The triple combination of sedentary technology such as video games and the internet, reduced physical activity, and eating poor diets are just some of the contributing factors causing over one-third of...
It is early February and we are just about at the half-way point in the 81st Hoard's Dairyman Cow Judging Contest. So far in 2011, you have seen the Brown Swiss and Holstein classes on our January issue...
Like many of us in the dairy business, our roots are planted deep in history. Not only did Dad grow up on a dairy farm and milk cows daily, but so did Grandpa. That story was true for Bill Payne of Knob...
Meeting in Arlington, Va., near the nation's capital, the 50th Annual Meeting of the National Mastitis Council was both festive and productive. There was plenty of fun and reminiscing sprinkled amid the...
The FAO's "Livestock's Long Shadow" shrinks dramatically in new estimates. The carbon footprint of food production is under more scrutiny at the regional, national, and international levels than ever before....
The demand for corn continues to grow due, in part, to the federal government's ethanol mandate and the world's growing population. As this occurs, corn growers are planting the crop on land that is not...
Each winter, we start to receive this call, "Hey Doc, I have 10- to 14-day-old calves that are dying and nothing I treat them with works." When we visit the farm, we see thin, weak calves that are scouring,...
Most people would agree that dehorning cattle not only protects animals from each other, but it also protects employees who work with them. While dehorning, the process of removing horn buds from a calf,...
In recent weeks, we've sadly heard of several barn collapses in the upper Midwest. Each of the barns that failed was bearing an extreme snow load due to an overly white Christmas we had in this part of...
Rising corn prices mean higher feed bills for dairy producers, which is why a recent forecast about global oil demand points to the possibility of higher milk production costs in 2011. Connecting the dots...
Building a new barn may seem like a glamorous idea. Eventually, you may end up with a sparkly, beautiful new barn, but not until going through countless stressful decisions. What size will the stalls be?...
The holidays are usually spent with family and friends,sharing stories and reminiscing about recent activities. If you have a small holiday gathering with just those you work with, you will likely learn...
USDA just announced they are set to publish their 2,300-plus page Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) in the Federal Register, nearly four years after U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer halted the sale...
Yesterday, the U.S. Senate approved (81 to 19) the big tax package that extends Bush-era tax rates and includes a number of other measures. One of those measures would extend the Volumetric Ethanol Excise...
In order to get a better idea on how A.I. is used on farms, we developed a survey asking producers a variety of questions about it. The questionnaire was distributed by University of Wisconsin Extension...
Do you remember what it was like in 2008 . . . when corn and other feed costs were really high, but the milk price also was quite high? Well, I think that 2011 is going to feel a lot like that except without...
Years of repeated tillage and equipment traffic have left many farm soils compacted. In some cases, this compaction can cause water to pond and also lead to shallow root depths which limit crop yields....
When a cow's intake of energy does not meet her energy needs for maintenance and milk production, she begins to burn fat as an energy source. One common form of ketosis (Type I) occurs when a cow is in...
