One of the buzzwords was "body size" at the recent national genetics conference in Tempe, Ariz. There are two components to the body size equation - stature and strength (width)
Landwise, rural American counties make up 72 percent of the nation's surface area. In terms of people, just 15 percent of the population lived in these counties last year. Population growth in nonmetro...
Fertility isn't just for cows by Amanda Smith, Associate Editor is vital, noted Eric Young, in a recent Miner Institute Farm Report. As in the cow, achieving maximum soil fertility requires a balanced...
Agronomists say that for all the plant growth you see above ground, there is an equivalent root mass found underneath the soil's surface supplying plants with life-giving nutrients. This living, breathable...
China and India's practices leapfrog a generation Farmers in the world's two most populous countries are updating production practices at a rapid pace. Even so, this modernization effort isn't without...
We've been indoctrinated with the five C's to give calves their best possible start. Colostrum tops this list, followed by calories, cleanliness, comfort and consistency. Despite the order we've all been...
Before there were digital cameras and Photoshop software, print film and negatives dominated the world of cattle photography. That left less margin for error when taking cows photos. In addition to being...
The latest Hoard's Dairyman bull list has many new names on it. That is in large part due to the accelerated progress being made in genetics these days. The threshold to even crack the Top 50 Net Merit...
Renae Konkler Scheiderer always read the personal classifieds in her dad's Hoard's Dairyman for giggles. However, in the April 25, 2000, issue, one ad caught her eye. Al Scheiderer had given his email...
I just read "Genomic bulls still have inflated grades" in the March 24 Hoard's Dairyman Intel. The industry's genetic improvement programs are delivering cows that produce higher percentages of components....
Reader Response: Genomics better, not perfect Good piece on genomics, "Genomic bulls still have inflated grades," in the March 24 Hoard's Dairyman Intel. It reminds me of the long-term study of Ben McDaniel,...
Bob Miller and Frank Regan are among the most respected people among dairy cattle breeders. Both purchased franchise cows early in their careers, transformed the Holstein breed and became household names...
What's your flood risk? by Amanda Smith, Associate Editor We've been stuck in a weather holding pattern. Some of us have been subjected to extreme cold and blizzard-like conditions for the last five months,...
At $20.06 per hundredweight, the 2013 mailbox price series posted the second-highest mark since USDA first gathered prices in 1995. Mailbox prices matter to every dairy producer because those values reflect...
Most of us grew up being taught that there was one gene and two alleles involved in the coat color of our Holsteins . . . with the black allele being dominant over the recessive red allele
To treat or not to treat is a question whose answer once seemed obvious: treat every clinical mastitis case found, and treat every cow at dry-off. But things have changed. Public perception is intensifying...
We don't have to look to a third-world country to find a hungry population. Hunger is here in our own backyards. With 49 million hungry people in the U.S., it is likely you are touched by food insecurity...
"Beef is in the global marketplace," reminded University of Wisconsin-Madison Animal Sciences Department Chairman Dan Schaefer. Depending whether it is beef, pork or poultry, about 10 to 25 percent is...
More than 15 percent of U.S. milk was exported in 2013. That equates to one out of every seven U.S. tanker loads of milk being turned into products destined for overseas
