winter
Blog
Feb. 21 2017
Is it just me or do the last few weeks of winter seem like the longest? You get a little break, maybe a couple days of gorgeous sunshine, and then the next storm blows in
Calif cows_ph
Article
Feb. 20 2017
Valentine’s Day last week saw the next interesting phase on what may or may not ultimately become the nation’s largest Federal Milk Marketing Order (FMMO)
California_ph1
Article
Feb. 13 2017
“This Recommended Decision proposes the issuance of a Federal Milk Marketing Order (FMMO) regulating the handling of milk in California.”
170210_99-travel-hutch
Article
Feb. 10 2017
I made this calf box to move calves from the hutches over to the group pen. This box sits on the front of our skid loader using the pallet fork. It makes moving calves more fun than leading them
Oetzel_ph
Article
Feb. 6 2017
It’s an important question about an important topic that tends to be very underappreciated, says Garrett (Gary) Oetzel, D.V.M
IMG_0516_R
Blog
Jan. 31 2017
If there’s one thing dairy farmers know well, it’s that when prices go up, they’ll surely come back down
young_cows_ph1
Article
Jan. 30 2017
“We need to look at dairy heifers like a beef operation,” Elanco’s John Lee told attendees at the Dairy Cattle Reproduction Council’s annual gathering in Columbus, Ohio. “Dairy...
IMG_2888
Blog
Jan. 18 2017
The Golden State is known worldwide as a top producer of hundreds of crops and commodities. Due to the rich, abundant soil and ideal, long growing season, California farmers and ranchers have benefited
170110_hh-tape-on-hutch
Article
Jan. 10 2017
At Vir-Clar Farm in Fond du Lac, Wis., co-owner and calf manager Katie Grinstead uses a system of colored duct tape to communicate with calf feeders. Different colored duct tape attached t
170109_ph3
Article
Jan. 9 2017
California producers accounted for 33 percent of directly marketed food sales in 2015 and made up 9 percent of all operations that use direct marketing. These results came from the inaugural USDA Loca
twins
Blog
Jan. 3 2017
My kids went back to school today after their Christmas vacation, but our other Christmas break is still going. Our other Christmas break is a six-week break from calving
161226_ph4
Article
Dec. 26 2016
Most agricultural lenders and other input suppliers from multiple regions of the country are telling me that they are seeing signs of financial stress
161226_ph1
Article
Dec. 26 2016
While the Republicans control the House of Representatives, the Senate, and the Oval Office on the national scene, the opposite holds true in California
161219_ph1
Article
Dec. 19 2016
The “white wave of milk” that swamped California dairy cooperatives for decades is gone.Rapid expansion that began in the Golden State in the 1970s came with a 24/7 problem for co-ops
1612_748-corn-N
Article
Dec. 16 2016
Wiersma is the alfalfa business manager with DuPont Pioneer. Thomas is retired from the William H. Miner Agricultural Research Institute and president of Oak Point Agronomics Ltd. Nit
1612_742-bottle-feeding
Article
Dec. 15 2016
A dairy feeder calf is a young (1 to 14 days of age), often male, calf that leaves the dairy farm to enter the red meat industry
1612_737-calves
Article
Dec. 15 2016
Farms that utilize medicated milk replacer or calf starter should make adjustments now before the Veterinary Feed Directive (VFD) takes effect on January 1
calving
Blog
Dec. 5 2016
I received one of my favorite types of texts from my dad this weekend. It was a photo of a pitch black, newly born Holstein heifer out of one of my cows. Just the way I like them!
calf_ph4
Article
Nov. 28 2016
Likened to a sieve, the digestive tract of a newborn calf is a catch-22 for everything in its environment. Immunoglobulins, nutrients, and bacteria alike have free rein in the digestive tract
1611_703-table2
Article
Nov. 15 2016
One of the most important economic factors that determines a milking herd’s profitability is the average days in milk (DIM). That parameter obviously depends on getting the cow pregnant early