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In this episode of Cow-Side Conversations, Jim Harbach from Schrack Farms in Clinton County, Pennsylvania dives into all things cropping as we prepare for spring planting season. With a goal of keeping something growing in the soil every day of the year on their 2,500 acres, Jim describes the transformation he has seen in their soil over the last 50 years. He shares how to navigate higher fertilizer costs by focusing on timing and drag lining manure, and the improvements in pH they have found in the soil thanks to their digester. While joking that they started no till and cover cropping “for all the wrong reasons,” Jim gets serious about the impressive differences they’ve seen in the structure, texture, and organic matter levels within their soil after following these practices. As a dairy farmer, he says the organic matter that the animals return to the soil is a critical part of it.

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In this episode of Cow-Side Conversations, Kate (Kulp) Musselman of Kulp Family Dairy LLC in Blair County, Pennsyvlania gives an inside look at their 3,000-cow dairy operation. With three different sites and 6,500 acres between owned and rented land, Kate shares the herd management and employee management strategies that make up their dairy business and satellite operations. As they navigate an expansion that will take their herd from 3,000 cows to 4,500 cows in the next year, Kate describes some of the milestones, challenges, and goals for the expansion: labor efficiency, increased milk production, sustainable jobs, and more.

With an ownership team of five family members, Kate also shares how both generations bring something to the table and how they try to balance family and business. 2026 is the International Year of the Woman Farmer, and Kate describes the excitement she has for not only being a female in agriculture, but a member of the Pennsyvlania dairy industry.

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In this episode of Cow-Side Conversations, Alan Davis of Davis Farms LLC in Butler/Armstrong County, Pennsylvania describes his family’s decision to upgrade to robots versus building a new parlor for their 150-cow herd. He shares how the shift to robotics has helped them make data-driven breeding decisions and achieve earlier intervention when it comes to herd health. From managing heifer inventories to budgeting and balancing debt load, Alan opens up about navigating bottlenecks, learning that less is sometimes more, and using their data to make financially advantageous decisions.