By Jason Karszes

On more and more dairy farms every year, employees play integral roles in day-to-day operations, decision making, and problem solving. In these roles, ideas for changes to operations and for capital investments are generated. While these ideas might be quite important to the middle manager for their area, across the farm other opportunities in support of the overall priorities and mission of the farm also need to be considered. 

Proposing change to the leadership of the farm, or as part of the leadership team, is typically an essential step to improve farm operations. Developing proposals in support of the change can help with identifying all the potential risks and returns and decision-making by the senior management team.  Several key areas to address in the proposal are laid out below. 

In case you aren't aware of this resource, PRO-DAIRY's Dairy Market Watch provides monthly information and analysis of Northeast dairy market trends. Just released are the July 2025 data.

Kate McDonald Polakiewicz has joined our team as Farm Business Management Specialist and will be offering programming in financial management, production economics, business planning, and market analysis. 

The challenges of the 2025 growing season continue with questions about adequate quantity and quality of forages to meet the needs of dairy herds in the coming year. As we look for a strong finish to the growing season to alleviate some of these challenges it is important to assess your forage situation and take steps to meet the forage needs of the herd.

Many acres across New York were unable to be planted to corn, soybeans or new perennial forages due to extended wet conditions during this spring's planting season, resulting in several crop insurance claims. Check out this guidance for manure applications on prevented planting acreage for farms under CAFO permit and/or following a CNMP.

You might think it's too early to talk about corn silage harvest, but this season's challenges have many re-evaluating plans. Preliminary estimates from John Hanchar, NWNYDLFC, put the corn silage price at approximately $63 per ton. These early estimates can support informed decision-making as cropping and forage strategies shift.

As a result of staggered planting, herbicide application timings have been spread out over a significant portion of time. Weeds and weed control are impacted by wet weather and subsequent flooding conditions for a variety of reasons.

Changes to our pesticide labels are coming including mitigation strategies for spray drift and runoff/erosion. Check out this article to see how these updates will appear on our product labels.

Spring is one of the busiest times of the year on a farm. Even if things are busy, keep health and safety to the forefront of what you do.

Growing Degree Days (GDD) are a valuable tool for estimating crop development and optimal harvest timing. Whether tracking corn maturity or alfalfa harvest, using GDDs alongside other measurements can help improve decision-making and ensure better crop management.

It's April and planting season will be here before we know it. Take some time to check over your planter and conduct some maintenance so you are ready to hit the ground running in May. 

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins announced that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is issuing up to $10 billion directly to agricultural producers through the Emergency Commodity Assistance Program (ECAP) for the 2024 crop year. Eligible producers must report 2024 crop year planted and prevented planted acres to FSA on an FSA-578, Report of Acreage form. Contact your local FSA office for more information.