Oh, how things have changed in the last 125 years! Although no one now living was alive in 1885, we have good evidence that dairy cattle reproduction in 2010 is very different - not the biological processes...
How does $3 milk sound? Ridiculous of course, yet the effective buying power that U.S. dairy producers have had for over 20 years has been even less when Class III prices are adjusted for inflation back...
As a Green Tier participant, Holsum Dairies, LLC, Hilbert, Wis., has a commitment to environmental stewardship. "We are environmentally conscious and want to know the impact our practices have," noted...
"Despite years of research, we still have sick cows," noted Nina von Keyserlingk, University of British Columbia, at the 2012 Herd Health and Nutrition Conference in Syracuse N.Y. Even with the herd health...
Milk production is beginning to outpace demand even though domestic and international consumption remains strong. As this takes place, milk prices could soften. For good or bad, basic economics remain...
As yields improve over time, a picture of how to manage corn for optimal silage performance has emerged. The yield march continues for corn silage, according to Joe Lauer, University of Wisconsin extension...
The goal of silage face management is to minimize exposure to oxygen. In the presence of oxygen, yeast can metabolize lactic acid (a strong acid that keeps the silage pH low). When pH rises, undesirable...
Big changes and much stricter rules are looking very likely. Enormous change appears to be coming in the way dairies and other livestock operations are accustomed to using pharmaceuticals on their animals,...
Learn what you can about calving now before it is too late. Two clean, white tips of hooves are peaking out of the rear end of your 4-H heifer. Soon, a pink nose starts to come. It is her first calf, and...
Questions from our readers . . . What are current dystocia and stillbirth rates among Holsteins? Have there been any comparisons between sexed and conventional semen? S.H., New York We looked at 10.8 million...
Mahanna is with Pioneer, a DuPont Business, and is an adjunct professor at Iowa State University; Thomas is retired from the William H. Miner Agricultural Research Institute and president of Oak Point...
One of the most valuable resources on any dairy is the replacement heifer. As a group, they represent the most fertile population of females on the farm. In addition, if your sire selection has been wise,...
Ignorance on food processing bruises producers, processors, and people.by Hoard's Dairyman staff Recent media hype, by a select few, has drawn an outcry of attention to food safety concerns – concerns...
This year's conference "Got Manure?" featured a preconference tour of three New York digester systems. Methane digester interest continues to grow, as a near capacity crowd filled the conference room at...
The technology to produce sexed semen has been around for decades. But, it was not until recently that commercial application became a reality. We know that the sex-sorting technology can reliably raise...
Use of gender- or sex-sorted A.I. semen continues to grow rapidly among U.S. dairy producers, even though the technology is still in its relative infancy. The first limited commercial distributions of...
A number of dairy processors have implemented or reconfirmed delivery constraints. U.S. milk production is heading up, up, and up with milk flow growing 2.5, 3.4, and 4.3 percent nationally in December,...
In the 1980s, a breakthrough in semen sexing technology was made by USDA researchers in the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory in California. The patents for this technology were licensed to a company named...
Consumers say they hear the warnings about raw milk, but they don't care. A well-done article in last week's San Jose (Calif.) Mercury News highlighted one of the head-shaking realities that the dairy...
