Dairy Critical Issue Briefs (DIBS) address issues facing dairy producers dealing with today’s pitiful milk prices.
Plummeting prices in the dairy industry are creating critical cash-flow and long-term survivability issues on Ohio’s 3,328 dairy farms. Cost-cutting decisions must be made with full awareness of both short and long-term production and economic consequences. OSU Extension’s Dairy Working Group, a collaboration of OSU Extension and OARDC faculty is identifying and addressing critical issues in five areas:
- Nutrition and feed costs
- Reproduction and health
- Calf and heifer management
- Business issues
- People and stress management
A series of 27 Issue Briefs (DIBS) targets management issues being addressed on farms now. The Issue Briefs can be found at the http://dairy.osu.edu/DIBS/dibs.html web site. DIBS currently posted include:
DIB#1-09 Can I use more corn silage in my diets to reduce cash feed costs?
DIB#2-09 Is it time for Daisy to go on a truck ride?
DIB#3-09 Will changing from a confinement system to a grazing system reduce my short term costs?
DIB#4-09 How can I lower feed costs in a management intensive grazing system?
DIB#5-09 Should I remove feed additives from my diet to reduce short term costs?
DIB#6-09 Observing signs of stress and depression
DIB#7-09 What happened to our dairy exports?
DIB#8-09 Should I use silage additives this year?
DIB#10-09 Should I wean calves earlier?
The emphasis is on “brief”, with a short explanation of the issue, the conclusion and contact information for the author(s) if you have further questions. As additional DIBS are completed, they are posted to the OSU Resources for Ohio’s Dairy Industry Website.