Greetings from a cooler Midwest - temps have dropped to the 50-60s F (10-16 C), and our trees are bursting with color, all tell-tale signs that fall is upon us.

Last week I drove up to Madison, Wisconsin, USA, to the World Dairy Expo and saw lots of combines rolling in corn and soybean fields.

If you've never been to or heard of World Dairy Expo, it's a 5-day event featuring a world-class dairy show, learning seminars, virtual farm tours and more than 850 dairy tradeshow exhibitors.

As you'd expect, the hot topic for dairy producers was the high cost of feed.

Steve Pretz, GEA Farm Technologies VP of Channel Management, said it's not just a US issue, but he hears this concern from producers worldwide and he expects it to remain an issue for some time.

He said dairy producers are finding ways to replace corn in their ration, with some replacing nearly half of their corn requirements through alternative feed sources to be more economical.

Gary Neubauer, DVM and senior manager Dairy Veterinary Operations at Pfizer Animal Health, is urging dairy producers to analyze their costs before they switch to cheaper feeds.

"A renowned nutritionist spoke at American Association of Bovine Practitioners (AABP) and said that looking at feed costs per hundredweight is not the best way to approach this challenge. Looking at income over feed costs is the best way to go about it," Dr. Neubauer said. "If we start changing our nutrition program and cut back on our regular routine, it could reduce milk production and that could be a disaster."

Bill Mahanna, global nutritional sciences manager for Dupont Pioneer, said producers are also concerned about the variability in their forage and feed supply this year along with the lack of inventory.

As the US drought took its toll on the corn crop, some farmers decided to take the whole plant and capture the value of the stover as a forage source.

"Having gone through this drought experience, I think we'll get smarter about how to feed cows higher forage diets because we've got the high grain prices we are trying to offset," Mahanna said. "I know there's a lot of interest in how the Europeans feed cattle. In France, they feed a lot of forage and very little grain. In Japan, it's a similar thing - high forage, low grain."

While the comment is related to dairy producers, it's a universal topic - labor.

Pretz said around the world, producers really have a concern about labor - even in China.

"Finding quality, skilled labor to milk cows is difficult," he said. "A lot of the hard work on a dairy is done through immigrant labor. The availability of that work force is in question. So producers are looking to automation to reduce the number of people needed. Improved labor efficiency is a key strategy for dairy operations long-term."

I'd say that statement rings true for farmers all around the world.

Have a great week!