Tri-State Dairy Exchange Team Explores On-Farm Assessments and Audits in November Webinar

Dec 08, 2025

By Amber Machia

The mission of the Tri-State Extension Dairy Team is to unite Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont in advancing dairy management through collaborative educational programs, addressing shared industry challenges, and fostering innovation across northern New England. Since January 2025, the team has been hosting live monthly webinars on the last Wednesday of each month from 11:30 AM to 12:30 PM. Sessions have focused on current dairy research and program updates, including interviews, presentations, and roundtable discussions. All recorded sessions are available to watch on the UVM Extension Northwest Crops & Soils YouTube Channel.

On-Farm Assessments & Audits for Dairy Operations

In November, the Tri-State Dairy Extension Team hosted a webinar focusing on on-farm assessment and audit programs available in the Northeast. The session featured Dr. Clem Nash of NOVUS International and Dr. Bill Stone of Diamond V. The presenters walked through the assessment and audit programs their teams offer to dairy producers and showed how the insights from these tools can drive better management, boost productivity, and improve overall profitability on the farm.

NOVUS C.O.W.S Program

The NOVUS C.O.W.S.® Program helps dairy producers assess herd behavior and make informed management decisions. Created with the University of British Columbia’s Animal Welfare Program, this national benchmarking effort highlights ways to improve cow comfort, support herd well-being, and strengthen sustainability in the dairy sector. Comfortable cows perform better—driving productivity and long-term success.

Producers interested in having their operation assessed should work with their nutrition consultant to schedule a full assessment with the NOVUS team. The assessment includes a management interview; an evaluation of facilities; locomotion and hock scoring; collection of cow time-budget data using wearable loggers; measurement of stocking density; and monitoring of temperature and airflow conditions. Quantitative and qualitative data collected during the assessment are analyzed and organized into a customized report, which is then delivered to the dairy. NOVUS works with the dairy’s management team to provide recommendations that align with existing management practices and support improved research based cow comfort and production performance.

Source : uvm.edu

Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.