When my mind races from all that is going wrong in our world, I have to slow down my breathing and think of the greatest lessons we will learn from this global pandemic

My mom penned an open letter in response to the COVID-19 pandemic’s effect on retail dairy, and her thoughtful perspective is touching and reassuring

Over the last month, all kinds of conferences, sports games, and special events have been canceled. Unfortunately, holidays and life events can’t just be put on pause

My brother, Pat, died 25 years ago on April 10, 1995, and to say he is missed would be a huge understatement. Pat was killed driving a water truck, for an off-the-farm job, due to three faulty brakes

I hate watching the news. But the other day, I was stuck watching the news and I literally shuddered at all the depressing stuff going on in the world right now

That last couple of weeks have been amazing. It has been tough but amazing. In the last 14 days, my life got a hard reset. My schedule was demolished and my priorities flopped

Looking at our farm here in East Moline, Ill., it is business as usual. Cows still have to be milked three times a day

As farmers, we’re uniquely fortunate when it comes to being quarantined for long periods of time. I don’t know about you, but before it was encouraged or legally enforced, I used to spend weeks...

I’ll never forget sitting in a dairy quiz bowl practice at the ripe age of eight years old trying my hardest to remember what USDA stood for. Time and time again, the words “U.S. Dairy Association”...

As the Martina McBride song goes, “This one's for all you girls about 13. High school can be so rough, can be so mean.” I’ll add that farm girls are far and few in-between. Or at least...

Sometimes it feels like every headline I see is so far-fetched and irrelevant to my daily life that I wonder if I’m the weird one

While facing the “college plague” last week, which I’m sure many in or around college campuses have faced at some point this semester or in past semesters, something happened that I never...

We did it, although I’m still in a little bit of shock. We made it to the Western Classic dairy cattle show in Hanford, Calif

A few years ago, I purchased a cattle shed for my kids. We call it "Grandpa Bob's shed," as I used some of my inheritance money to purchase it

I’m just going to say it, we have to stop playing the victim. Do I love agriculture? Yes. Do I lose my temper when someone makes a disparaging comment? Yes

Urbanization is a tricky subject. It affects each state, region, county, and town differently, and there are certainly benefits to expanding our communities

I absolutely love my school and wouldn’t trade it for the world, but I want to bring up a topic that sometimes gets swept under the rug. Personally, I have many friends and peers at home, in my family,...

A few months ago, I had the bright idea that it would be great to start my kids showing cattle and invite their friends to do the same. I thought, “Hey! We can house them and all work with them together!”

Last Sunday, Joaquin Phoenix used his fame to denounce dairy farming to millions of people. If I’m being completely honest, I’m a little impressed that he was able to slip the phrase “artificial...

Last year, I read a post from Jennifer (@albertafarmlife) on Twitter that made me laugh. It said, “I love the ‘farmhouse’ décor trend. I do. It’s cute. But who do they think...