A highlight of many students' college career is competing at the National Collegiate Dairy Judging contest, now held at World Dairy Expo. The coveted Otto Schnering Trophy has been awarded to the National...
You may have heard Kelly Clarkson sing, "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger." However, Julia Ridpath, of the National Animal Disease Center/ARS/USDA staff, reminded dairy producers that in the case...
On a decent number of dairy operations, migrant workers comprise a portion or the majority of the labor force. These are people we have come to depend on day to day to successfully run our dairies
Confirmation reached the Hoard's Dairyman offices that a BSE case had been found in a California dairy cow shortly after 2 p.m. Central time yesterday. Thoughts of "the Christmas surprise" of 2003 (the...
Consumers say they hear the warnings about raw milk, but they don't care. A well-done article in last week's San Jose (Calif.) Mercury News highlighted one of the head-shaking realities that the dairy...
At the onset of lactation, metabolic adaption mechanisms for calcium are not rapid enough; cows need a day or two to maximize calcium flows from the intestinal tract and bone to the mammary gland
Most are easily preventable . . . and can be very expensive if they aren't. The specific list of most common dairy violations varies from state to state, but not by much, says Blane Adams, a loss control...
It is our responsibility to provide a safe, nutritious food supply. The recent recall of ground turkey and an E. coli outbreak in Michigan are recent examples of food making people sick. They remind us...
"I became a believer in genomics when I saw how it consistently predicted how young, nonprogeny-tested bulls would rank to one another," Charlie Will, manager of Select Sires' Holstein sire selection group...
While partaking in 4th of July festivities, my friend's sister-in-law discovered that I had grown up in the dairy industry. She took advantage of this opportunity to pick my brain on a variety of topics,...
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...
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...
It may not seem like spring weather, but spring is here! That means it's time to clean, replace, and check on your equipment and facilities. David Bray at the University of Florida provided several items...
Hoard's Dairyman's third webinar was a great success! Dr. Mark Stephenson, Director of Dairy Policy Analysis for the University of Wisconsin-Madison, presented "How milk production control plans compare."...
1. Yuma Rugged Tablet Computer This handy hand-held tablet computer is farming-friendly. Its thick case prevents breakage from drops or falls. We loved that it is waterproof (and manureproof) and protects...
Late last week, USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) granted nonregulated status for alfalfa that has been genetically engineered to be resistant to the herbicide commercially known...
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,...
Biggest change, of course, will be in the House, where the Republicans easily gained control. It looks as if the GOP could gain as many as 50 to 60 seats in the lower chamber when all the dust settles....
