"Negative 500 and positive 500 average out to 0. Genomics enables you to look for the inferior calves that can pull your average down and move your progress backward," noted Pat Hoffman, a dairy replacement...
A Rat is a Pig is a Dog is a Boy: The Human Cost of the Animal Rights Movement is a fascinating book by Wesley J. Smith. Agriculturalists should know more about the people trying to put them out of business,...
Genetic and genomic giant, Picston Shottle, has added one more credential to his long list of accomplishments. With a stronghold on the Holstein Association USA's TPI List, Shottle stood on top for seven...
After losing over 80,028 dairy farms since 1992, it appears the reductions in licensed dairy operations are moderating. In the last four years, losses have ranged from 1,651 to 2,195 with the watermark...
Travel the I-29 corridor in eastern South Dakota and you will have found the heart of the state's population. Intermingled along this same stretch of land are the vast majority of the state's dairy cattle...
We attended the Illinois Agricultural Communications Symposium last week, organized in honor of the University of Illinois Ag Communications' 50-year anniversary. The daylong event started off with a...
The twin combo of more milk per cow and a larger dairy herd pushed up milk production last year. When looking at the year-end statistics released by USDA, cow numbers went up 75,000-head or 0.8 percent...
Mud, sun, warmth, cold, crowds, and fun were all part of the familiar mix at World Ag Expo last week in Tulare, Calif. But it's what was not there that was the show's biggest dairy story. If 2009 was...
Nationally, the breed set new production averages. Based on a record of 91,028 lactations, the Jersey breed set new category records for pounds of milk, fat, and protein. In 2011, the breed averaged 18,633...
Based on a record of 91,028 lactations, the Jersey breed set new category records for pounds of milk, fat, and protein. In 2011, the breed averaged 18,633 pounds of milk, 889 pounds of fat, and 676 pounds...
In recent weeks, the silence following the October 2011 gathering of the Council on Dairy Cattle Breeding (CDCB) was broken when Dave Thorbahn shared a Frequently Asked Questions article with the dairy...
You can explain risk management and its potential benefits to milk producers all day long, but if they go away thinking it's too expensive or too complicated, then they probably won't try it. The dairy...
With a smaller-than-anticipated corn crop, how do we balance domestic, global, and industry needs for corn? The first ethanol-run vehicle was developed in Philadelphia in 1826. Therefore, we would not...
Hoard's Dairyman columnist, Gary Sipiorski, reminds us why milking cows is still a worthwhile endeavor. And yes, we're talking economics. With record corn prices (resulting in record bean, alfalfa, other...
Logan Bower is a leader in dairy cattle care The Beef Checkoff's annual awards were recently announced. Logan Bower, a dairy producer from Pennsylvania, earned the Dairy Beef Quality Assurance Award which...
Gordie Jones, D.V.M., kept a crowd curious with the ideas he developed over the years, all in the name of improving life for the dairy cow. Cows turn right easier than they can turn left. Cows move faster...
Demand was so strong for the cover crop that seed inventory sold-out last year. "I conducted my initial research on cover crops and literally had to beg to get on agenda's at crop meetings," recalled University...
"Alfalfa and grass aren't the same, but they can be complementary to each other," noted Jim Paulson with the University of Minnesota. Paulson along with Paul Peterson, University of Minnesota, shared...
"Agriculture has been insulated from the forces battering the general economy. I expect that to continue in the coming year," says the University of Wisconsin Madison's economist Bruce Jones at the University's...
In its 51st year, the National Mastitis Council (NMC) annual meeting continues to look to the future. With the nation's somatic cell count effectively at 400,000 (at least for those with product that has...
