Many of you come from small dairy farms like I did. For some, family members make up the entire labor force that must complete the daily work associated with dairy farming
Living in the mid-section of the country comes with the ease of traveling to World Dairy Expo. For nearly two decades, I have made my way to Madison, Wis., during the first week of October...
We’ve never been the herd with the lowest somatic cell count (SCC). Our numbers have always bounced around, and we’ve literally tried everything to stabilize them
Judge Keith Topp of Botkins, Ohio, emotionally stated this about his picks for Grand and Reserve Grand and Senior Champions: “I don’t know how you wouldn’t want to get out of bed and...
The tide has changed, and cheese is riding high on the waves. Once considered unhealthy for containing too much saturated fat, cheese has found redemption in new studies
At the Charleville Show in Killarney, which is in the Republic of Ireland, teams judged as a team – not as individuals. Each team was given four placings cards (one for each class)...
The most important part of generating lots of views on YouTube is the content. Bad content or content that doesn't resonate with the YouTube audience will never work
Growing up as a breed convention attendee and competitor, I knew that the end of the school year didn’t mean the beginning of vacation, hanging by the pool, or even simply relaxing in front of the...
What’s the best heat stress abatement practice? Standing? No. That’s not the correct answer, but if you watch a pen of cows that are experiencing heat stress, it sometimes appears to be their...
Last week, I was in one of our manufacturing plants changing a line over and one of the men, who was very much my senior, mentioned as he worked next to me that I was “tough.”
Guernseys were the foundational breed of the Hoard’s Dairyman herd when the farm was started by W.D. Hoard in 1899. More than a century later, in 2009, Jerseys were added to the herd,...
The 10-year challenge that we all really should care about is a far cry from the viral 10-year challenge (#TenYearChallenge) that has taken over social media
We have been taught there are steps to follow when milking a cow. Books have been written about protocols in the parlor . . . but do they always get followed?
Last week, I officially shed the winter coat and put it away. I’m not talking away, away because I’ve now lived in Wisconsin long enough to understand that sometimes April will pretend to be...
This week we said good riddance to 2018 and welcomed a new year. Are you excited? Because honestly, I’m still on the fence. The last year was pretty awful for the dairy industry
