Glenda Pereira: 00:06
Welcome to the Maine Farmcast. This is your host, Dr. Glenda Pereira, an assistant professor at the University of Maine and the dairy specialist for the University of Maine Cooperative Extension. I recorded this episode when I traveled to Wooster, Ohio, where Dairy Challenge students from the University of Maine participate in the 2025 Northeast Dairy Challenge regional competition. This competition started right around the early 2000s, and Dairy Challenge aims to prepare future employees within the dairy industry.
Glenda Pereira: 00:46
So, the students participate in a series of assessments, primarily where they visit a farm, visit several farms, and they do a farm assessment. They review data records, et cetera, and they make recommendations to farms, and these are real dairy farms. And so during this time, I advised the students at this Dairy Challenge competition, and I also got to learn from so many folks who were at the Dairy Challenge. So if there are students interested, or companies that are interested in participating in Dairy Challenge, it’s a really great event, and it really builds on tomorrow’s dairy future. So I took the opportunity there to interview two folks that were also advising students and participating in the Northeast Dairy Challenge.
Glenda Pereira: 01:41
Doug Benedict from Dairy One and Phil Schroeder from Alfred State University. So I wanted to document this episode because I learned so much from colleagues and from folks, and I thought that I would just give you a little bit of what you can expect or learn from at Dairy Challenge, but I think this conversation will also be applicable to our listeners. So I hope you enjoy the episode. For today’s episode, we’re going to be talking about tech, IT, et cetera, with Doug Benedict from Dairy One. So, Doug, it’s a pleasure to have you on the Maine Farmcast for the first time.
Glenda Pereira: 02:20
Let the listeners know who you are.
Doug Benedict: 02:23
Well, thanks for having me. I am Doug Benedict. I am the farm systems coordinator for Dairy One. So the group that I belong to, we do IT on dairy, which a lot of people find interesting. But we do anything from computers to networking.
Doug Benedict: 02:41
Camera systems seem to be the gateway to get us in and touch a little bit on automation, but not much. So more supporting a backbone for others to utilize.
Glenda Pereira: 02:55
Yeah. And you mentioned that you started at Dairy One fifteen years ago.
Doug Benedict: 03:01
Yep. So at Dairy One Farm Services Group, I’m trying to think, Farm IT is what we go by. So I really just fell into this. We were selling our cows. So I’m from a 140-cow dairy farm.
Doug Benedict: 03:14
I was going to be fourth generation. I didn’t like the path it was going. Decided to do something different and was struggling in getting into the federal firefighting service. I could not beat the computer for any place in New York. And any place I got in, I didn’t have any pull with the house, so I couldn’t get in.
Doug Benedict: 03:35
Sent a resume to Dairy One because Ithaca was pretty good when I was at Cornell. And John Gloss called me and said, I’ve got this job I think you would like. And I said, sure, I’ll try it. In an IT farm, I figured I’m going to be laid off.
Doug Benedict: 03:51
You know, it’s something we’re trying. Fifteen years now, we can’t keep up.
Glenda Pereira: 03:56
Yeah. We have demand.
Doug Benedict: 03:57
Yeah. Yeah. We have the largest team that we’ve ever had right now, and just we’re scheduling thirty days out just trying to keep up with stuff.
Glenda Pereira: 04:05
And something we talked about briefly was how farmers, more so now than ever, they need to be online. We were talking about network issues all day today. Farmers have a lot of technology. They need all their data accessible. And right now, right, the weekend nights can’t wait because if you have a robot down, if you have your computer you can’t enter information into, and the breeder’s coming in the morning, whatever that might be.
Glenda Pereira: 04:28
All those things are critical to not putting us behind schedule. So your team helps in the success of that. So what are some of the services? You know, Dairy One is, for most folks that listen, they probably think of the milk quality testing lab, the forage testing lab that they have. But your team focuses on providing camera, Wi Fi, data network, and even computers and getting them back online if they need to.
Glenda Pereira: 04:56
Is that correct?
Doug Benedict: 04:57
Correct. So a change in how the dairy industry has gone. We went from half begging farms to get internet so that we could provide a better service if they needed. We now have a handful of farms that have three, up to three, internet sources that come to one location, and then if the main one fails, it automatically fails over to the next one. We have one farm that has three separate locations, one nine miles away.
Doug Benedict: 05:30
If any one of those three locations goes down, they can pull internet from one of the other locations. So the goal is to always have internet no matter what happens because, yeah, everything’s becoming cloud-based where you need to have the data up in the cloud coming down accessible from anywhere, and then also finding a way to have it local to help you with that.
Glenda Pereira: 05:54
Yeah. And something we briefly talked about was where dairy farm data is going, and something we just mentioned was that you provide customers with cameras. So that’s for what purpose? And are we I’m very excited for where the industry is going with monitoring cows, their behavior through cameras. Having a camera that can pick up patterns can sometimes be much easier to set up in a barn.
Glenda Pereira: 06:23
So talk to us about some of that work that you and your team do.
Doug Benedict: 06:27
So if we’re focusing specifically on watching cows with cameras, you know, that’s a small piece of what cameras are used for. So what we really see that.
Glenda Pereira: 06:43
It’s just Craig, and Malta’s here with us. And he’s an extension of some of what we do because sometimes I email Craig about DairyComp stuff because I’m like, Craig, please help me. He’s the DairyComp guru, but with camera systems on farms.
Doug Benedict: 07:00
So focusing on cows, one thing that anyone who works with cows realizes is they act differently when people are around, just like an employee will act differently when somebody’s around. So if you have a camera that learns how a cow walks, how a cow acts when she’s in heat, how a cow acts, you know, pick the topic. The technology, again, is just exploding. So a current camera that we have learns how a cow walks. So we can monitor a cow to see if her stride has changed just to give her a mobility score, as I call it, to tell if she needs to be trimmed.
Doug Benedict: 07:38
With that, we can cut down on footbath chemicals so you don’t have to use as much chemicals, which cuts down on cost, also cuts down on liability on the farm. And then we can also trim cows that need it instead of putting stress on a cow to go on a chute, have her feet get hot. They don’t like it, dig, whatever. So we can find cows that maybe are really smart in hiding that they’re in pain because they’re really good at hiding that when somebody’s watching because they know what’s going to happen.
Glenda Pereira: 08:10
Right. Yeah. And I’ve talked about this in a previous episode about technologies. Really, what technologies can do for us is identify the animals that need our attention versus us looking at all animals. Right?
Glenda Pereira: 08:22
And that’s what you’re talking about. Mhmm. Who are the animals that need us that we might visually see or not, like you’re saying, because cows are prey animals. So in their natural habitat, they’re always going to pretend that they’re not ill because the one that’s weak in the herd is going to be the one that’s preyed on first, picked off first. Right?
Glenda Pereira: 08:41
So they do mask it by, you know, saying, I’m not lame. I can continue my stride. So where do you see, sort of from here, your team’s going to continue to grow, and we were talking briefly previously about how, you know, as more farmers need access to data, more farmers integrate data and automation onto their farm, we need people. We need students who are interested in data and technology and IT. Right?
Glenda Pereira: 09:11
And so I’m really excited for that aspect. But what do you, like, foresee as opportunities? And even if you want to talk about challenges with Wi Fi, network, and cameras or automation in the next ten years within the dairy industry?
Doug Benedict: 09:31
Cost. Probably one of the biggest things. It’s been for a while, whether somebody’s willing to pay the money for it. If you try doing stuff cheap, you’re not going to be happy with it. You’re not going to get a good result from it. Supply issues seem to be a big deal.
Doug Benedict: 09:46
For several years, starting with COVID, supply chains were tough. Started right around. Now some companies are changing stuff, and now we’re getting tariffs. So again, it’s always changing, which, for somebody who gets bored, it’s a great challenge because they’re always trying to find something better, something new. People are going to be a challenge too.
Doug Benedict: 10:09
Trying to find people that are willing to work in a dairy environment that have interest in technology is proving to be a little difficult. You get people that like cows, you get people that like technology, and they don’t typically mix. But if we can find someone who’s interested in how something works, we’ll teach them the technology stuff. But it’s actually harder to teach someone how to deal with cows, people on cows. Whether you know it or not, dairy people are unique.
Glenda Pereira: 10:40
Yes. And you mentioned this. Your ideal employee would be somebody who has cow experience, but you can teach the IT stuff too. And so for folks who are looking to break into this sector of agriculture, it doesn’t have to be just the dairy industry because there’s other livestock industries and crops even. You know, we haven’t even touched on technologies and crops.
Glenda Pereira: 11:04
But if you know the management aspect, it can be easy to teach. So for folks who are interested in this realm, Doug will teach you. Doug and his team will teach you the IT portion of it. So I’m really excited to have talked to you today. The last thing I want to just leave folks with, if I’m a farmer and I’m looking for network information or Wi Fi or anything related to that, are you a resource for them, and how do they contact you?
Doug Benedict: 11:37
Absolutely. So easiest way is call us. The website is dairyone.com. You can send an email. If you don’t get me, we have a great team that knows more.
Doug Benedict: 11:48
And as you said, this is a small sliver of what Dairy One offers.
Glenda Pereira: 11:54
Right. And just to make sure, what’s the farthest west you go? Because you guys are based in New York.
Doug Benedict: 11:59
We have to stop at California because there’s an ocean.
Glenda Pereira: 12:02
Huge.
Doug Benedict: 12:04
So we have not ranged outside of the US yet.
Glenda Pereira: 12:06
Yes. Yeah. Well, thanks so much, Doug. This was awesome to have you here on the Maine Farmcast episode. I’m really excited to be talking with Philip Schroeder from Alfred State about soil.
Glenda Pereira: 12:23
Yes. So, Philip, before we get started on our topic at hand, can you just give our listeners a quick introduction about yourself?
Philip Schroeder: 12:31
Okay. I’m currently a full professor and department chair of the ag and vet tech department at Alfred State College. My background is a soil scientist. I have an undergrad and master’s degree in soils from Virginia Tech and a PhD in agronomy from the University of Georgia, and I’ve been teaching for about twenty years now.
Glenda Pereira: 12:48
Yes. And so we started this conversation because I had told you soil is so cool, and you had a quote. What was it?
Philip Schroeder: 12:56
So that’s from the North Dakota Association of Agricultural Equipment Dealers. I don’t know if it’s theirs originally, but they claim it now. It says that despite all of our accomplishments, were it not for the six inches of topsoil and the fact that it rains, none of us would exist.
Glenda Pereira: 13:11
Yeah. So what you’re referring to is that most, if not all, of our crops and a lot of what we consume, whether it’s even for livestock species, which is a protein source, is from those tough six inches of topsoil.
Philip Schroeder: 13:24
That’s the part we’re working with. Plants go deeper than that, but we’re not manipulating usually deeper than six, eight inches. So that’s where we’re putting nutrients in, the plants are getting them, what we’re putting in. Right? So making sure that we put the right amount, not too much, not too little, and that the soil is able to help us retain and supply those nutrients is a lot of what we do, a lot of what I do.
Glenda Pereira: 13:50
So talk to us about the main soil properties that we need to focus on or we tend to see folks focus on. So one of them is organic matter.
Philip Schroeder: 14:01
Sure. Organic matter, texture, clay type, and clay content. Some of those, you just have what you have. Right? You own land.
Philip Schroeder: 14:10
That’s the soil that you have. You have to work with it, understand the limitations that are inherent in that soil type. Other things we can manage. We can manage pH. We can manage organic matter to some extent if you’re long-term vision.
Philip Schroeder: 14:24
Right? You’re not going to change it next week or next year. Over the next ten or twenty years, yes, you can increase organic matter, which is ultimately beneficial. There’s no downside. The more organic matter you can have, the more productive the soils are going to be because it increases water-holding capacity, infiltration rate, cation exchange capacity, all those things.
Philip Schroeder: 14:47
So if you’re manipulating or managing to increase organic matter and you’re keeping an eye on the pH, right, we’re going to do better. Plain and simple.
Glenda Pereira: 14:57
And I’m curious. Do you have some soil facts to share with our listeners today? And it can even maybe be from the work you’ve done in previous years or even from, so you’re based in New York, which probably has very different soil properties than the state of Maine.
Philip Schroeder: 15:14
Some, you know, we have some places that are similar. We have what they call muck soils. So a couple of the farms not far from us, it’s mostly organic matter. It’s pitch black. It’s beautiful stuff.
Philip Schroeder: 15:25
But then we also have thin soils. We have glacial till soils. I worked in Oklahoma where we had calcareous soils, very high pH soils. I lived and worked in Virginia and Georgia where it’s red, highly weathered, very low productivity soil. So I’ve kind of been around all of those things.
Philip Schroeder: 15:44
The interesting things, kind of factoid things. An acre furrow slice, the top six inches of an acre, on average weighs about 2,000,000 pounds. Right? So we’re looking at parts per million of nutrient. Right?
Philip Schroeder: 15:58
You just multiply that by two, and you get pounds per acre out of that. So this is an easy thing. So in the lab, we get parts per million. We just change that into pounds per acre, that fact. And then typically soils in the South, we were happy if it had two or 3% organic matter in the top.
Glenda Pereira: 16:16
And what’s a range of organic matter that you see in New York and in New England and the Northeast area?
Philip Schroeder: 16:23
Not muck soils, six to ten, maybe even twelve percent. Muck soils are thirty, forty, fifty percent. They’re histosols. A lot of them are just basically almost all organic matter, yep, which is great, but they’re also fragile.
Philip Schroeder: 16:37
Right? So they occur in low areas, so we drain them so we can work them. But as soon as we take the water out of them, right, the organic matter starts to decompose. Right. So building organic matter, or not losing organic matter, tillage is a huge factor.
Philip Schroeder: 16:51
The less tillage you do, the longer, the slower the organic matter breaks down. I was in Iowa, did a postdoc in Iowa twenty-five years ago. The stories are that when that was broken out first from the plains, there were places that had five feet of topsoil. Right? And now if you go through Iowa and look at the rolls, because it’s not flat.
Philip Schroeder: 17:13
It’s flattish, and there’s rolling. But on shoulders, those will be lighter colors because they’ve gone through a lot of that organic matter in the last hundred and thirty or a hundred years.
Glenda Pereira: 17:24
Wow. Yeah.
Philip Schroeder: 17:24
Yeah. And money. That’s the value of the land is in the productivity there.
Glenda Pereira: 17:28
Right. Right. And then I kind of want to leave listeners off with just one thing or finding from your graduate research. And what was something that you did or found, and maybe even it led to more questions?
Philip Schroeder: 17:43
The work I did, I worked in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed. And then in Georgia, a lot of poultry production. So we had, you bring in lots of phosphorus in feed for chickens, and you can’t take it away because you can only haul it seventy miles profitably. So a lot of those places built up really high levels of soil phosphorus, and that was most of my research work, was in that and trying to figure out how much comes off in the runoff. And one of the surprising things was we wanted to see that to be like a tenth of a milligram per liter.
Philip Schroeder: 18:15
In heavy thatched pastures, you can get one milligram per liter without having had any phosphorus added or any litter added recently. It’s just levels are high enough, and then the thatch, as it decomposes, will release phosphorus. So we did a lot of work on trying to educate on how much chicken litter you need to put and how far out we need to spread it instead of dumping it all in one place.
Glenda Pereira: 18:41
Yep. Yeah. And something I found out in, I want to say, last year or the year before is that the Chesapeake area around the Chesapeake Bay actually is mostly no-till.
Doug Benedict: 18:51
Yeah.
Glenda Pereira: 18:51
Which is an effort to, like you said, decrease erosion and losses of your nutrients.
Philip Schroeder: 18:56
Yeah. Especially with phosphorus because it binds so hard to particles. If the particles stay there for the most part, the phosphorus will stay there. But if you get that soil test phosphorus level high enough in that topsoil, even just the water coming off, even if it’s clean, it’s not full of erosion, it still carries phosphorus with it.
Philip Schroeder: 19:13
Yeah. The challenge.
Glenda Pereira: 19:15
We could sit here and talk about soil properties because this is just so fascinating.
Philip Schroeder: 19:20
Been doing it for years.
Glenda Pereira: 19:22
But thank you again so much for being on the Maine Farmcast. And so for folks listening, if you have future topic suggestions, comments, or questions, be sure to email us at extension.farmcast@maine.edu.