Have a winter emergency plan. Winter is not just about cold weather with frozen pipes, slippery concrete and snow shoveling. High volumes of snow can lead to barn collapses. At 3:30 a.m., 70-feet of roof...
Dairy once again proved it can be a divisive issue. Reportedly, the farm bill's dairy provisions were still being hammered out just hours before the final bill was filed with the House Rules Committee....
Dairy producer attitudes towards margin insurance were revealed during a series of workshops across Missouri designed to teach producers to insure their margins. In the process, we learned that margin...
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,...
Tighter heifer management could be a window of opportunity for many herds. A heifer needs to make about 33,000 pounds of milk to repay her rearing costs, said Cheryl Marti, a dairy production specialist...
"If we took the best haplotypes (genes) from all the cows genomic tested to date, we would have a cow at $7515 Net Merit," said Paul Van Raden with USDA's Animal Improvement Programs Laboratory
The gap between milk demand and supply is widening in the world's largest country. This is a great time to be a milk producer in China. It's an even better time to be a high-quality producer. But it's...
Handy Hint: February 25, 2014 Great replacement for shoelaces My shoelaces always break due to extreme conditions around the farm, so I use weed whacker replacement string instead
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...
"If you don't want to graze your cows, at least consider rotationally grazing your heifers." That was the advice given by Larry Tranel, Iowa State Extension Dairy Specialist, at an Iowa Dairy Days meeting...
It may be time for the U.S. to rethink beef production. Why? Because consumer preferences for beef are changing, according to a Rabobank International article, "Ground Beef Nation: The Effect of Changing...
Slowly but surely, legitimate scientific groups are pushing back against questionable research and the agenda messages they peddle to consumers through a clueless media. It's a trend that farmers probably...
Popular opinion is hard to dispel, especially following decades of questionable research and misguided advice repeated all too often by medical professionals and nutritionists alike. Despite the uphill...
In late January, Hoard's Dairyman had the opportunity to speak at the University of Wisconsin Agricultural Economic Outlook Forum in Madison, Wis. While the initial conversation between Wisconsin Ag Secretary...
This year is shaping up to be a very good one for dairy farmers. The reason, without oversimplifying much at all, is this: The entire planet is short of milk, not so short on feed, and the situation is...
While it's not time to make hay just yet, it is time to get the wheels in motion for this year's cropping season. The bane of growing crops lies in our inability to predict the weather
A Canadian consultant shares his four cornerstones to designing barns for robotic milkers. By Abby Bauer, Hoard's Dairyman Associate Editor Robotic milking systems can fit in a variety of barn layouts,...
Food. It's one of the most searched words online today. Consumers have an ever-growing emotional connection to it, especially among those in the millennial generation born in the 1980s and 1990s. It's...
U.S. butter usage in 2013 hit its highest level in 40 years, due in great part to growing publicity about the negative effects of trans fats commonly used in margarines. How yummy is that news? According...
Farmers who plan ahead for tax management maximize their benefits. by Ali Enerson, Hoard's Dairyman Special Publications Editor Tax time can bring mixed feelings for farmers. Some are worried about pulling...
