HD Notebook

Now that the tax filing season is complete, farm accounting reports are beginning to be compiled and distributed to the dairy world. Those reports only quantify what we already know, 2009's losses were much higher than the previous year. Read more

A growing A.I. trend is literally changing the look of the U.S. dairy industry: Herds are becoming more colorful. Read more

Two releases in recent days help shed light on the milk price and feed cost scene in the months ahead. USDA's monthly World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates and USDA's Crop Production were released earlier this week. Read more

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Judging by the mail you've received lately, you'll know that graduation season is upon us. Yes, mortar boards and tassels are being thrown everywhere this month. We've picked up on that graduation theme and are telling you about some outstanding young adults who have taken the brave leap to get into the dairy business shortly after graduation. Read more

Stray voltage by its very name and nature is a difficult entity to trace. And when it is suspected of causing harm on a dairy, it can be a testy condition to eliminate. Such was the case at Bollant Farms in southwest Wisconsin. According to published reports, the Bollant family dairy farm had not one, but two separate stray voltage issues. Read more

Air quality researchers in California’s San Joaquin Valley got an unexpected surprise recently when they accidentally discovered that what comes out of cows may not deserve nearly as much blame for the area’s high ozone levels as it's been getting.

Instead, a bigger culprit may be what goes into them. Read more

There was a 30 percent drop in the value of milk marketed by dairy farmers last year, according to the USDA-NASS publication, Milk Production, Disposition, and Income released last week. That was a drop of more than $10.5 billion. The value of milk and cream sold in 2008 was $34.85 billion. The number for 2009 was $24.34 billion. Read more

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We're hearing about more and more young adults heading back to the farm. No doubt dairy's economic woes in recent years were on their mind. However, there is just something about working with cows and family every day and seeing the family farm continue its legacy. Read more