Progressive Dairy Podcast

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 antibiot...

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...

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 a...

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 a...

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, implica...

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 t...

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 rel...

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...

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...

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 f...

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...

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 i...

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 da...

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...