Roughly 40 years ago, I stood holding a bottle of calcium, disciplining myself to slowly drip it into the cow’s jugular vein while monitoring its heart rate. I certainly did not want to add to Jack’s...

In the last 11 years, the world dairy market has been hit by three major downturns and had two milk price booms. In early 2017, the latest world milk price crisis came to an end

Not too long ago, my siblings and I finalized our late parents’ estate. It has been a long journey from the time our mother passed away six years ago. Eighteen months later, we moved our dad o

There are certain times of year when we use a lot of hoses, and we used to struggle with how to store them when not in use

At Dan and Wendy Flood’s dairy farm in Oakfield, Wis., screws have been inserted into some of the wooden fence posts around their pastures. When it is time for the cows to come in for milking

I have to admit, I have a love-hate thing going on with exercise. I love the way I feel when I exercise, but it takes a tremendous amount of dedication, time, and energy for me to stick with a program

China’s record level of dairy imports in 2014 has given dairy producers the impression that the Asian country will be a major buyer of dairy products on world markets into the future

There is good reason that state leaders place so much energy recruiting dairy farms to their region. That’s because our businesses represent significant economic engines that generate jobs and comme

Building on the good financials from just one year earlier, Dairy Farmers of America (DFA) posted its second consecutive year of record income. During the past fiscal year, the cooperative earned $132

We have to carry our milk bottles to the calf barn and, unfortunately, sometimes one or two bottles would get spilled. We decided to build a cart to transport the bottles

The day that most kids wait for finally came for my Jersey squad. No, we didn’t go to Disney World — we got a puppy! “I’ve waited my entire life for this to happen!”

An important part of running any business is finding enterprises that complement each other. For one Michigan dairy farm, potatoes and cows have been the perfect pair. The VanDrese

As anyone who is involved in dairy farming knows, mastitis can be a very frustrating disease. It sounds simple enough to keep mastitis-causing organisms away from the teat canal when it is open, but

Transferring a dairy farm to the next generation can be complicated. No one wants to make it difficult; however, there are a lot of assets on the balance sheet. Terms and agreements in writing m

I was working on a school project of restoring a John Deere 4250 tractor. While operating other tractors, I would get tired of cleaning windshields off from mud flying off of the front tir

Tight margins that ranged from $5.76 to $9.17 per hundredweight after feed costs were among the reasons that 1,725 dairy farmers exited the industry last year. Those business closings were only

The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) just celebrated its 23rd birthday. NAFTA is a three-country trade accord negotiated between the North American countries that include Canada, Mexi

Not everyone likes Mondays. I do because it is preg check day at our Kansas State Dairy. It is the culmination of a lot of effort made by everyone on the dairy farm

Marilyn Hershey You will never see me climb up the side of a silo or shimmy up a ladder to the barn roof. I like both feet on solid, unwavering ground

On our dairy we use 50-pound bag shavings, which are stacked on a pallet for delivery. It’s a four-hour drive by semitruck to our location. When tying them down, bags used to rip from the tie-