U.S. milk prices are headed lower. At 11:59 p.m. on New Year's Eve, you can say with some certainty that the big ball will drop soon. Likewise, the dairy industry facts are rather clear: U.S. milk prices...
Aerial view of the farm today . . . The magazine's founder, W.D. Hoard, acquired the Hoard's Dairyman Farm in 1899. He purchased the farm to experiment with new ideas such as growing alfalfa and to try...
Our June 2 Hoard's Dairyman Intel, "Students are bankrolling public college" drew the largest reader response to date. There is good reason for the interaction. Tuition and other costs associated with...
Dehorning ranks relatively low on the list of tasks dairymen enjoy. Selective mating for polled cattle eliminates this need. However, the polled Holstein sire population, as well as those populations in...
Fall is in the air, and so is the reminder that day-to-night temperature swings are becoming more extreme. They pose a health threat to calves that makes it important to carefully reexamine the quality...
Forages are at their highest quality when first cut. After that, quality begins to deteriorate quickly. Therefore, the goal should be to minimize quality losses during both harvest and storage. A method...
John Umhoefer of the Wisconsin Cheese Makers Association (WCMA) recently assembled the first-of-its kind list of the nation's top natural cheese processors. In making the list, the WCMA executive director...
Those promoting vegan agendas have spent a great deal of time, energy and resources trying to closely emulate the qualities of animal-based food products. The latest project reported by the green-leaning...
Idaho Congressman Mike Simpson (pictured) is not a big fan of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Nor is he reluctant to say so, as seen at the Western Land Symposium in Boise last week
Across the Midwest, dairymen have noted that last year's crops are not feeding as well as anticipated. While this alone may cause a slight dip in the bulk tank's volume, those harvesting haylage in 2014...
If you thought that we could put the term Polar Vortex behind us for a while, think again. If the Old Farmer's Almanac prediction for the winter rings true, most of the nation will be experiencing another...
Milk is not alone in losing market share. Soda and orange juice are some other long-time beverage giants that have fielded sputtering national sales totals in recent years. Domestic milk consumption fell...
Enrollment for New Dairy Farm Risk Management Program to Begin Sept. 2 USDA Launches New Web Tool to Help Producers Manage Unforeseen Economic Challenges Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today announced...
Widely respected in purebred dairy cattle circles, Allen Hetts led the effort from his Fort Atkinson-based Crescent Beauty Farm with support from Gene Nelson, Gray View Farm. Brown Swiss breeder Howard...
There has been growing concern that high-end genomic bulls are no longer being randomly sampled. If that is truly taking place, the potential exists that the genetic evaluations on these elite individuals...
This year's ongoing national debate about minimum wage levels from state to state should remind everyone in the dairy industry that there is nothing minimum about how much workers on their farms typically...
Comparisons are often made between organic and conventionally managed dairy operations. Whether it's the nutritional value of milk or the health of the herd, efforts are made to tease out differences and...
Yes, there is a "price penalty" for dairying in California, as noted in the June 23 Hoard's Dairyman Intel "A price penalty for dairying in California." The current California system is the penalty. The...
This volatile business of milking cows has rewarded many of its caretakers with handsome returns. We always must remember this is a business demands a great deal of capital, planning, time and good old-fashioned...
Paris, a 16-year-old Brown Swiss, has set a new record for lifetime pounds of protein and fat produced by a cow in the United States. There is a lot of black and white at Henry Dairy Farms, but a quick...
