If you were raised on a tie stall dairy, you quickly learned that a cow's appetite dropped well before her milk yield showed signs of slowing. As our industry has transitioned from this one-on-one setup,...
Most of us grew up being taught that there was one gene and two alleles involved in the coat color of our Holsteins . . . with the black allele being dominant over the recessive red allele
To treat or not to treat is a question whose answer once seemed obvious: treat every clinical mastitis case found, and treat every cow at dry-off. But things have changed. Public perception is intensifying...
Genetics, genomics and good cow sense all garnered attention at a recent national genetics workshop. The Genetic Workshop not only included discussions on breeding better cows, but attendees also brainstormed...
"How can I improve my dairy farm?" It was an unexpected question from a Ugandan dairy farmer to the group - an assembly of one Canadian, two American and 12 European farm writers touring farms in this...
February and March have brought new reminders that nondairy events almost anywhere in the world can affect milk production costs on U.S. farms. The latest examples continue to bring new price volatility...
This past year, the Northeast Federal Milk Marketing Order Administrator once again sent two calibration trucks out in the field to check whether or not on-farm bulk tanks were accurately measuring milk...
Fearmongers no doubt hate this: in the 20 years since rBST was commercially approved in the U.S., scientific evidence of its safety to humans has become even more overwhelming. This was the blunt take-home...
Like many of you, the Hoard's Dairyman Farm met its match this winter. Amidst frozen feed, frozen pipes and a few calves lost too soon, we've battled unpredicted and unforeseen cold. And, as every member...
There was a further drop in pick-up tanker milk samples testing positive for antibiotics in the United States last year . . . 445 out of 3.2 million samples, or 0.014 percent, were positive. This represents...
The MILC or Milk Income Loss Contract program was the first program that recognized that a safety net program needed to incorporate feed costs. However, MILC payments only offset 45 percent of the milk...
"If you don't want to graze your cows, at least consider rotationally grazing your heifers." That was the advice given by Larry Tranel, Iowa State Extension Dairy Specialist, at an Iowa Dairy Days meeting...
"You need science. But you never win debates on science, you win them by appealing to emotions." That recent quote from Larry Jensen, President and CEO of Leprino Foods Company, sums up the issue at hand...
Agriculture is the largest sector of many states' economies, and lawmakers in Idaho are taking an aggressive step to protect farmers against illegal trespass, clandestine and staged videos and other terrorist...
In the U.S., dry cow therapy has become a no-brainer, with a 72 percent adoption rate. It's an inherent part of our protocols to help prevent dry period infections. The same is true of Canada, where the...
If your bulk tank took a hit during the frigid weather, you were not alone. University of Illinois' Mike Hutjens conducted an informal survey of dairy producers at meetings in Illinois and Minnesota during...
Reader Response: Corporations trump farmers on trade There is no doubt whatsoever that trade benefits both parties if done correctly, as eluded to in the January 27 Hoard's Dairyman Intel item "The U.S....
Dairy quotas in the European Union end in March 2015, and onetime export heavyweight Ireland is anxious to rejoin the global marketplace. It is a nation with a long history of low-cost milk production,...
We are publishing this well-written poem by Bonnie Ayars, an Ohio dairy farm wife and The Ohio State University. We hope the poem, written in the verse and rhythm of Twas the Night Before Christmas, gets...
