Before there was 4-H and FFA, there was the Hoard's Dairyman Juniors. In addition to launching the Young Dairyman page for farm youth in 1915, Hoard created the Juniors, which was the forerunner of the...
Americans are worth more today than ever before, but many still struggle financially. As a group, Americans are the wealthiest they have ever been. This spring household financial wealth was at its peak,...
Hemorrhagic bowel syndrome (HBS) was first detected in the early 1990s in dairy herds. Since that time, it has become a more common issue in the industry affecting all breeds of cattle and especially Brown...
At 7 a.m. on a typical June day, most young people are still in bed enjoying the start to their summer vacation. Members of the Barnyard Clovers 4-H club are not among the late risers. Almost every June...
It's that feeling of hope. The red-carrier Holstein (carrying one copy of the recessive red gene) was bred to a Red and White bull (carrying two copies of the red coat color gene). There was a 50-50 chance...
If robots are the next evolution of milking cows on a large scale, then the future is here already. Except it is happening slowly and not at all in the U.S. . . . yet
This is one busy week for the Hoard's Dairyman editorial team. It's all hands on deck to cover the latest in breed developments at this week's breed conventions and report on the details in our print...
Shades, fans, misters and water make milk production possible even in the desert. Few places in the U.S. are as deadly an environment for cows as Arizona, but milk producers there have become masters at...
Cow activity, the amount of time spent eating and milk production are indicators of cow health, but another gauge of herd health is often overlooked and stepped over by producers. I remember walking through...
Steady growth in the number of Jersey herds in the U.S., particularly among large dairy owners in the West, naturally leads to the question of how do they do financially? It's not an easy question to answer,...
China. It's a population powerhouse on the tip of every dairyman's tongue. Enter into a conversation regarding milk prices or dairy demand, and China will inevitably come up. The nation's expanding middle...
Randy Shaver, University of Wisconsin-Madison, presented the monthly Hoard's Dairyman webinar "Update on starch utilization by dairy cows" on Monday, June 9, a subject he's extensively researched for the...
I grew up listening to my grandpa talk about the "good ol' days" when computers did not exist and cellphones were a figment of the imagination. For better or worse, I have never known agriculture without...
Milk producers made tangible progress last year in their uphill battle to recover from the financial disaster of 2008-09, according to summary data from the largest dairy accounting firm in the country
Across the industry, there is one struggle upon which we can unite. Regardless of your chosen production method or location in the country, margins have been tight as of late
With high summertime temps looming, it is time to start paying attention to Temperature Humidity Index values to manage your cows' heat stress. Just like the kids at the local swimming pool who are cooling...
June. It's National Dairy Month. With dairy products and our nation's food under scrutiny, it would be easy to just sit out June Dairy Month altogether this year
If you ever sensed that organic sales tactics didn't seem to be totally honest, objective and unbiased, then you're smarter than many consumers, according to Organic Marketing Report by Academics Review
Tractors hit the road with renewed vigor over the holiday weekend in America's Dairyland. As is the case in many dairy states with a cropping emphasis, the pressure is on to apply manure, work ground and...
For a good part of my childhood and most of my high school and college years, I have been the employee at my parents' 150-cow dairy in Valley Center, Kan. Like most farm children, I headed up calf care
