Modern dairy production is diverse with systems ranging from cows housed indoors year-round to cows maintained on pasture nearly year-round. Like other types of livestock producution in the US, expansion to larger herd sizes has allowed dairy producers to increase the efficiency of production and capitalize on economies of scale, but it has resulted in environmental challenges with larger numbers of cattle and more manure concentrated in a small area.
This module will look at dairy production as it has evolved in the US, the array of dairy products available, dairy production systems, milking systems, and typical manure handling systems in use today.