These days, disruption in business and everyday life is beginning to feel like the norm. Threats from extreme weather and vulnerabilities from a stretched workforce add stress to the usual variables f

What have two banking experts learned through decades of helping farm families transition their businesses?“You can’t start soon enough,” was one piece of advice Brad Guse offered during...

Inflation. Interest rates. Recession.Those are among the many elements that business and government leaders are trying to balance to keep the economy moving forward. Earlier this week, the U.S. Labor

For businesses such as farms to remain healthy, they must be resilient. This means having the ability to adapt to changing circumstances in a way that keeps the operation running smoothly and profitab

One major difference between a stack of manure and a compost pile is that the composting process takes place under controlled conditions. “That is the key distinction,” said field ag engineer...

In the winter months, people often take extra precautions against illnesses like the flu or the common cold because they understand the benefits of staying healthy. Every farmer knows that simple on-f

In a cow’s perfect world, over 80% of rumination should occur when the cow is lying down. The technical terms would be sternal recumbency and recumbent rumination. Resting with the sternum, or breas

In 2021, cheese and butter absorbed 60.5% of all dairy fat in 2021. Cheese topped the list, according to USDA data, at 42.1%. Meanwhile, butter accounted for 18.3% of all dairy fat coming from U.S. da

The practice of treating all dairy cows with intramammary antibiotics at the time of dry-off has been a successful management strategy for decades. Dry cow therapy has been proven to cure existing mas

For both crops and animals, timing often means everything on a farm. Following the appropriate timeline can be the difference between a healthy outcome and one that fails. On the cow side, that means

Feeding prepartum diets with a negative dietary cation-anion difference (DCAD) to close-up dry cows is a practice used frequently to reduce the risk of hypocalcemia postpartum. The DCAD is determined

There have been a lot of discussions this year about possible changes to the milk pricing system with dairy cooperatives within the National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF) aligning on a set of propo

What do you think the fastest growing segment is among the U.S. population?If you guessed Gen Z . . . you’d be wrong. Instead, it is the other end of the age spectrum – adults 85 and older....

It was purely coincidence that the recent Sustainable Agriculture Summit took place in Glendale, Ariz., a city in Maripoca County, which happens to be the county projected to lose the most farmland in

The first best day of Don Niles’ dairy career was when the first of his clients installed self-locking headlocks. As a veterinarian, that simple tool made herd checks a lot easier and safer for both

On Tuesday, December 6, nearly 79 million dairy animals will receive updated U.S. genetic evaluations – commonly called “proofs.” The Council on Dairy Cattle Breeding (CDCB) delivers...

At $3.3720 per pound, the five-month run that saw the federal order butterfat price set new monthly records from June to October ended in November 2022 milk checks. However, the November $3.3720 per p

As we approach the end of the year, farmers may be reviewing their income tax obligations and marketing plans or completing a business or enterprise analysis. A successful farm manager is already keep

Moving a cow out of the fresh pen and into the general herd population might allow a farm manager to breathe a small sigh of relief that the cow has made a successful transition. And while that is an

The potential to develop and publish U.S. genetic evaluations for milking speed is being explored by USDA Animal Genomics & Improvement Laboratory (AGIL) and the Council on Dairy Cattle Breeding (