future high feed commodities, low milk price markets. Read More