The rate of childhood injury on farms and ranches has dropped by nearly 60 percent since 1998. Officials at the Marshfield Clinic point out this is an encouraging sign that research and public awareness...
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...
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...
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...
We're familiar with the benefits of by-products in rations such as whole cottonseed, brewers grains, and beet pulp. When products like these can be successfully utilized by using all available parts, it...
Most people would agree that dehorning cattle not only protects animals from each other, but it also protects employees who work with them. While dehorning, the process of removing horn buds from a calf,...
Forecast milk production for 2010 and 2011 is little changed from last month, in last week's USDA World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimate. In November, the agency forecast 2011 milk production at...
USDA just announced they are set to publish their 2,300-plus page Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) in the Federal Register, nearly four years after U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer halted the sale...
Years ago, bunkers were only known as a military hide-out. Those bunkers were safe. The bunkers on our dairy farms can be anything but. Deaths can and do occur because of poor face management, accidental...
Winter is here. . . and so is the cold and snow that can be harmful to those of us who work outdoors with livestock. "Bundle up, dress in layers, put on your hat" are familiar sounds to many children who...
Chinese milk production will reach 67 billion pounds in 2011, up 5 percent from 2010. This is among the forecasts of a USDA Foreign Ag Service GAIN report (Global Agricultural Information Network). China's...
The North American 4-H Dairy Quiz Bowl contest was held on Saturday, November 6th in Louisville, Ky. Twenty teams competed in the national double-elimination contest which celebrated its 31st year. High...
Even though it was the smallest cow class of the day, Judge Hank Van Exel and Associate Judge Tom McCauley spent more time deliberating the top end of the extremely competitive Jersey 5-year-old class...
As the San Francisco Giants clinched the World Series title, I was ecstatic as most long-time central California baseball fans were! 55 years is a long time to wait for a World Series title – years...
"Bogus" is the word that University of California-Davis Professor Frank Mitloehner used to describe the FAO's original estimation of livestock's contribution to greenhouse gasses during his presentation...
USDA's October forecast of milk production for 2010 is raised slightly from last month as higher milk per cow more than offsets lower cow numbers. The agency now puts the 2010 estimate at 192.8 billion...
The Youth Showmanship contest, held September 30, 2010, at World Dairy Expo used to include a knowledge quiz and fitting contest. This year though, the latter were eliminated and the contest is now based...
Today, September 30, 2010, the Brown Swiss breed named their champions. The International Brown Swiss show was judged by Callum McKiven of Canton De Hatley, Quebec, Canada. For many exhibitors this is...
The International Milking Shorthorn Show was held today, Wednesday, September 29. The show began with the milking classes, the champions, and then followed by the heifer classes. Two well-known cows of...