Progressive Dairy Podcast
The Progressive Dairy podcast is for U.S. dairy producers and their industry partners. Each helpful, informative episode serves as an on-the-go companion to the reliable, trustworthy information you find when reading Progressive Dairy magazine. New episodes are released every other week on Tuesdays.
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Building Safer Farms: A Conversation with Ashley Nadeau from Agri‑Services Agency (Sponsored Podcast)
<p>In this episode, host Mike Opperman sits down with Ashley Nadeau, Senior Loss Control Consultant at Agri‑Services Agency, to chat about the big risk areas on a dairy. From machinery and PTO entanglements to confined spaces, parlor hazards, chemicals, and animal handling injuries — and discuss why complacency can be a farm’s biggest threat.</p> <p><b>This episode is sponsored by Agri‑Services Agency.</b></p> <p>Agri-Services Agency specializes in providing customized insurance solutions for dairy farmers, ranchers and agribusinesses. Insurance offerings include health, dental, vision, life insurance, workers’ compensation, and property and casualty insurance. ASA is committ...
Nick Vande Weerd: Pleasant Dutch Dairy
<p>Nick Vande Weerd runs Pleasant Dutch Dairy in South Dakota and serves as vice chair for AgriBank. Progressive Dairy Editor Walt Cooley caught up with him after he spoke at the 2025 Precision Dairy Conference, and he had one message that stopped me: You can't expand your way out of a cost problem.</p> <p>In this conversation, Nick walks through how he scrutinizes every line item in his operation, why he's laser-focused on maximizing beef-on-dairy revenue and why a dairy's willingness to adopt technology and evolve with it may predict its staying power in the industry more than its...
Anton Borst: Halarda Farms
<p>Join host Matti McBride as she chats with Anton Borst, owner of Halarda Farms in Elm Creek, Manitoba. Learn about the dairy, current succession plans, why Halarda Farms invests in technology and opts to be a trial farm for emerging technologies, as well as future plans for the dairy. </p> <p>Here is the episode breakdown:</p> 0:50 – Introduction to Halarda Farms1:40 – Using a parlor and robots3:00 – History of Halarda Farms4:30 – Succession planning6:30 – Slow, steady growth8:00 – Investing in technology10:00 – Managing employees and technology12:00 – Employee buy-in14:30 – Experiences with being a trial dairy17:00 – Current technologies being trialed 18:30 – Goals at Halarda20:50 – The life of a cow at Halarda24:30 –...
Amino Acids, Reproduction and Beef Calves: Feeding for Two Revenue Streams (Sponsored Podcast)
<p>Reproductive success is now central to both milk and beef calf revenue in progressive dairy herds. The episode explores how methionine, lysine, and histidine drive fertility and calf health, making amino acid balancing a critical strategy for profitability. Listeners discover how small gains in conception rates can yield significant financial impact when paired with strategic breeding and nutrition.</p> <p><b>Key takeaway:</b> Strategic amino acid nutrition is a proven driver of reproductive efficiency and dual revenue streams in dairy production.</p> <p><b>This episode is sponsored by Actus Nutrition</b>, innovators of precision dairy nutrition solutions...
Paul Windemuller: Solar energy, artificial intelligence and managing data
<p>Michigan dairy producer Paul Windemuller joins host Kimmi Devaney to chat about how his family economically started their dairy farm in 2013, the evolution their dairy facilities and the addition of solar panels, the role of artificial intelligence, and how he uses the data provided by his automated milking system and other monitoring technology to make informed management decisions.</p> <p><br /></p> <p><b>Links:</b></p> Listen to Windemuller’s podcast – the AgCulture Podcast – and learn more about his work in agriculture on his website.Read about his farm in this Progressive Dairy article from April 2024. <p><b>Episod...
Building the Connection Between Quality Milk and Forage Analysis (Sponsored Podcast)
<p>In this Progressive Dairy Podcast, guests from Dairy One discuss how forage testing can impact overall milk quality in herds. Speakers Dan Button, Mike Reuter, and Kenlin Martin have a roundtable-style discussion on what impact they’ve seen from farmers who want to improve the feed given to their cows and how it ties to milk production.</p> <p><b>This episode is sponsored by Dairy One.</b></p> <p>With over 75 years of experience, Dairy One supports farms across the U.S. with a variety of services. From milk, forage, and soil testing to farm technology solutions to fi...
Best of 2025
<p>Join Progressive Dairy Podcast co-hosts Kimmi Devaney, Walt Cooley and Matti McBride as they highlight some of their favorite articles and podcast episodes from 2025 and discuss Progressive Publishing’s new artificial intelligence (AI) policy, the new Ask AgProud AI feature on agproud.com, 2026 internship opportunities and a fun Christmas segment. </p> <p><b>Links:</b></p> Sign up for Real Producer Exchange webinarsArticle: Preparing for unexpected visits from immigration officials (podcast episode – season 7, episode 27)Podcast episode with Bethany Dado-Senn (season 7, episode 1)Snider Dairy Farm’s “Grandma Got Run Over By a Jersey” parody video <p><br /></p> <p><b>Episode ove...
The Dairy Difference: Advocating for Better School Meals With Smart Swaps (Sponsored Podcast)
<p>DMI’s Katie Bambacht, Vice President of Nutrition Affairs at the National Dairy Council, speaks with DMI’s Scott Wallin about how the checkoff is working directly with schools to improve school lunches (with dairy being front and center) by collaborating with the School Nutrition Association.</p> <p>Katie explains that nearly 30 million students participate in school meal programs daily, with dairy providing significant nutrients, while emphasizing the critical role of school meals in addressing food insecurity and improving academic performance.</p> <p>She also covers the "Made with School Lunch" campaign, which aims to change perceptions of school meal...
Inside the Milking Point: Expert Insights on Liner Selection, Mastitis Prevention and Optimal Milking Performance (Sponsored Podcast)
<p>David Kerr, milkrite | InterPuls (MI) Regional Sales Manager, shares insights on Impulse Air liner technology, proper milking equipment setup, mastitis prevention strategies, and MI comprehensive Farm Services Programs supporting dairy producers.</p> <p><b>Episode highlights:</b></p> MI Lines of Business and Impulse Air [~2:08]How to choose the right liner [~4:00]The importance of massage [~5:17]Key factors for liner setup [~5:58]Relationship between liners and mastitis [~7:25]The advantages of MI Capital Goods and Farm Services [~12:52] <p><b>This episode is sponsored by milkrite | InterPuls (MI).</b></p> <p>At MI, we support our business partners and farmers. We provide fully...
Jim Van Patter: Decades of experience dairying around the world
<p>Jim Van Patter has managed large dairy herds from Wisconsin to Turkey to Australia to Mississippi and back again. He's now the dairy manager at Nehls Brothers Farm near Juneau, Wisconsin, and he's brought home some hard-won lessons about what works at scale—and what doesn't.</p> <p>Whether you're running 100 cows or 1,000, Jim's got practical insights on everything from labor management to facility design that you can put to work on your operation.</p>
