Dairy Data Leads to Strides in Efficiency, Sustainability

Dairy Data Leads to Strides in Efficiency, Sustainability

Tim Hammerich
Tim Hammerich
News Reporter
It’s time for your Farm of the Future Report. I’m Tim Hammerich.

Dairies are really complex systems. Companies like VAS have helped dairy producers collect, analyze and leverage data to make them more efficient.

Lambert… “Dairy animals don't produce milk unless they've had a baby. So one of the things that a producer really needs to manage is how often their cows are pregnant. And the legacy of DairyComp was really helping a producer understand how good they were at getting their cows pregnant with really great genetics.”

That’s Jordan Lambert, VP of Business Development at VAS. She says this data sophistication has really moved the needle when it comes to efficiency and sustainability.

Lambert… “It actually ended up with this really awesome sustainability story. So like between 2007 and 2017, the dairy industry ended up with a 19% smaller carbon footprint and produced more milk during that time. They also reduced water use by 30% and land use by about 20% as well. And a lot of that had to do with the data going into DairyComp that allowed producers to manage that pregnancy window because the fewer days that a cow is open means fewer days that she's eating without returning to the farm, the money from the milk check. So it's kind of cool because it had this fun efficiency and sustainability story rolled in one.”

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