often, we do the same thing time and time again out of habit. We can get comfortable with familiar treatments and be reluctant to change, or perhaps we don’t even assess how well they are working

About this time last year, I had the notion that if I just made it to 2020, life would be so much better. I was anxious to turn the page and put 2019 behind us

We buy calf pellets in bags and transfer the pellets into 32 gallon garbage barrels for storage. Each barrel easily holds 100 pounds of pellets. The lid securely snaps on, keeping the pellets fresher

it was a beautiful fall day. Earlier that morning we had started covering the bunker silo first, and then a stack of corn silage, with plastic and tires

I am an open book. Or at least my life is an open book, or so I have been told. Through this column and in my blogs, followers get an open glimpse of my dairy farm life

this year will go down in the annals of history as one for the ages. Indeed, 2020 had both immense challenges and immense opportunities . . . both are coming to light

What am I most proud about in 2020? That was the question posed by Lucas Lentsch to dairy farm leaders of the National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF), Dairy Management Inc. (DMI), and USDEC

I began my professional career in 1980 just as a number of proven reproductive technologies arrived on the marketplace in North America

We use this homemade bucket holder made from 1-inch PVC pipes on our dairy. The shorter PVC pipes coming out of the main pipe structure hold all sorts of things. On ours, we store buckets and bottles

Decades ago, rural communities were filled with farmers who knew their neighbors and residents who knew the challenges of living near farmers

The reason the government is involved in Federal Milk Marketing Orders is because dairy farmers must sell milk every day of the year to a buyer who does not have to buy milk every day

U.S. and global dairy markets have been bizarre this year. Looking at the block cheddar cheese market on the CME confirms that story

Cattle have been converting grass and other forages into high-quality milk, meat, and fiber, and used as draft animals, pulling heavy loads for humans, for roughly 10,000 years

At our dairy farm, recently weaned calves would jump out of their pen through the feedbunk. We hooked a gate to the bunk that keeps the calves from jumping out, and the feed can still be put in

With several farms sprinkled throughout the countryside, it is not uncommon to drive down the road and see signs offering “Free kittens.”Farmers know, when there are two cats, many will quickly...

We had problems with our calf feed getting wet when it rained. We got a 15-gallon drum, put an auger in the bottom, and put it up on metal legs

What’s your life’s road map? You know, how did you get from Point A to Point B? Most of us have more than two pins on the map, or at least I do

I first attended the North East Production Medicine Symposium in 1993. Cow comfort was a major topic presented by the late Bill Bickert and a host of colleagues

There are some in our midst who continue to both belittle and bemoan dairy product exports. During a recent conversation, staff members for a rather well-known dairy farm organization went so far as t

The vast majority of our country’s population is several generations removed from farming. Most people are unfamiliar with modern production practices, yet dependent on agriculture and the food supply

When we needed an additional paper towel dispenser in our milking parlor, instead of spending money on a new one, we used an old daily newspaper box