Tools


A collection of the state-of-the-art and scientific-based dairy farm management decision support tools that are user-friendly, interactive, robust, visually attractive, and self-contained. These tools count with associated documentation and video demonstrations. Technical support on their application is also available upon request.

Feeding

Estimates the market value of dairy feed ingredients

Online Tool (Open)

Presentation (Download)

Demo (Click to View/Hide the Video)

Link to the video.

Estimates the market value of dairy feed ingredients

Online Tool (Open)

New Online Tool (Open)

Demo (Click to View/Hide the Video)

Link to the video.

Evaluates grouping strategies for feeding lactating dairy cattle

HTML Online Tool (Open)

Instructions and Documentation (Download)

Presentation 1 (Download)

Presentation 2 (Download)

Paper (Download)

Demo (Click to View/Hide the Video)

Link to the video.

Calculates the economic value of using Optigen® with lactating cows. Optigen® replaces a user-defined source of protein and adds a user-defined source of energy

HTML Online Tool (Open)

Poster (Download)

Paper (Download)

Demo (Click to View/Hide the Video)

Link to the video.

Maximizes the income over feed supplement cost (IOFSC) for afixed amount of forage used in the diet and graphs the IOFSC to asubstitution of two selected feed supplements

New Online Tool (Open)

Excel SpreadSheet (Download)

Instructions (Download)

Documentation (Download)

Presentation (Download)

Paper (Download)

Demo (Click to View/Hide the Video)

Link to the video.

Spanish (Argentinian) version: Margen Sobre Los Gastos de Concentrado

Hoja de Cálculo en Excel (Abrir)

Instrucciones en PDF (Descargar)

Instrucciones en Word (Descargar)

Benchmarks feed costs and income over feed cost (IOFC) for a group of participating herds

Web-based Database System (Open)

Documentation (Open)

Presentation (Download)

Demo (Click to View/Hide the Video)

Link to the video.

Calculates the income over feed cost (IOFC), the marginal value of milk to corn, and the optimal level of corn usage for defined milk price, feed costs, and stage of lactation

Online Tool (Open)

Excel Spreadsheet (Download)

Presentation (Download)

Demo (Click to View/Hide the Video)

Link to the video.

Calculates the income over feed cost (IOFC), the marginal value of milk to corn, and the optimal level of corn usage for defined milk price, feed costs, and stage of lactation

HTML Online Tool (Open)

Documentation (Download)

Demo (Click to View/Hide the Video)

Link to the video.

Estimates the break-even milk production needed to pay for a ration feed additive ingredient

HTML Online Tool (Open)

Documentation (Open)

Demo (Click to View/Hide the Video)

Link to the video.

Simple and quick assessment of the ingredients that will provide the least cost of a diet under current feed ingredient prices and selected nutrients.

HTML Online Tool (Open)

Demo (Click to View/Hide the Video)

Link to the video.

A linear programming model that selects the optimal cropping plan and feeds allocation for diets to minimize the whole dairy farm feed costs was developed.

Online Tool (Open)

Documentation (Paper)

Heifers

Calculates the true heifer pregnancy rate of a herd.

Online Tool (Open)

Excel Spreadsheet (Download)

A snapshot of the tool.

Link to the video.

Evaluates the use of accelerated heifer feeding programs with respect to conventional feeding programs

HTML Online Tool (Open)

Documentation (Download)

Demo (Click to View/Hide the Video)

Link to the video.

Estimates the difference of the net present value of various sexed semen reproductive programs and a conventional semen reproductive program for dairy heifers

HTML Online Tool (Open)

Instructions (Download)

Documentation (Download)

Presentation (Download)

Paper (Download)

Demo (Click to View/Hide the Video)

Link to the video.

Calculates the number of heifers needed as replacement to maintain constant the herd size in the long-term

Online Tool (Open)

Excel SpreadSheet (Download)

Documentation (Download)

Demo (Click to View/Hide the Video)

Link to the video.

Spanish Version (Chile)

Herramienta (Abrir)

Calculates the total cost of raising heifers in three points in time: at 12 months, 24 months, and after 24 months

Online Tool (Open)

Excel SpreadSheet (Download)

Documentation (Download)

Demo (Click to View/Hide the Video)

Link to the video.

Simulates on a monthly basis the dynamics of a dairy herd population, including the future make-up of the herd

Online Tool (Open)

Excel Spreadsheet (Download)

Documentation (Download)

Reproduction

The UWCU-DairyRepro$Plus is a PC-Based tool that implements a complex daily Markov chain model inspired on Giordano et al., 2012 (J. Dairy Science 95:5442) that simulates all cows in a herd and their economics, and computes the net return associated to reproductive performance parameters.

Installer package (Microsoft Windows) (Download)

Instructions and Documentation (Download)

Calculates the projected net return of a cow or the entire herd.

Online Tool (Open)

Presentation (Download)

Paper (Download)

Magazine Article (Download)

Demo (Click to View/Hide the Video)

Link to the video.

Estimates the difference of the net present value of various sexed semen reproductive programs and a conventional semen reproductive program for dairy heifers

HTML Online Tool (Open)

Instructions (Download)

Documentation (Download)

Presentation (Download)

Paper (Download)

Demo (Click to View/Hide the Video)

Link to the video.

Combines novel lactation curve definitions with key economic figures to help dairy producers explore the impact of pregnancy timing on milk Income Over Feed Cost.

Online Tool (Open)

Instructions and Documentation (Download)

Demo (Click to View/Hide the Video)

Link to the video.

Simulates a dairy herd and their replacements for nine lactations: from the moment of the first calving to the ninth parturition

Online Tool (open)

Demo (Click to View/Hide the Video)

Link to the video.

Calculates the true heifer pregnancy rate of a herd.

Online Tool (Open)

Excel Spreadsheet (Download)

Retention Pay-Off (RPO) Calculator

Online Tool (Open)

Estimates the break-even milk production needed to pay for a ration feed additive ingredient

HTML Online Tool (Open)

Excel Spreadsheet (Download)

Instructions (Download)

Instructions (Chinese) (Download)

It helps to estimate the economic benefit of increasing a dairy herd’s 21d pregnancy rate.

HTML Online Tool (Open)

Genomics

This Genomic Test Tool is designed to help Jersey dairy farmers decide whether to use genomic testing on their heifer calves.

Online Tool (Open)

Production

This tool finds the best parameters of a function that explains milk production by days postpartum based on observed data points.

New Online Tool (Open)

The DE-DSS is designed to help dairy producers explore “what-if” situations as they predict changes in dairy production and expansion. Dairy producers using the tool are able to forecast changes in herd structure for all calves, heifers, and cows.

Online Tool (Open)

Spreadsheet (Download)

Documentation (Download)

Detailed User Guide (Download)

Demo (Click to View/Hide the Video)

Link to the video.

Estimates the economic benefit (or loss) of a change in the milking frequency from 2 times a day (2X) to 3 times a day (3X) based on user-defined parameters

Online Tool (Open)

Documentation (Download)

Demo (Click to View/Hide the Video)

Link to the video.

Spanish (Argentinian) version: Impacto de cambiar ordeño de 2X a 3X

New Online Tool (Open)

Paper (Download)

Compares Wisconsin benchmark lactation curves with your own data. Benchmarks for 18,000 to 30,000 lb/cow/year of RHA and for parities 1, 2, 3 and higher from 3.6 million records provided by Wisconsin AgSource Cooperative Services

Excel SpreadSheet in lb (Download)

Excel SpreadSheet in kg (Download)

Demo (Click to View/Hide the Video)

Link to the video.

Evaluates the cost/benefit of using recombinant bovine Somatotropin

Online Tool (Open)

Falsh Online Tool (Open)

Demo (Click to View/Hide the Video)

Link to the video.

Predicts the yield of alfalfa according to user-defined fall dormancy, cutting, height, growing degree days, and rainfall

Excel SpreadSheet (Download)

Documentation (Download)

Manual (Download)

Replacement

Calculates the projected net return of a cow or the entire herd.

Online Tool (Open)

Presentation (Download)

Paper (Download)

Magazine Article (Download)

Demo (Click to View/Hide the Video)

Link to the video.

Calculates the value of a replacement heifer under specific farm conditions, an indicative of her buying or selling price.

Online Tool (Open)

Demo (Click to View/Hide the Video)

Link to the video.

Calculates the number of heifers needed as replacement to maintain constant the herd size in the long-term

Online Tool (Open)

Excel SpreadSheet (Download)

Documentation (Download)

Demo (Click to View/Hide the Video)

Link to the video.

Spanish Version (Chile)

Herramienta (Abrir)

Calculates the total cost of raising heifers in three points in time: at 12 months, 24 months, and after 24 months

Online Tool (Open)

Excel SpreadSheet (Download)

Documentation (Download)

Demo (Click to View/Hide the Video)

Link to the video.

Retention Pay-Off (RPO) Calculator

Online Tool (Open)

Simulates on a monthly basis the dynamics of a dairy herd population, including the future make-up of the herd

Online Tool (Open)

Excel Spreadsheet (Download)

Documentation (Download)

Link to the video.

Health

Calculates the Return Over Investment of a given technology that claims to be effective preventing a disease with known economic effects.

HTML Online Tool (Open)

HTML Online Tool (Open)

Financial

The Working Capital (WC) decision support system consists of a suite of tools. It is intended to assist dairy producers in identifying annual cash flow balances for the recent past (1-2 years); project expected incomes and expenses for the coming year and identify cash excesses/shortfalls well in advance of occurrence. Stand alone Excel, AGFA compliant, Balance Sheet and Farm Earnings Statements are also offered.

Spreadsheet (Download)

Template 1 (Download)

Template 2 (Download)

Template 3 (Download)

Demo (Click to View/Hide the Video)

Link to the video.

The Wisconsin Dairy Farm Ratio Benchmarking is a spreadsheet based tool especially created for this project. It compares dairy farm's financial status with +500 dairy farms in the State of Wisconsin.

Online Tool (Open)

Presentation (Download)

Demo (Click to View/Hide the Video)

Link to the video.

The DE-DSS is designed to help dairy producers explore “what-if” situations as they predict changes in dairy production and expansion. Dairy producers using the tool are able to forecast changes in herd structure for all calves, heifers, and cows.

Online Tool (Open)

Spreadsheet (Download)

Documentation (Download)

Detailed User Guide (Download)

Demo (Click to View/Hide the Video)

Link to the video.

Graphs the gross margin guarantee and premium of a livestock gross margin (LGM-Dairy) insurance contract to selected levels of feed such as corn and soybean meal equivalents to cover together with every cwt of milk

Excel SpreadSheet (Download)

Calculates the cow's return to labor or the net revenue of a cow before covering the costs of labor

Excel Spreadsheet (Download)

Documentation (Download)

Demo (Click to View/Hide the Video)

Link to the video.

Calculate the amount of feed to be insured within an LGM-Dairy contract.

Online Tool (Open)

Documentation (Open)

Demo (Click to View/Hide the Video)

Link to the video.

Help to calculate the Net Guarantee IOFC as the difference of all farm costs and feed costs. This value can be used to use the LGM-Dairy optimizer to find out the least cost premium. This tool also can be used to calculate the corn and soybean mean equivalents based upon a user defined diet. The corn and SBM equivalents are inputs needed for an LGM-Dairy contract

Online Tool (Open)

Excel Spreadsheet (Download)

Price Risk

Graphs the gross margin guarantee and premium of a livestock gross margin (LGM-Dairy) insurance contract to selected levels of feed such as corn and soybean meal equivalents to cover together with every cwt of milk

Excel SpreadSheet (Download)

LGM Dairy Feed Equivalent Calculator

Calculate the amount of feed to be insured within an LGM-Dairy contract.

Online Tool (Open)

Documentation (Open)

Demo (Click to View/Hide the Video)

Link to the video.

Milk Component Price Analysis

Calculates the value of each milk component and the premium/deduct according to the level of SCC. Performs sensitivity analysis according to different levels of butterfat, protein, other components, and SCC.

Spreadsheet (Download)

Environment

Paving pathways for dairy farmers towards higher sustainability. The DairyPrint Model is capable of helping farmers move toward higher sustainability, providing a user-friendly and intuitive graphical user interface allowing the user to respond to 'what-if' questions.

Online Tool (Open)

Journal of Nutrient Management (Download)

Hoard’s Dairyman Article (Download)

Progressive Dairy Article (Download)

Dairy Innovation Hub Symposium 2023 (Watch Video)

ADSA Abstract 2023 (Download)

ADSA Poster 2023 (Download)

DyNoFlo performs dynamic nitrogen balances of entire dairy farm systems. DyNoFlo was created for North Florida Dairy Farms, but it can be customized by the input data

Excel SpreadSheet (Download)

Manual (Download)

Paper (Download)

Balances nutrients according to user-defined crops planted, soil analyses, effluent irrigated, dry manure applied, and chemical fertilizers supplemented

Excel SpreadSheet (Download)

Documentation (Download)

Application that estimates the N balance for grazing activity of dairy heifers or dry cows

Excel SpreadSheet (Download)

Documentation (Download)

User Manual (Download)

Predicts seasonal manure excretion of lactating cows

Excel SpreadSheet (Download)

Documentation (Download)

Paper (Download)