Of North Dakota's 18,000 dairy cows, one stands head and shoulders above the rest. That's because she is 38 feet tall, 50 feet long and weighs in at 12,000 pounds. Her name is Salem Sue, and she has the...
How do you know where you're going if you don't know where you are? Tracking various aspects of your dairy business is one of the biggest contributors to your financial success. The reasons to keep records...
A common strategy for spending available dollars on the farm is investing it close to the milk parlor. Areas that tend to get the most attention are the ones that directly affect milk production such as...
Educational games share agriculture's story. "Corn is grown in every state and on six continents." That is just one of the agriculture facts state fair attendees could learn in the American Farm Bureau's...
It takes preventative strategies and early detection to keep cows walking comfortably on all four feet. Do lame cows get better on their own? According to Gerard Cramer, D.V.M, associate professor from...
What a crazy, incredible turnaround. Huge 2014 crop outlooks in the U.S. and other major grain-producing countries have destroyed the high prices for feed grains that made life so painful for anyone with...
Comfortable cows or easily maintained manure systems. It seems like many dairy producers feel they must choose between one or the other. Sand has a strong reputation for enhancing cow comfort and lowering...
Water quality is paramount to cow health. "My cows are dying. What is going on?" sobbed the 65-year-old dairy producer as his cracked hands cradled his cheeks and covered his swollen eyes. "They calve,...
Flies become a nuisance in the summer, especially for our cattle. An unmanaged fly population can reduce milk production 10 to 30 percent and decreases feed efficiency
I am now more than two months into my internship with Hoard's Dairyman. It is pretty incredible to realize how fast it has gone and how much I have learned
Before there was 4-H and FFA, there was the Hoard's Dairyman Juniors. In addition to launching the Young Dairyman page for farm youth in 1915, Hoard created the Juniors, which was the forerunner of the...
Americans are worth more today than ever before, but many still struggle financially. As a group, Americans are the wealthiest they have ever been. This spring household financial wealth was at its peak,...
Manure is a valuable commodity that provides needed nutrients for crop acres, but it takes multiple steps to get it from Point A to Point B. Most times, moving manure from storage to the field happens...
Hemorrhagic bowel syndrome (HBS) was first detected in the early 1990s in dairy herds. Since that time, it has become a more common issue in the industry affecting all breeds of cattle and especially Brown...
The Commercial Herd Award recognizes the top herd in the nation for Energy Corrected Milk. The herd must complete over 50 lactations during the year. Hoard's Dairyman Farm completed 147 records in 2013...
Webinar shares steps to boost production. One pound of milk per cow per day over your entire herd really adds up over a whole year. In his Monday, July 14, webinar, Mike Hutjens, University of Illinois,...
A field covered in black soil looks good, but there's much more to soil quality than what meets the eye. Soil testing can help farmers properly manage nutrients, saving both money and the environment....
Growth. Also known as improvement, advancement, prosperity or profit. Defined by Merriam-Webster as "progressive development." Growth on your dairy farm doesn't necessarily mean adding more cows, diversifying...
