With spring approaching, runoff concerns come to mind for many dairy farmers around the country. Managing or redirecting the water that could run to or through manure storage facilities and confined animal...
It has long been dogma that people should restrict their saturated fat intake in order to reduce their heart disease risk. Dietary sources of saturated fat commonly include red meat and high-fat dairy...
Handy Hint: March 25, 2014 Belt keeps knives out of pockets and within reach After ruining several pairs of overalls during hoof trimming by placing my knives into the pockets, I finally came up with a...
It's a refreshing new trend: farmers and lawmakers saying "no" to groups that think they are entitled to obtaining private information about farmers and then making it public
Thirty years ago, dairy representatives wanted a way to promote the positive image of the industry. Their ideas brought forth the Northeast Dairy Farm Beautification Program. At that time it included the...
A variety of people are choosing organic foods, leaving an upside of opportunity for organic dairy production. Organic sales are driven by people wanting to make better choices. Organic is one of those...
Each year, our art director Ryan Ebert travels to different dairy regions across the country to gather images for Hoard's Dairyman. These images eventually find their way into articles for the magazine...
"Customers simply expect that we take good care of our cows," said Jennifer Walker, director of dairy stewardship at Dean Foods, during her presentation at the UW-Extension Dairy Well-Being Conference...
Even though Livestock Gross Margin-Dairy Insurance (LGM-Dairy) only first came on the scene in 2008, it quickly became an effective tool to minimize milk price risk for a small group of the nation's dairy...
Everyone struggles with taking time away from their daily workload to attend a conference, but it's especially difficult for some dairy farmers to hand the reins over for a few days
Fearmongers no doubt hate this: in the 20 years since rBST was commercially approved in the U.S., scientific evidence of its safety to humans has become even more overwhelming. This was the blunt take-home...
There was generally good news for U.S. dairy producers with the release of USDA's World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) report on February 10. On the input side, feed costs are going to...
Real dairy history took place when the President signed the new farm bill into law this past February. That momentous shift included the elimination of three underperforming dairy programs. Gone are dairy...
Like many of you, the Hoard's Dairyman Farm met its match this winter. Amidst frozen feed, frozen pipes and a few calves lost too soon, we've battled unpredicted and unforeseen cold. And, as every member...
Bulldozers are busy again in California's Chino Valley. It's the resumption of the sad but inevitable end to what for decades was the center of the dairy world. The remnants of what used to be a sea of...
Stray voltage is still lurking around the countryside, said Doug Reinemann, University of Wisconsin-Madison milking equipment specialist, when he spoke at the Midwest Rural Energy Conference last week....
The Hoard Farm team, headed up by Jason Yurs, continues to be pleased with the performance our Jersey herd. This group was evaluated by a pair of American Jersey Cattle Association appraisers on a very...
Soil sampling do's and don'ts. A soil analysis is only as good as the sample on which it was based. Therefore, sampling should be done by either the farm's crop consultant
Take a stand for cows that can't Down cows deserve special care to bring them back to health or, if necessary, to a humane end. by Geof W. Smith, D.V.M. The author is at the College of Veterinary Medicine,...
The problems with the public perception of GMOs are difficult to deal with, as noted in the February 17 Hoard's Dairyman Intel item, "Food E-Vangelists don't want truth on GMOs." As the article says, it...
