The dairy business is part of the agriculture commodity community. An agriculture commodity means the raw product looks the same no matter where it is produced around the world. Corn looks like corn whether...

Calf jackets can provide much needed warmth for young animals on cold days. A few mild days in the Midwest made it feel like spring was on the way, but since it is only February, we can be fairly certain...

It is no easy feat to manage labor on farms today. Owners sometimes struggle to recruit and keep talented employees, just as many businesses and industries across the country face the same challenges

"Dairy provides one of the best returns on invested capital," said Doug Adams, president of the Prime Consulting Group. "Only produce, bakery and deli outshine dairy for those in the grocery business."

Type and production are partners in extreme production. Last month it was announced that Bur-Wall Buckeye Gigi produced 74,650 pounds of milk. That equates to 8,680 gallons of milk and set the single lactation...

Major renovations will be made to the Oklahoma State University Dairy thanks to a generous gift from a former student. Who would have thought that a love story from years past would lead to new state-of-the-art...

Handy Hint: February 25, 2016 PVC pipes track calf feeding Keeping track of which calves get fed milk twice per day, once or not at all is handled rather easily for the calf feeders at Paint Creek Heifers...

California is the nation's top exporter. One day each week, every U.S. cow produces milk destined for a consumer outside of America's borders. While that statement is accurate, cows in California are working...

Milk checks depend more on butter. From the time milk leaves the cows until the time it leaves the farm, dairy farmers see the milk they produce as a single liquid product. But they know that it's actually...

Not since the end of the USDA's Whole Herd Buyout Program has dairy cow culling surpassed that of their beef cow cousins. However, that is exactly what happened in 2015 as beef producers retained cows...

When is the last time you updated your vaccination program? Vaccinations are a great weapon against common ailments faced by dairy animals from pneumonia to mastitis, and they can be effectively used on...

Farms with more cows prove that animal welfare is still a priority. The average herd size for dairy farms in the United States keeps growing while the number of farms continues to decline. This trend is...

Handy Hint: February 10, 2016 Get little helpers ready for barn chores For most farm moms, the worst part of taking little ones out to the barn is getting them ready. It can take half as long as chores...

Young calves demand much care and patience. My two siblings and I grew up showing Holsteins, and from the time I was pretty young, I seemed to be the one who always ended up showing the flighty animals....

It turns out two semitrailers of cheese stolen on January 15 and January 22 never left the Badger State at all. In the Marshfield, Wis., case, investigators received a tip that the cheese was in Grand...

"I am going to sound like a broken record, but, if it is a good idea to regroup or feed differently, why aren't you already doing it?" asked Donny Rollin when discussing potential changes to feeding and...

The Holstein breed would look different without the influence of Roy Ormiston. As dairy producers, we can all appreciate the power of a single generation or a single cow to alter the course of genetic...

"We are very fortunate to have a great team of employees at Prairie Dairy. We endeavor to hold milking classes multiple times per year to assure that we are correctly and consistently performing our milking...

In less than the course of a week, two semi loads of cheese were stolen from storage facilities in what authorities believe are unrelated events located about 190 miles apart. However, investigations are...

In routinely denouncing mainstream agriculture and its associated food systems, Chipotle Mexican Grill has become entangled in its own spider web of contradictions. It turns out that it is far easier for...