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Feb. 22 2012
We attended the Illinois Agricultural Communications Symposium last week, organized in honor of the University of Illinois Ag Communications' 50-year anniversary. The daylong event started off with a...
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Feb. 21 2012
The twin combo of more milk per cow and a larger dairy herd pushed up milk production last year. When looking at the year-end statistics released by USDA, cow numbers went up 75,000-head or 0.8 percent...
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Feb. 17 2012
Mud, sun, warmth, cold, crowds, and fun were all part of the familiar mix at World Ag Expo last week in Tulare, Calif. But it's what was not there that was the show's biggest dairy story. If 2009 was...
Feb. 16 2012
Patriotism shined bright at the Ag Warriors Gala at World Ag Expo in Tulare, Calif., last evening. It marked the official launch of the International Agri-Center's Ag Warriors Program which will benefit...
Feb. 15 2012
Still learning Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and LinkedIn? Pinterest has come to take its own space on the web. Facebook and Twitter have virtually taken over the world as text-based ways to communicate...
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Feb. 14 2012
Based on a record of 91,028 lactations, the Jersey breed set new category records for pounds of milk, fat, and protein. In 2011, the breed averaged 18,633 pounds of milk, 889 pounds of fat, and 676 pounds...
Feb. 13 2012
In recent weeks, the silence following the October 2011 gathering of the Council on Dairy Cattle Breeding (CDCB) was broken when Dave Thorbahn shared a Frequently Asked Questions article with the dairy...
Feb. 12 2012
Milkfat depression (MFD) has a major economic impact in the dairy industry. “The current train of thought links MFD with the formation of bioactive trans fatty acid intermediates produced from...
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Feb. 10 2012
You can explain risk management and its potential benefits to milk producers all day long, but if they go away thinking it's too expensive or too complicated, then they probably won't try it. The dairy...
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Feb. 9 2012
With a smaller-than-anticipated corn crop, how do we balance domestic, global, and industry needs for corn? The first ethanol-run vehicle was developed in Philadelphia in 1826. Therefore, we would not...
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Feb. 8 2012
Hoard's Dairyman columnist, Gary Sipiorski, reminds us why milking cows is still a worthwhile endeavor. And yes, we're talking economics. With record corn prices (resulting in record bean, alfalfa, other...
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Feb. 7 2012
Logan Bower is a leader in dairy cattle care The Beef Checkoff's annual awards were recently announced. Logan Bower, a dairy producer from Pennsylvania, earned the Dairy Beef Quality Assurance Award which...
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Feb. 6 2012
Higher culling rates have appeared to stem the robust buildup of dairy replacements by trimming inventories 41,000 head in January compared to last year's 4.57 million heifers. While that is welcomed news,...
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Feb. 3 2012
Helping nations feed themselves promotes internal stability and global security. Forget oil. For thousands of years, more wars have been fought over food and water than for any other reason. It's a history...
Feb. 1 2012
Gordie Jones, D.V.M., kept a crowd curious with the ideas he developed over the years, all in the name of improving life for the dairy cow. Cows turn right easier than they can turn left. Cows move faster...
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Jan. 31 2012
Recent studies show drinking milk enhances the cognitive brain activity of dairy consumers. We've heard the time-tested slogan "Milk, it does a body good!" Well, new research from the University of Maine...
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Jan. 30 2012
Demand was so strong for the cover crop that seed inventory sold-out last year. "I conducted my initial research on cover crops and literally had to beg to get on agenda's at crop meetings," recalled University...
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Jan. 27 2012
Hip, hip hooray! Now let's do it again. Class III producer milk prices set an all-time record average of $18.37 per hundredweight in 2011. The old record was $18.04, set in 2007. Unfortunately, record...
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Jan. 26 2012
"Alfalfa and grass aren't the same, but they can be complementary to each other," noted Jim Paulson with the University of Minnesota. Paulson along with Paul Peterson, University of Minnesota, shared...
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Jan. 25 2012
"Agriculture has been insulated from the forces battering the general economy. I expect that to continue in the coming year," says the University of Wisconsin Madison's economist Bruce Jones at the University's...