4-H members promote chocolate milk in winning presentation. Hand out the research, spend money on television ads and speak about healthy food choices, but there is something special about hearing the same...
With strong milk prices, farms may wish to bring more cows in to help fill the bulk tank. Outlets for purchasing dairy cattle are plentiful, but so are the disease risks new animals can bring to your herd
Comparisons are often made between organic and conventionally managed dairy operations. Whether it's the nutritional value of milk or the health of the herd, efforts are made to tease out differences and...
Yes, there is a "price penalty" for dairying in California, as noted in the June 23 Hoard's Dairyman Intel "A price penalty for dairying in California." The current California system is the penalty. The...
This volatile business of milking cows has rewarded many of its caretakers with handsome returns. We always must remember this is a business demands a great deal of capital, planning, time and good old-fashioned...
Another round of expansion at Hilmar Cheese Company's processing facility in Dalhart, Texas, has been announced by the dairy farmer-owned firm. Two major expansions of the plant have already been done...
In California's third year of historic drought, the price of water on the open market is being pushed to staggering levels that scream what a bargain farmers have enjoyed forever. It also raises the question...
Fifty years after its formation, the Red and White Dairy Cattle Association (RWDCA) returned to its roots by hosting its 2014 national convention in Elkhorn, Wis
It takes brains, dedication and determination to run a farm of any kind. It also costs money, and, in 2013, farmers spent even more than they did the year before. The USDA's National Agricultural Statistics...
The newest edition of Dairy Statistics Annual from the California Department of Food and Agriculture suggests that the Golden State's stunning milk growth days are over. According to the report: After...
What ration do your cows eat? The ration created on paper often differs from the one that is delivered, consumed and digested. Only when we deliver a consistent ration and cows consume it according to...
Beef prices remain at record highs, in part, because the U.S. has the smallest combined beef and dairy herd since 1951. While it's true there were only 87.7 million head of cattle on inventory this past...
Multiple component pricing has the potential to raise the value of producer milk in the pool. The magnitude of the increase will depend on the solids-nonfat and utilization of milk in manufacturing classes
The top 25 counties are now home to one-third of the nation's entire dairy herd. That compares to one-fifth of the cows just 20 years ago. With 489,436 cows in the most recent U.S. Census of Agriculture,...
Can the United States and other countries meet their needs? A staggering picture of just how big China's demand for dairy products already is – and how much bigger it is expected to be in less than...
A common strategy for spending available dollars on the farm is investing it close to the milk parlor. Areas that tend to get the most attention are the ones that directly affect milk production such as...
It takes preventative strategies and early detection to keep cows walking comfortably on all four feet. Do lame cows get better on their own? According to Gerard Cramer, D.V.M, associate professor from...
It's sadly ironic to say that public frustration with California's epic drought is a fluid situation. Mandatory water use cutbacks, brown lawns, "water cops" who fine violators, rapidly drying reservoirs...
Recombinant bovine somatotropin (rBST) has a long history of both use and disuse in the U.S. "Since commercial sales began in 1994, rBST has been given to approximately 35 million cows," noted Dale Bauman,...
