While genomics is new to Ayrshire breeders this April, and it has gradually made inroads in Brown Swiss circles, the DNA-based science has completely transformed how we mate and market Holsteins and Jerseys
Few things can irritate a person like finding out they overpaid for a product or did not sell their own for its true value. In the April 8 Hoard's Dairyman "Reviewing forage and feed costs – What's...
In the past few years, it seems as if agricultural majors have received a great deal of flack. In 2011, The Daily Beast (an online news information site) listed "agriculture" as their third most useless...
When is chocolate milk not "milk"? I must admit when I first read blog posts that indicated aspartame could be added to milk and hidden from consumers, it both irritated and confused me at the same time....
Members, delegates, directors and employees of the Associated Milk Producers Cooperative met in Bloomington, Minn., for its annual meeting on March 25 and 26
As the landscape of the agricultural farmstead has changed from red barns with a variety of livestock and two-story white farmhouses to more single-focused livestock operations, have the words we use changed...
As we wrap-up our 62nd Round Table series, "Robots milk our herds," the four herds featured in our February 25 issue share advise for others considering robots
Sometimes we are so close to a topic that we often forget the values and assume everyone else is just as familiar with it as those who are so deeply entrenched. My responsibilities include the online content...
It's impossible to easily sum up the 46th annual World Ag Expo, which ended its three-day run yesterday in Tulare, Calif. The weather was easily one for the record books. This year was as sunny, dry and...
Dairy management programs offered at no cost. No dairy herd is a cookie cutter of the next. Each have their own unique set of fixed costs, feed options and management criteria. Fortunately, there is software...
"The current formal rule-making approach required to change dairy (product) standards is cumbersome, inefficient and resource intensive, so the FDA simply throws up its hands and does nothing,"
While most of us hope an OSHA inspector never has cause to pull up to our farm, dairy is slowly, but surely, coming under additional scrutiny. An inspection has a limited scope; it is a snapshot - one...
Youth compete in a variety of contests like dairy judging, dairy bowl and cattle exhibitions. They are known to put in hours of preparation during team practices or train their cattle in the yard for weeks....
Of the two dairy producers making the finals of a new contest, one was successful. This morning, Will Gilmer, a dairyman from Sulligent, Ala., was announced as one of the four "Faces of Farmers and Ranching."
Agriculture Secretary Vilsack confirmed that he had accepted the challenge of continuing as Secretary of Agriculture for another term. With one change, the five people that have their hands full of farm...
Which are there more of in the U.S. today – dairy farms or people who are at least 100 years old? According to the Census Bureau, there were 53,364 people in the U.S. in 2010 who were at least 100...
For some time, dairy producers and other industry specialists who closely follow genetic evaluations have agreed that productive life estimates - a measure of how long a cow lives - have been somewhat...