Progressive Dairy Podcast

Calves are the future of our herd. Health and performance play a significant role in calf growth and development. And, ultimately, how well they start paying us back when they enter the milking herd. But raising calves isn’t always easy and they require special care and attention to detail.  In this episode, Taylor Wolfe, territory sales representative with DBC Ag Products, shares how we can navig...

This episode of the Progressive Dairy Podcast includes a recap of the recent ground-breaking work that Editor Walt Cooley has done. He has collaborated with the IFCN Dairy Network to create the first-ever dairy farm tech poster. That poster is a collection of worldwide companies who are developing or deploying technology on dairy farms throughout the globe. Download a PDF of the poster here . Walt...

In this episode of the Progressive Dairy Podcast , host Jenn Coyne visits with Justin Malone of Minnesota. Malone is an organic dairy producer who helped spearhead the acquisition of Hastings Creamery as a way to create a market for organic dairy products while sustaining family businesses for future generations. Not only has Malone played an integral role in developing this market, he and a small...

In this episode of the Progressive Dairy Podcast , host Kimmi Devaney is joined by Jenna Muller and Mary Campbell from the California Ag Mediation Program to discuss a resource that can help you resolve some of the tense situations and difficult conversations that inevitably come up while managing a business, especially one with your family. Mediation can assist with transitioning the farm from on...

In this episode of the Progressive Dairy Podcast , host Jenn Coyne visits with Evan Barton of South Fork Dairy Farm in Newark, Ohio. Barton is a first-generation dairy farmer who signed a deal with Clean Energy Fuel to use the manure that his cows produce to create renewable natural gas. The amount of clean fuel produced allows about 52 Amazon trucks to fill up at the fuel station each day as an a...

In this episode, host Kimmi Devaney talks with Derrick Josi, who is an Oregon dairy farmer and author that has built an online presence of 800,000 followers on Facebook and recently moved cows into new facilities on the farm. Kimmi and Derrick discuss what he did differently with the new facilities, how and why he started advocating online, why he wrote a book and much more. Read more about his bo...

Do you wonder about the impact of your dairy checkoff investment? Join farmer hosts in conversations about how local and national checkoff works together to build dairy sales and trust in today’s changing marketplace. Episode 19 - What Happened With Dairy Promotion In 2022? Hear from Pennsylvania dairy farmer and Dairy Management Inc. Chair Marilyn Hershey and Missouri dairy farmer and National Da...

In this episode, Progressive Dairy Podcast co-hosts Kimmi Devaney, Walt Cooley and Jenn Coyne discuss some of their favorite articles and podcast guests from 2022, along with what they are most looking forward to in 2023 at Progressive Dairy . Additionally, get to know your co-hosts better during a special co-host version of the rapid-fire questions.  Reach out to any of our co-hosts with comments...

The future of dairy farming is already here. In this episode, Rudy Ebbekink, marketing and communications manager for Nedap, discusses what technology is on the horizon to improve the life of cows, farmers and farm families for many years to come. This episode is sponsored by Nedap . Nedap is the global leader in farming automation using individual animal identification. For more than 40 years, Ne...

In this episode, you’ll hear from Dr. Robert Hagevoort from New Mexico State University and Dr. Mike Tomaszewski from Texas A&M about the U.S. Dairy Education and Training Consortium, which is a program for college dairy students that pairs practical, on-farm experience with in-the-classroom learning from some of the nation’s best dairy professors. Learn more about the program and find an appl...

Dr. Alfonso Lago, President and Chief Science Officer at the contract research organization, DairyExperts (Tulare, CA), summarizes the results of a trial he conducted on behalf of Native Microbials. The 40-week week study tested the effect of two microbial products consisting of microorganisms sourced from the rumen on the production of Holstein dairy cows. The study found that microbial feed supp...

In this episode of the Progressive Dairy Podcast , host Jenn Coyne visits with Jake Peissig of JTP Farms. Peissig and his lean workforce strive for superior milk quality and cow care with a strategic approach to mastitis treatment and dry cow therapy. This Wisconsin dairy producer was recently recognized as the inaugural Dairy First award recipient by Boehringer Ingelheim, celebrating Peissig’s co...

On this episode of The Dairy Dive we’re joined by someone smarter than us, much smarter. Sara Kvidera, of Elanco, joins the show as we dive deep into the world of animal health. Sara does a fantastic job of explaining some complicated topics in a way that even Scott and Andrew can understand! This episode is sponsored by Masters Choice . Welcome to The Dairy Dive, a newly reformatted podcast (form...

Editor Walt Cooley visits with Progressive Dairy contributor Andy “Caygeon” Junkin during World Dairy Expo about working with family and succession planning. This three-part episode discusses how to goal set for success, how the next generation should work with their elders on the farm, and how to set a farm on the right path for succession. Junkins’s niche is helping stubborn farmers work better...

Dairy farmers rely on data to make timely management decisions to optimize individual cow, herd, employee and farm success. In this episode, Matt Heisner, dairy product specialist for Nedap, introduces the Nedap SmartFlow Milk Meter and describes how it can accurately measure milk yield and flow rate in your milking system. This episode is sponsored by Nedap. Nedap develops technology for life. Te...

In this episode of the Progressive Dairy Podcast , host Kimmi Devaney visits with author and well-known speaker Michele Payn about stress – what it is, how it manifests, how it impacts our farms, and most importantly, what we can do about it. Michele is passionate about agriculture and has connected with a multitude of audiences about utilizing science to connect people across the food plate, in a...

In this episode, you’ll hear from Wisconsin dairy farmer Mack Drees of Drees Dairy Farm. Mack is the “cow guy” on his family dairy. When he came home from college, the dairy needed to expand but didn’t want to have to manage more people. They decided to milk with robots in their new expansion. Mack talks about whether he thinks it’s better to bite off a whole bunch of technology at once when going...

In this episode of the Progressive Dairy Podcast , host Kimmi Devaney talks with Davon Cook about how peer groups and advisory boards can improve your farm by bringing additional perspective to your management decisions. Here’s a breakdown of the episode: Davon tells us how she helps dairy producers with their businesses. [~1:08] What trends have you seen with the farms you’ve worked with regardin...

What do health care and dairy have in common? Both are using data and technological advancements to provide better care. In this episode, Taliah Danzinger, VAS manager of education and training, dives into parallels between industries, how we can make better use of data and what the future of dairy data looks like. In her role, Taliah performs dairy herd data evaluation and educates producers, ind...

In this episode of the Progressive Dairy podcast, host Kimmi Devaney talks with fourth-generation Washington dairy farmer Jack Mallonee about managing an automated milking system in a pasture-based system, opportunities available for young people interested in getting involved in the dairy industry, the ways automation has changed the way they manage the farm, facility upgrades and what they are d...

More and more dairy farmers are thinking about switching to robotic milking as new technology provides better options to manage labor, production and milk quality. In this episode, Matt Roberts, director of milking equipment sales for GEA, shares considerations for choosing the right robot type, real-world performance results and how to evaluate robotic milking ROI. Matt has extensive experience w...

In this episode of the Progressive Dairy podcast, host Kimmi Devaney visits with Washington dairy farmer Krista Stauffer about her journey in sharing her story online, the challenges of starting a dairy farm in 2009, how advocacy impacts mental health, what she’s learned about managing employees, how Washington’s agriculture overtime law has affected their farm and more. Here is the breakdown of t...

Dr. Jim Drackley, Professor of Animal Sciences at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, summarizes the results of a trial he conducted on behalf of Native Microbials. The 20-week week study tested the effect of two microbial products consisting of microorganisms sourced from the rumen on the production of Holstein dairy cows. The study found that supplementation with native rumen organis...

In this Progressive Dairy podcast episode, four dairy producers discuss how they best utilize dairy data technologies and systems to maximize efficiency, profitability and results. They recently participated in a panel discussion moderated by Editor Walt Cooley during the Data and Innovation Summit, held in conjunction with the National Holstein Convention.  The four dairy producers include: Mack...

In this episode, Fredric Ridenour talks with Scott Oler, Jennifer Weber and Daniel Horton of Afimilk about how milk analyzer technology is helping some dairies manage component measurement to increase milk check revenue and how the data is being used to make informed decisions on rations, herd health and more. Here is the episode breakdown: Value of technology in component measurement How milk ana...