FORT WAYNE, Ind. — With the possibility that producers will see slightly lower milk prices this year, speakers at the recent Indiana Milk Quality Conference offered tips on how they have improved efficiency and cut production costs.

The overall size of the milking herd is expected to increase about 1 percent from last year, and production is projected to be up 3-4 percent over 2011, according to Matt Keister of Farm Credit Services of Mid-America.

“In the past, exports have helped absorb production increases and reduced domestic demand,” he explained. “However, don’t anticipate exports to increase in 2012. Price stability may not be provided as it was in 2011.

“We may not be able to rely on exports and domestic demand to get us out of the situation we’re in. Prices will be down slightly in the short term.”

Several dairy producers pointed to changes in their operations that have helped lower costs or generally improve efficiency. Mike Yoder, of Crystal Valley Dairy Farms near Middlebury in northern Indiana, said changing the timing and rate of manure application has saved money, helped with weed control and improved the quality of his soil.

Before 2009, Yoder applied 12,000-15,000 gallons of manure per acre every other year and occasionally used a cereal rye or triticale cover crop. He used a mixture of no-till, minimum till and conventional tillage. Under that system, he found increasingly poor weed control and late-season weed pressure.

Around 2009, he began thinking about making a change and since then, uses a double cover crop and, most importantly, he noted, increased the amount of manure he uses. Yoder now applies about 25,000 gallons of manure an acre annually, spread over three times during the year.

“Our costs have been lowered and we’re using less atrazine,” he said. “(Using the increased manure) solved our weed problem as well.”

During his presentation, Yoder showed slides of his fields, which were generally free of weeds, and those of a neighbor, whose weren’t. “I’m raising a crop, and he’s raising whatever that weed is,” he quipped.

Yoder said he has also noticed a change in his soil since going to a double cover crop system. “The soil has a better water-holding capacity and it smells and looks healthier,” he noted. “There’s something about a healthy soil and a healthy plant that’s making me a believer.”

Since switching to a robotic milking system on his family’s Pulaski County, Ind., dairy farm in the last 10 years, Sammy Jones has seen production increase and cow stress decrease. The robotic system allows the cows to be milked when they choose, as long as the computer agrees it’s milking time, he noted.

Milking three times a day could mean an increase in production of 10-14 percent, Jones stated, explaining that milking four times a day for 21 days will increase production for the entire lactation period.

“Because the pressure doesn’t build up, we have a calmer cow and they move at a slower pace,” he explained. “The cows have to feel good to go through the robot and they don’t get sick as much.”

The robotic system also keeps track of the weight of each cow and analyzes the milk for quality. Overall, the system speeds the milking process and helps avoid overcrowding in the holding and feeding areas, Jones said.

“We want a happy, healthy productive dairy farm and cow,” he noted. “This is also about the efficiency at which you produce your milk.”

The latest technology might not be best for every operation, said Fred Kunkel, who has a 100-head dairy operation in Decatur, Ind. A couple of years ago, the fertility of his cows was affected by mycotoxins in corn and, at one point, the pregnancy rate on his farm fell to 21 percent.

“Once these mycotoxins get into the herd, the fertility problem can linger for quite a while,” he noted. “We only had a couple of options for our high-mycotoxin corn – you either sell it or you have to dilute it.”

Kunkel said he uses the tailhead chalking method to determine if cows are ready to breed. “We have never had a good heat detection program,” he explained. “I’ve been a dairyman for years and you kind of get a feel for cows that are in heat.

“Cost efficiencies have changed. A 100-cow herd can’t justify some of the technologies that are out there. We just didn’t have the cows to spread the technology around.”

The conference was April 10-11 in Fort Wayne and was presented by the Indiana Milk Quality Professionals, Inc.