I’ve recently read Charles Dickens’ last novel, Our Mutual Friend, published in 1865. It opens with a section titled, “The cup and the lip.”

Fats are added to diets to raise energy density. During hot weather, they may be included in rations as a way to combat heat stress

Our industry is increasingly global on many levels, yet we often do not grasp what is happening (or what we could learn) outside of our driveway, state, or region

Weaning is the most important transition a calf has to go through before she enters the milking herd, and it is a nutritionally and socially stressful time

Tree bark and wood are robust analogies for the impact that lignin has within plant cell walls. Lignin is a structural component of plant cell walls, nested within both acid detergent (ADF) and neutral...

The prevalence of bovine leukemia virus (BLV) in U.S. dairy cattle was about 10 percent in the 1970s. Since then, that number has slowly climbed to approximately 45 percent of all dairy cattle infected

Unfortunately, Klebsiella mastitis has become more common in the U.S., and it can now be considered a widespread mastitis pathogen in the environment

in a previous column, I discussed a project that was developed to explore genetic diversity and to re-establish two lost Holstein paternal lineages

Bill challenged me at a meeting about his high-producing Holstein herd (over 29,000 pounds of milk) with the question, “Do you have data that allows me to evaluate my herd to the national dairy...

About 38 years ago, the first prostaglandin (PGF) product was introduced into the U.S. market

Cows being fed corn silage often tell two different tales when changing from old to new crop silage. In some years, the story is positive with a resulting uptick in animal health and performance. At o

Wiersma is the alfalfa business manager with DuPont Pioneer. Thomas is retired from the William H. Miner Agricultural Research Institute and president of Oak Point Agronomics Ltd. Soil fertility is an

It is generally agreed that a freestall pen of cows should have adequate feedbunk or manger space (one lockup or sufficient rail), generous water trough access, and a bed for each cow

There’s a lot of interest in sulfur fertilization these days. Environmental efforts to reduce air pollution have been highly successful, and much less sulfur is now deposited on cropland via precipitation

As the incidence of mastitis caused by contagious pathogens continues to drop, there has been a greater focus on environmental pathogens and their association with mastitis and milk quality

Robotic milking systems are becoming more popular. The obvious potential benefits of these systems include reduced labor expenses, additional milking frequency for higher milk yield per cow, and improved...

Transition cow care plays a significant role in the success of dairy operations. Every cow goes through the transition period at least once during its productive life; for that reason, improved transi

Feed costs make up the largest expense on most dairy farms. Forage production and the affiliated cost to grow, harvest, and store forage is a significant portion of the feed costs

In 1979, the first prostaglandin product, commercially known as Lutalyse, came to the marketplace. It allowed veterinarians and farmers new opportunities to manage the estrous cycle by i

Years ago, the barnyard was a common feature on a farmstead raising dairy animals. Before the days of indoor plumbing, there were no water bowls in the dairy stables and the cows were turned out twice