Can you believe that Thanksgiving is just a week away? I almost did until of course, I spent a good hour of my evening going back and forth with family about what time the big "to-do" should be. One of...
This title is an often-heard phase. It tells us to select the best person to accomplish a given task. It makes sense. If you are good with numbers, work with finance. Good with your hands, choose tasks...
Margins are going to be squeezed for those of us in the dairy business. The cheese and butter prices that drive our milk prices are on the way down, and corn prices are on the way up. Butter prices dropped...
Even though it was the smallest cow class of the day, Judge Hank Van Exel and Associate Judge Tom McCauley spent more time deliberating the top end of the extremely competitive Jersey 5-year-old class...
Biggest change, of course, will be in the House, where the Republicans easily gained control. It looks as if the GOP could gain as many as 50 to 60 seats in the lower chamber when all the dust settles....
As the San Francisco Giants clinched the World Series title, I was ecstatic as most long-time central California baseball fans were! 55 years is a long time to wait for a World Series title – years...
Although milk prices in 2011 are forecast to remain near this year's level, higher feed prices are expected to squeeze producer margins, impacting the size of the dairy herd in 2011, according to the USDA's...
The results of the annual top 100 coopertives list, ranked by total revenue is now available for 2009. It's release coincides with October being national cooperative month. The document, published by NCB...
Tomorrow, USDA will release its Crop Production report which will shed some light on just how much corn might be harvested in this country this fall after all is said and done. It is an anxiously awaited...
World Dairy Expo 2010 has come to a close. In a matter of a just a week, shows, sales, and contests were all held in Madison, Wis. Total attendance was up, with 65,136 attending. International visitors...
Bill Ramsey speaks after being honored at the National Dairy Shrine's Distinguished Dairy Cattle Breeder. He has some valuable insight into his success and talks about the three important facets of his...
4-H, Post Secondary, and College Dairy Judging Contest Winners Full listing of awards at www.hoards.com/hoardsatexpo and click on the blog icon. Return to Hoard's at Expo
The Class III roller-coaster cycle we've come to hate will eventually swing back to $20. Count on it. Every down has been followed by an up, so it's important to plan for the inevitable recovery that's...
Slowly, but surely, modest profitability is returning for U.S. dairy producers. Even so, few are relaxing just yet. Both of the major financial barometers they watch – Class III milk and 40-pound...
For some, that day cannot come quickly enough. For others, there is simply not enough time. World Dairy Expo is the event that so many producers, cattle owners, allied industry representatives, and young...
The deep financial cuts suffered by Western dairy producers last year still have a long way to go before they heal, but attitudes out there really do seem to be getting better. In recent weeks, we've visited...
The most current USDA forecast continues the trend of lower cow numbers that has been more than offset by higher output per cow in 2010. Output per cow is expected to rise by 2.5 percent compared with...
Two new genomic tests just hit the market. Not only can Holstein breeders test females on the traditional 50K test, but they can also use the just released 3K SNP (single-nucleotide polymorphism) and
Corn production is forecast at a record high 13.4 billion bushels, up 2 percent from the previous record set in 2009, according to USDA's Crop Production report issued yesterday. Based on conditions as...
Late last month, the entire Hoard Guernsey herd was appraised as part of June's scheduled rotation in Wisconsin. The youngest cow to receive a score was Dairyman Ben Neater, #1167. She calved on May 31...
