It may be an essential nutrient for growing crops, but phosphorus (P) can wreak havoc when it flows to noncropping areas like streams, rivers, and lakes. Once in waterways, it can lead to algal blooms....
Cash receipts from milk marketed last year totaled $31.36 billion. That was a 24 percent rise over 2009's $24.34 billion. Milk sales totaled $34.85 billion 2008. These numbers come from USDA's annual publication...
"A few special interest groups have managed to hi-jack the term ‘animal welfare' and managed to create the illusion that they are the animal welfare experts", said Jennifer Walker, D.V.M., at the...
In recent years, it seems that more opinions have given credence to the notion that raising high-producing cows in freestall barns, storing manure in lagoons, and storing silage in bunkers are all better...
While at the sixth annual AgSTAR conference last week, Jerry Bingold had plenty to announce. First, he explained all the initiatives that the Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy was taking part in, and they...
When commodity prices shoot up, growers face tougher decisions about what to plant. They have to consider their own situations in terms of crop rotations, soil and moisture conditions, recent yields, seed...
New USDA analysis shows that farmers are receiving less of each retail dollar spent. Numbers in 2008 showed a 20 percent share, but new data cuts that number to 12 percent of the food dollar going to those...
After completing the most comprehensive study on a genetically engineered (GE) crop in the nation's history, the organic community is still not satisfied with USDA's recent decision to make Roundup Ready...
Even though costs, especially feed costs, are climbing, so are milk prices, and the prospect of higher milk prices have put many dairymen and their suppliers in a more positive mood. That is evident in...
Last week, I had the opportunity to attend the seventh Young Dairy Leaders Institute in Albuquerque, New Mex. This two-year leadership program is sponsored by the Holstein Foundation and a nationally recognized...
Twenty-two percent of the beef in the US is from dairy cattle. And while only 6 to 8 percent of dairy producers' total dairy income is from the dairy beef, it is an important component in dairy operations....
Dairy producers proved they are a resilient lot. Despite tough economic conditions during the past two years, most producers kept milking cows as only 1,805 licensed dairy farms called it quits last year....
TV newscasts and city newspaper articles dote on the idyllic image of small farms while deriding commercial agriculture, all the while blissfully ignorant about which group actually feeds America. But...
Like many of us in the dairy business, our roots are planted deep in history. Not only did Dad grow up on a dairy farm and milk cows daily, but so did Grandpa. That story was true for Bill Payne of Knob...
Meeting in Arlington, Va., near the nation's capital, the 50th Annual Meeting of the National Mastitis Council was both festive and productive. There was plenty of fun and reminiscing sprinkled amid the...
"There's a love affair with dairy around the globe," said International Dairy Foods Association's Chief Executive Office, Connie Tipton at the 26th annual Dairy Forum in Miami, Fla., on Monday, January...
If you read our most recent issue, you would've noticed an article by Frank Mitloehner from the University of California- Davis who is taking the time to set the record straight on the dairy industry's...
As a new year begins, we wrap up the 125th anniversary celebration of Hoard's Dairyman. In our June 2010 issue, we chronicled how Hoard was instrumental in launching many endeavors far beyond his magazine....
Rollover protection systems (ROPS) save lives. When ROPS are used with seat belts, 99 percent of tractor drivers survive rollover accidents. And, even if the seat belt isn't worn, 70 percent of drivers...
Yesterday, the U.S. Senate approved (81 to 19) the big tax package that extends Bush-era tax rates and includes a number of other measures. One of those measures would extend the Volumetric Ethanol Excise...
