After developing working relationships with B & R Dairy customers, I quickly discovered that I bring a different skill set to our customers. My name is Shannon Seifert. I have experience as a dairy nutritionist, but more importantly I bring my skills as a young dairy farmer to our customers’ farms. In the past year I have had to opportunity to visit our customers and perform parlor analyses and observations. I have thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to help many of them set new goals and reach them successful. While in parlors, I have the ability to take measurements with a tool called the VaDia. This tool allows me to record and also monitor wirelessly via Blue Tooth, vacuum levels at the mouth piece, milk tube and pulsation tubes. The exciting part about this technology is its ability to quantify the observations I can make in a parlor. Are cows getting milked quickly, comfortably, and completely? Are cows getting over milked? Are cows experiencing improper prepping procedure which is resulting in bimodal milking? We have damaged teat ends in a herd, where is the damage coming from? Is there discoloration in the teats when the units come off the cows? In an article in Progressive Dairyman, it was discussed that milk quality is more than just milking equipment. This is so true. So many other factors play into milk quality, such as environment, housing, employees, health, nutrition, and animal care. While on farm, I provide customers with another set of eyes, looking at the big picture of milk quality. Understanding milk quality from the dairy farmer’s perspective helps me make applicable suggestions to improve the dairy and set achievable goals. If your dairy is experiencing issues, or you are just looking for an opportunity to improve, consider contacting me to schedule an analysis evaluating people, equipment and cows. [email protected]
