When it comes to dry period length, are we aiming for the right target? "Most people will say ‘I dry my cows up 50 days before calving.' But how do you know when she will calve?" Jose Santos from...

Handy Hint: November 2015 Get it right the first time Hooking the hydraulic hoses to our tractor can be time consuming and frustrating. It often takes a couple trips in and out of the tractor to rearrange...

Bearish signals continue to gather as to future milk checks. Over the past five months, USDA economists have lowered their prediction for the All-Milk price by $1.45

Hoard's Dairyman Webinar Archives October 12, 2015: A crop and feed outlook for the months ahead presented by Mike Hutjens, University of Illinois, and Mike Rankin, managing editor of Hay & Forage Grower...

A newborn calf comes into the world with a bright future ahead . . . and an incomplete immune system

“A crop and feed outlook for the months ahead” reviewed forage quality and variation due to weather and other growing season challenges. It was presented by Mike Hutjens, University of Illinois,...

Judge Paulson selected his champion from the 225 Milking Shorthorns that were exhibited this year

A buyer's market, at least for the time being, has returned to the crude oil price world. The complete list of reasons why is no doubt much longer, but I'll stick to a few basic ones I understand: 1. Fuel...

The less time a cow spends in the holding pen, the more time it has to engage in productive functions

"If you are not on DHIA test or contributing other data such as classification or health data, you can use genomics, but submitting data is critical," Dan Weigel (who works in outcomes research at Zoetis)...

Members of our editorial staff spent a week enhancing their photography skills while traveling through Illinois and Missouri

Unless Congressional action is taken to clarify RCRA, the Washington state ruling on manure and its nutrients could forever change livestock production

Staying ahead of the flavored milk curve Here is some additional information to compliment the March 25, 2015, article on page 202 of Hoard's Dairyman. The Dale McClellan family knows dairying from two...

The information provided on DHIA culling in last week's Hoard's Dairyman Intel article, "Low production tops the culling list," actually comes from a report released by the Council on Dairy Cattle Breeding....

Across much of the U.S., corn silage harvest is slowly wrapping up. Poor weather conditions during last year's growing season left corn silage inventories tight for many producers. Due to this, there may...

Right now may be the most important and potentially profitable tax planning window of opportunity that dairy owners have had in years. But it's running out fast. Record Class III milk prices and drastically...

Editorial: A2 Milk -Myth, Fad or the real deal? Of the questions our staff has fielded from readers over the past year, A2 milk would rank among the most frequent. While nearly no effort has been made...

Educational games share agriculture's story. "Corn is grown in every state and on six continents." That is just one of the agriculture facts state fair attendees could learn in the American Farm Bureau's...

Ten years ago, a half-dozen straight months of Class III milk prices over $21 would have triggered epic herd expansions and new dairy construction in the West. But not this time; not even close. Still-fresh...

Time does about face on butter by Maggie Seiler, Hoard's Dairyman Editorial Intern. The campaign against fat has been widespread and sweeping, affecting consumer purchasing decisions since the 1960s