Hoard Farm switches to 3x milking

Hello, my name is Cassandra Dutcher; I am the other intern here at the Hoard’s Dairyman Farm. I grew up on a dairy near Humboldt, Neb., where we are currently milking 50 cows of all breeds. I am a sophomore at Kansas State University, majoring in Production Management in the Animal Science and Industry Department. The primary goal of my internship is to learn the management skills needed to run a larger dairy.
During my first week at the Hoard's Dairyman Farm, they started milking three times a day. Morning milking begins at 4, the second milking at noon, and the third milking at 7:30. Hospital cows and later-lactation cows are only milked during the first and second milkings. So far, they have seen positive results. I have helped with the morning milking, scraping, treating the hospital cows, and bedding the dry cow pen with new straw. I also help feed the heifers and baby calves in the morning and evening. Later on in July, I will be doing a research project on heat stress.