Summer always meant fairs and shows as a youngster. As an exhibitor, I looked forward to the shows, especially showmanship – where my ability to work with my heifer or cow as one team could be put...
Ever been curious about grazing dairy systems? Have you tried grazing in the past and found that it didn't work? Wondering about what grasses to potentially grow, how to manage pasture quality, how to...
One week ago Where do I find more information about the Farm Bill?we told you where to find historical information on the Farm Bill. This week we'll delve into which parties get a hand at haggling over...
"Wow, the Holsteins here are smaller than the ones back home!" I said while walking to work with a co-worker. "You must be American. Those black and whites are Friesians, not Holsteins." This was one of...
New Zealand has followed a similar economic trend to its biggest customer, supplier, and investor, Australia, and it hasn't been pretty. But New Zealand is now beginning to mimic Australia's resource-driven...
The Farm Bill needs help. It needs help from both political parties and all regions of our country. But don't panic, this happens quite often – every 5 years or so, in fact. The Farm Bill is said...
Last week, I attended the National Holstein Convention in Virginia, and so did over 1,000 Holstein enthusiasts from across the United States. The four-day event was full of meetings, tours, junior competitions,...
We've talked about it before (see our blog, Wars we wage in dairy and agriculture and our editorial from the June 2011 issue, Keep chocolate milk in schools), but, like heat in the summer, the issue of...
Every day a milk truck comes to Shoestring Dairy. We exchange our normal "G'day Mate," then the friendly man hooks up the hose and pumps our cows' hard work from our tank into the truck. He prints off...
The FFA is one of the nation's premier youth organizations and agriculture is blessed to have the organization training future leaders in our industry. The Washington Leadership Conference, one of the...
When summer arrives, we know how warm and uncomfortable we can become. We look forward to the shade of a big oak tree, a chance to have lunch in an air-conditioned home, or the feel of the breeze on our...
It's just a tiny trickle so far, but solar power projects are slowly beginning to pop up on Western dairies. The latest one to begin generating electricity for the power grid is a big one, more than 200...
Last weekend several members of the Hoard's Dairyman staff had the opportunity to attend and volunteer at Cows on the Concourse on the square surrounding Madison's capitol building. A dedicated group of...
Western herds' net income ranged from $89 to $252 per head last year, reports Moore, Stephens, Wurth, Frazer, and Torbet, Certified Public Accountants and Consultants. That compares to $585 to $962 losses...
Farm safety is always an important discussion topic, but sometimes we forget about farm safety when machinery leaves the farm to travel on public roads. Tractor and machinery traffic has risen now that...
Ben Logan's The Land Remembers was originally published in 1975. He is now 90 years old and lives in Viroqua, Wis. Photo by Caroline Beckett used with permission of Itchy Cat Press. As a transplant to...
My hometown has a population of about 5,000 people, and it is the largest town in my county. There were almost 450 students in my high school, and the surrounding schools had fewer students and were located...
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...
An anniversary only comes around once a year, and Hoard's Dairyman has celebrated plenty of them! This year marks the 126th anniversary of the publication. After great fanfare with our 125th anniversary...
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...
