Join host Kimmi Devaney and dairyman George Dick from Dicklands Farm and Dicklands Biogas in Chilliwack, British Columbia, for a conversation about building and managing a digester, their genetics strategy and the evolution of their facilities over the last four decades.

Learn more about their digester by visiting their website.

Episode breakdown:

• [~0:40] History of Dicklands Farm and what inspired the family to start dairying again in 1988
• [~1:35] Evolution of facilities from 1988 until now
• [~2:00] How robots have changed their farm
• [~4:50] How data from the robots and other technology is utilized in management decisions
• [~7:00] What they would change if they built new facilities today
• [~8:40] Genetics strategy
• [~12:05] Other genetic traits they are prioritizing
• [~13:50] When and why they added the digester
• [~16:10] The process of building a digester
• [~18:55] Where they get the food waste for the digester
• [~21:15] Receiving frozen products
• [~23:00] The most rewarding part of owning a digester
• [~24:35] Digester tours
• [~26:50] Tour FAQs
• [~28:30] Questions dairy producers should be asking when considering adding a digester to their operation
• [~31:15] Running a digester as a separate business with different employees
• [~32:00] Fertilizer pellet as a byproduct of the digester
• [~35:30] Rapid-fire questions

Join us to explore how targeted beef-on-dairy breeding decisions can address key dairy farm challenges, including calf value optimization and breeding efficiency.

Jeremy Howard, senior sales and marketing manager for Simplot Animal Sciences and Texas Tech graduate researcher Kade Miller will share insights from recent Simplot Animal Science feedlot performance research and what the findings mean for dairies. They’ll examine how data-driven strategies can improve calf performance outcomes and help producers improve calf quality, capture more value and make more confident breeding decisions while managing risk and return in an evolving production and supply environment.

Learn more about SimVitro® cattle embryos by Simplot

Feeding colostrum is arguably one of the most important processes on a dairy. Michael Steele of the University of Guelph joins host Matti McBride in this episode of the Progressive Dairy Podcast to discuss passive immunity, feeding colostrum and transition milk past day 1, and current research in this field.

Episode breakdown:

• 1:00 – Intro and rapid-fire questions
• 2:50 – Steele’s background
• 4:20 – Passive immunity
• 8:00 – Feeding colostrum past day 1
• 11:05 – Feeding transition milk
• 13:00 – Overfeeding colostrum
• 17:00 – Colostrum collection and storage
• 19:30 – Steele’s thoughts on the future of colostrum