A field study done by Penn State Extension suggests water quality may be linked to dairy herd milk production. Penn State Extension recently completed a field study of water quality on Pennsylvania dairy...
Foot health impacts reproduction, production and early culling. Nigel Cook presented theHoard's Dairyman monthly webinar on Monday, May 13, 2013, entitled "No more lame excuses." Lameness prevalence has...
Heat stress during late gestation impacts not only cow health and production but calf performance and immunity, as well. As temperatures rise, so does the need for cow cooling. On some farms, milking...
Some are already gone. More will follow. The big question is, how many can be saved? The greatest milk-producing machine the U.S. dairy industry has ever seen is breaking down. Doomsday feed prices and...
Cows will sacrifice feeding time in order to lie down when both resources are limited. There are a variety of reasons that can lead to overstocking in our freestalls. While it may be a short-term solution,...
Having a heifer enterprise won't make sense for every operation. Most dairies have three enterprises on-farm: cows, cropping and heifers. Within this subset, the cost of raising replacements also accounts...
In back-to-back days, dairy celebrated sustainability efforts already in action and renewed focus on future projects. In honoring herds milking 50 cows all the way to those with several thousand, the Innovation...
My travels in Australia last month included a visit to a dairy farm and milk processing facility. One-hundred-twenty Guernsey cows grazed the pastured hills in Maleny, in the state of Queensland, Australia,...
Mastitis has severe economic consequences costing, on average, $200 or more per case. The disease also impairs cattle well being. While prevention is preferred, there are a number of technologies that...
After reviewing the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) announcement from Tuesday, March 12, it became crystal clear that dairy contributed the largest cost savings for NASS' mandated budget...
"I am not prepared to accept the fact that feet and leg heritabilities are as low as they currently appear. We need to evaluate the trait better," Gordon Atkins, D.V.M., told those attending the 122nd...
Change is one of the great constants in U.S. dairy farming. The industry has been evolving for most of a century, but especially in the last 20 years. Like an ice skater who draws in their arms while spinning,...
Milking and managing cows with robots requires some new management styles. As a follow-up to our February 25 Round Table "Robots milk our herds," these herd owners discuss handling repairs and buying used...
Focusing on "the other bacteria," or emerging mastitis pathogens, Pam Ruegg, University of Wisconsin-Madison, addressed those gathered at the Wisconsin Dairy Field Representative Conference
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...
Excellence in what is not only possible for the production of superb quality milk, but what is already taking place on U.S. dairy farms, was celebrated January 29 at the 52nd annual National Mastitis Council...
A degree of closure has come in the sensational animal abuse video case that occurred in Idaho last October. Jesus Garza, 25, one of three employees seen abusing cattle in an undercover video that was...
Our January 10, 2013 issue kicks off our annual cow judging contest which runs through the March 10 edition. This year's classes will include Brown Swiss, Holstein, Red and Whites, Ayrshire and Jersey...
It's a study that is cited in almost every issue of Hoard's Dairyman. Those who author herd health, milk quality and facilities-related articles frequently use the NAHMS Dairy 2007 study as a reference
History is constantly evolving, so the records of the past are in continual motion. National Dairy Shrine is working on renovations to the Joe P. Eves Library and displays surrounding it. During World...