With margins tight across the dairy industry, many farms are looking for practical ways to cut costs without sacrificing milk quality or herd health. Farms can consider selective dry cow therapy as a way to achieve those goals.

In speaking with many of you across our region lately—whether you're in the dairy, livestock, or field crops sectors—I've heard a theme: everything costs more, and margins feel tighter than ever.

Following the challenging weather of the 2025 growing season, many dairy farms are facing tight forage inventories and looking to 2026 to rebuild forage supplies. The current economic conditions of escalating input costs and tight milk prices increase the difficulty of accomplishing this goal. Despite all of this, farms can still look for the best practices to achieve their forage inventory goals.

What's the status of the dairy industry in NY?

Water is one of the most consumed nutrients by dairy cows and yet it is often overlooked. Water access and quality directly impact milk production, health, and overall performance. Given these important roles, water intake becomes a key management consideration.

March 2026 has been wet, hovering around 150 percent of normal precipitation for much of New York. While this has some manure storages approaching or exceeding their operational capacity, it is critical to follow the prohibited spreading conditions within the CAFO permit and spreading plans in your CNMP. 

With all that's going on in the world right now, some beef producers are asking, "what happens next". While it's likely that none of this will come as a surprise, it's worth stepping back and looking at the bigger picture, the regional lens, and what this means for moving forward.

Check out this spring forage checklist from Joe Lawrence as we fly into spring and the upcoming growing season. 

As most people who work with cows on a regular basis understand, it is impossible to keep them looking like a perfectly manicured show cow all the time but how dirty is actually too dirty? 

I participated in Cornell Workforce Development's Lean Management for Dairy workshop in February. Lean Management, often referred to simply as "Lean", is a methodology frequently used in the business world to add value, maximize efficiency, and trim waste. How can applying principles of Lean Management work for the dairy industry in southwestern New York, and what could taking a Lean approach mean for your business?

Custom manure applicators who have registered as Third Party CAFO Land Appliers under 6 NYCRR Part 361-2.3(c) with New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) are required to submit an annual report each year no later than March 1. 

Feed costs represent approximately 50% of operating expenses on dairy farms, with large investments in home-grown forages. It cannot be denied that there are many factors that impact our ability to harvest quality forages, both within and outside of our control, but the job isn't done once it runs through the chopper. The same prioritization of management and resources should also be allocated to maintaining quality as it enters storage.