April milk production in the top 23 states was up just 1.7 percent over a year ago. This represents a slowing of milk production growth from earlier this year. Milk production nationally during the first...

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...

Holstein Association USA recognizes the importance of identifying heritable, sometimes undesirable, unique genes in Holstein cattle, to provide breeders with the tools they need to make informed breeding...

Will the 2012 Farm Bill actually be written and passed in 2012? What will it look like? That was the focus of the discussion at the opening session of the National Dairy Producers Conference in Omaha,...

Milk production for 2012 is forecast to climb as the decline in milk cows is expected to be offset by growth in milk per cow, according to USDA's World Supply and Demand Estimates released yesterday. Although...

At the Environmental Protection Agency's AgSTAR (http://www.epa.gov/agstar/) conference this week, we will hear from experts on the latest and greatest things happening with anaerobic digesters. Yesterday,...

American farmers have an incredible ability to plant corn once favorable weather conditions exist. In Iowa, corn planting progressed from 8 to 69 percent in just seven days. That represented by far the...

Longevity and milking persistency finally paid off for a Maryland cow on Wednesday, when the American Jersey Cattle Association named her the breed's Living Lifetime Production Leader for 2010. She had...

Delegates to the bi-annual National Conference on Interstate Milk Shipments yesterday narrowly defeated a proposal to reduce the somatic cell count (SCC) legal limit from the current 750,000 cells per...

Only 13 percent of the nation's corn crop has been planted according to USDA's most recent Crop Progress released May 2. This year's cool, wet spring weather has limited farmers' ability to work fields...

As we've said before, farmers, industry professionals, and educators need to continue lobbying for dairy as much as we can. School teachers, supermarkets, and senators alike need to be reminded of just...

If you are an active online agriculturalist (or "agvocate" as it is termed in pro-agriculture Twitter and Facebook circles like #AgChat), you have probably realized that the New York Times and its associated...

Have you ever been in the middle of a huge mess or fight with no exit door? But when you think about it, you're not exactly sure what got you into the chaos in the first place? For those of us in agriculture,...

Can you farm with the best of ‘em? Then let's see it. More than $22,000 in cash prizes is up for grabs in this year's World Forage Analysis Superbowl, the annual contest for forage growers nationwide...

The value of dairy products exported during January and February totaled nearly $675 million, up 52 percent from the same two months a year ago. Mexico was the largest buyer, by far, importing $143 million...

We are very familiar with the four H's: (head, heart, hands, and health) in the 4-H pledge. But now the "health for better living" holds even more meaning. According to recent findings from Tufts University,...

With the end of the school year rapidly approaching, college is beckoning for many students. A new location, new routine, and new people can make college quite an adjustment. We asked a few students for...

At almost the 11th hour, a budget compromise last Friday averted a threatened shutdown of federal government functions. Even though the shutdown was averted, it had some impact. For example, the first...

Last week's Cooperative Network Dairy Directors and Leadership Conference slides are now posted. We did mention the Minneapolis Federal Reserve bank's economic outlook last week

If the large and attentive crowd that turned out in Visalia, Calif., on Tuesday to discuss the "Foundation for the Future" (FFTF) dairy policy proposal by National Milk Producers Federation reflected anything,...