- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
![In dairies with milking robots, cows voluntarily walk into a sophisticated, computerized box when they are ready for milking.](https://ucanr.edu/blogs/Green/blogfiles/60912small.jpg)
Early in the 20th century, dairy operators traded their milking stools for machines to produce enough dairy products to meet growing consumer demand.
The technological developments were critical to the formation of California's enormous dairy industry, the largest in the nation. Today, more than 1.7 million cows produce 39.8 billion pounds of milk in California each year, according to the California Milk Advisory Board.
The march of progress continues. The state's dairy industry is now beginning to integrate robots and sophisticated computer software into cow barns to maintain the supply of wholesome...
- Author: Kat Kerlin
![Jersey Cow](https://ucanr.edu/blogs/Green/blogfiles/46720small.jpg)
Innovative cooling technologies tested on dairy cows at UC Davis are addressing the long-standing challenge of keeping dairy cows cool in heat-stressed California.
Standard livestock cooling methods, such as fans and sprinkling cows with water, require significant amounts of electricity and water. The new technologies, being tested at UC Davis by the Western Cooling Efficiency Center and the Department of Animal Science, are designed to reduce water by up to 86 percent and electricity by up to 38 percent over conventional methods.
Milk production and heat...
- Author: Chris M Brunner
![The California Dairy Quality Assurance Program created a drought webpage for dairy operators.](https://ucanr.edu/blogs/Green/blogfiles/21429small.jpg)
The California drought points to a looming crisis for California dairy producers, according to Mike Payne, dairy outreach coordinator at the Western Institute for Food Safety and Security and director of the California Dairy Quality Assurance Program (CDQAP).
Payne says that one estimate places lost revenue due to the drought from farming and related businesses in California as high as $5 billion. If there is little relief from Mother Nature in the 2014-15 rainfall season, the prospect of devastating effects to California's dairy industry is immeasurable. Skyrocketing feed costs and ultimately more California dairy producers going out of business will likely lead to higher...
- Contributor: Alison Gang, UCTV Prime Cuts
California’s scenic Marin County is home to two thriving industries that were once in conflict – oyster farming and dairy farming.
In order to grow healthy and marketable oysters, the farmers depended on clean water in Tomales Bay. But regulations meant to protect the bay from cattle runoff were so strict that dairy farmers feared they could no longer stay in business.
Now, with help from David Lewis, director of UC Cooperative Extension in Marin County, these two communities have found creative solutions that allow both kinds of farmers to share this beautiful and fertile region. Find out how in a four-minute report by Kristen Simoes on UCTV Prime Cuts,...
- Author: Ann King Filmer
![TJU6099 email](https://ucanr.edu/blogs/Green/blogfiles/5425small.jpg)
A new winery, brewery and food-processing complex at the University of California, Davis, is the most environmentally sophisticated complex of its kind in the world, one that promises to unravel scientific enigmas and solve practical problems related to foods, beverages and health.
The $20 million, 34,000-square-foot teaching-and-research complex is the first winery, brewery or food-processing facility expected to earn LEED Platinum certification, the highest environmental rating awarded by the U.S. Green Building Council. It is intended to become self-sustainable in energy and water use.
Neal Van Alfen, dean of the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences at UC Davis, said, "It will serve as a model for...