Regarding the California FMMO piece, don't forget that the USDA is by no means obliged to give California the order language proposed by the three cooperatives. The Agricultural Marketing Agreements Act...

When it comes to milk production and meeting the needs of its citizens, 27 states fall short of even producing enough milk to fill beverage demand. Those states each produce less than 300 pounds of milk...

It's hard to see the good ones go, but culling is an inevitable part of having a dairy and an important herd management tool. For decades, the Dairy Herd Information Association (DHIA) has been collecting...

Dairies' first step in settling Washington manure case could ultimately have a huge effect on farmers nationwide. A few answers - and one huge question - have already emerged in the wake of the landmark...

Hoof trimming has become a Formula 1 race. Yet, it's not about how many cows can be trimmed in a day. It's about preventing lameness. As with any profession, hoof trimmers need to be paid for a job well...

Dairy retained a prominent position in the just-released dietary guidelines aimed at helping Americans develop healthy eating patterns. And there is good reason for that - vitamin D, calcium, potassium...

During the past decade, milk flow grew by 29.2 billion pounds or 3.4 billion gallons in the United States. That represented a growth rate of 16.5 percent over the previous 10 years, according to USDA data...

Assuming that things will go smoothly is assuming a lot. On the surface, California's February 4 request to the USDA to implement a statewide Federal Milk Marketing Order (FMMO) looks like an easy slam-dunk

This year has the potential to be a good one for organic dairy. First of all, organic sales are climbing, and organic dairy products seem to be flying off the shelves. Sales of organic whole milk grew...

"The day your cows calve, they need to have on the best running shoes that you can give them," noted Karl Burgi, Sure Step Consulting, at the Leading Dairy Producers Conference. "If a cow is lame at transition...

by Corey Geiger, Managing Editor Record milk checks received by U.S. dairy producers was a principal reason that the smallest number of dairy famers left the dairy business since tracking of commercial...

Groups like the Humane Society of the U.S. (HSUS) have long courted support among company shareholders with the hope of furthering its "vegan and no-more-eating-animals" agenda. Typically, these corporate...

Everything about farming - equipment, machinery, herd size, technology - seems to have grown except for the number of people doing the work. In a short time span of just five years, from 2007 to 2012,...

It makes sense that herds with a standardized milking routine would have much lower rates of clinical mastitis. Yet, many parlors lack the consistency cows crave. "The people we depend on in the parlor...

Credibility of the source makes or breaks a message. Which is why it is impossible to understand why the public hasn't yet decided that the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) is a joke when it...

USDA economists projected nearly a 5,000-pound gain in milk per cow over the next decade in the publication USDA Agricultural Projections to 2024. That would mean the average U.S. cow would be producing...

I have wondered the same thing mentioned in the February 2, 2015, Hoard's Dairyman Intel item "Reader Response: Is organic sustainable?" I have tried the organic thing on a small, 10-acre piece of land...

"California voters have egg on their faces," in the February 2, 2015, Hoard's Dairyman Intel, generated a great deal of interest. What follows are readers' comments on the item. - The Editors Most of the...

Soon-to-calve dairy replacement prices were $10 shy of an even $2,000 per head in USDA's latest Agricultural Prices published this January. The $1,990 price was a quoted average for the nation's leading...

Poor nutrition and lack of physical activity among children have been hot-button issues long before First Lady Michelle Obama raised the flag of concern six years ago. However, the First Lady's efforts...