As printed in our May 10, 2013 issue... FDA SOMATIC-CELL LIMIT to stay at 750,000, based on action at National Conference on Interstate Milk Shipments. Delegates voted down reduction to 400,000 by a vote...
Five classes of dairy cows are featured on the covers of our January through March 10 issues, representing five of the dairy breeds. Click the cover image to see the official placing for the class, the...
In this class of 5-year-old Jersey cows, I placed them A B C D. Starting the class with an easy winner, A has the best udder and most style of all the cows in the class. A uses her advantage in higher...
I placed this tremendous class of Ayrshire aged cows A B D C. Two well-balanced cows with outstanding mammary systems head this class with A's advantage in cleanness throughout placing her over B. In this...
I placed this great class of Red and Whites C B A D. C tops the class fairly easy for me. C wins with the combination of her dairy strength and the fact that she has the best udder in the class. C has...
C B D A is my placing in this fine class of 3-year-old Holstein cows. Certainly, a handy winner in C as she has the best udder in the class, being higher, wider and fuller at the top of her rear udder...
I place this class of Brown Swiss aged cows D B C A. D leads out the class and places over B on her overall strength, power and balance throughout. D is deeper in the chest and heart, has more body capacity...
Simple welds secure sliding barn door I made this holder for our pole barn door by first putting a hollow pipe 2 feet long in the ground at the center of the door. Then I took a pipe that fit inside and...
As printed in our April 25, 2013 issue... REVERSING COURSE, NASS WILL PUBLISH partial Milk Production estimates for the remainder of its fiscal year by gleaning data from various administrative reports....
As printed in our April 10, 2013 issue... ROBUST WORLD DAIRY PRICES have caused futures markets in the states to move upward. From March 11 to 26, April-to-October Class III futures rose by an average...
Glove box rack made from old calf pen panels I made this simple and inexpensive glove box holder out of calf panels that were so bent we couldn't use them any more. I cut the pieces to my desired length...
As printed in our March 25, 2013 issue... GLOBAL PRODUCT PRICES ARE ROBUST. In early March trading, the eight-product mix climbed 10 percent to $1.91 per pound. However, the global auction hasn't translated...
Plastic barrel holds entire milking set The farm at Mississippi State University, Starkville, Miss., needed a way to hold milk meters when they weren't using them. They were able to fit over a dozen in...
Despite a slowdown the last six months, 2012 still turned out to be another record-setting export year for the U.S. dairy industry. The biggest achievement was a new record for the total value of dairy...
As printed in our March 10, 2013 issue... JANUARY MILK ROSE 0.5 PERCENT nationwide over a year ago. Cows fell 17,000 (-0.2 percent) from last January. However, the national herd has grown three consecutive...
Grader makes great feed scraper We needed something to scrape up feed on our farm and had this three-point grader blade that we no longer used. We welded a short piece of angle iron onto our skidloader...
Safer calf hauler After seeing some great adaptations of chemical totes for calf haulers in the Handy Hints' section, we tried our own. Hoard's Dairyman Farm staff folded one section of plastic down and...
According to data just released by the American Jersey Cattle Association (AJCA), the number of Jerseys on Dairy Herd Information(DHI) test in 2012 rose for the ninth straight year and their actual average...
As printed in our February 25, 2013 issue... FOR THE 21ST STRAIGHT YEAR, cheese production posted a new record. It rose 2.5 percent (unadjusted for leap year) to 10.86 billion pounds. AT 244.8 MILLION...