Dairy Production Systems Management
John Conway
E-mail: jfc6@cornell.edu
There are accepted principles of dairy production management, often translated to “best management practices”. These change as new research results challenge the status quo or as producers push the envelope and reveal a better view. There are countless practices performed differently on every farm that get needed work done operationally and which are intended to uphold the production principles. Work consumes labor and resources bringing in an operating cost component. Fixed costs including buildings and equipment set financial and physical parameters the business must adapt or live within the near term to either make a profit or limit losses. This program finds interrelated production systems that a threshold of New York State Dairy Producers can improve to strengthen their businesses and creates educational campaigns around them.
Dairy-Related Newsletter Article Exchange
The Dairy-Related Newsletter Article Exchange is a place where Extension Educators can review and download articles that when properly credited, can be used in other newsletters.
Crop Resources & Article Exchange
For access to this site please send an e-mail to: Larissa Smith (lls14@cornell.edu)
Winter Dairy Management Program
Winter Dairy Management brings technical, financial and operational know-how to a topic of importance to dairy farms.
- 2010 Winter Dairy Management Topics
- 2009 – Dairy Modernization
- 2008 -- Raising Fiscally Responsible Heifers
- 2007 -- Milk Quality Technical Advances; More Profit through Proactive Monitoring
- 2006 -- Enhance Dairy Profitability; Achieve Balance between Crops and Cows
- 2005 – Enhancing Dairy Farm Profits through Internal Growth (IHG)
Managing for Success
Improving management skills and practices on New York State dairy farms. Features include: challenges of managing a family business, importance of a business vision, setting long- and short-term goals, principles of continuous improvement, 3 C's of positive human interactions - change, conflict and communication; strategy-driven priority setting and managing time; and leadership - how much, how often, and when.
- Family Owned Farms — Pat Frishkoff
- Welcome, Introductions, Opening Exercise — John Conway
- Setting the Strategy I - Compelling Vision — John Conway
- Setting the Strategy II - Goals — John Conway
- The 3 C's of Positive Human Interaction — Ruth Maltz and Molly Ames
- Improve I - III, Problem Diagnosis - Decision Making — John Conway
- Improve IV: Implement - Tactical/Control Plans — John Conway
- Finding Time to Implement Plans - Making Time Work for you! — Lori Shipman
- Leadership in Farm Business — Steve Hadcock
- Workshop Accessories
Horizontal Silo Density Study
A combination of tractor weight, spreading layer thickness, wet forage tonnage rates coming at operators and operator skill and diligence lead to reasonably predictable dry matter densities in bunker silos and drive over piles. Also reasonably predictable are the diminishing dry matter losses incurred with increasing dry matter densities. The relatively high cost of constructing bunker silos or drive over pile pads has driven the capital cost of silo “space” to attention-grabbing levels. Farms needing to stretch out the life of existing horizontal silos have some interesting options manipulating the variables in the harvest/silo filling dynamic.
- Bunker Silo/Pile Density Study - Findings & Industry Applications (PowerPoint)
- Bunker Silo/Pile Density Study - Findings & Industry Applications (Proceedings)
For more information contact John Conway at jfc6@cornell.edu