Americans spend over 40 percent of their food dollars on meals prepared outside the home. Is that because they eat out nearly half the time? Not necessarily. The cost of eating out is expensive

When all is said and done, the farm bill basically was extended for one year. That is because language to renew most of its old components was inserted into legislation passed on New Year's Day to avert...

Every event in life is a learning experience, even if what you learn is "I don't want to do that again." The same can be said of 2012. It was a year that flew by but still left many lessons for dairy producers....

Late December is traditionally the time of year when Americans spend time with their families. Not so if you are a congressional staffer, an elected national official . . . or even a dairy farmer

A funny thing happened on the way to the new Chobani Greek Yogurt manufacturing plant that the company announced a year ago it would build in Twin Falls, Idaho. It got a LOT bigger

For some time, dairy producers and other industry specialists who closely follow genetic evaluations have agreed that productive life estimates - a measure of how long a cow lives - have been somewhat...

"Consistent, efficient TMR feeding" was the topic of yesterday's webinar presented by Tom Oelberg of Diamond V. Oelberg has conducted hundreds of TMR audits and has seen several areas of concern for those...

Technological advancements have streamlined many day-to-day tasks on farms. They enable us to keep better records, more accurately identify cattle and track production through a lactation

Compared with the most recent August genetic evaluations, and even last December for that matter, the dizzying pace of escalating breeding values has seemed to slow to a more traditional pace as the top...

California's largest dairy cooperatives have renewed a plea for help to the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA), warning that survival of the state's dairy industry is at risk

What are children in schools being taught about agriculture? The number of teachers with agriculture backgrounds continues to decline. And, teaching about a topic that is not familiar to an instructor...

Enticed by attractive beef prices and wary of scary feed costs, the downsizing of the U.S. dairy herd by milk producers is picking up speed

Does your farm have growing pains? If you answered no, you're either a well-run business or you don't know what growing pains feel like yet

In both good times and bad, U.S. dairy producers keep cranking out more milk per herd. Here's what we mean: • In 1992, average total milk production per dairy in the U.S. was 1.15 million pounds....

There are three simple truths when it comes to the milk market, noted Mike North, a senior hedge consultant with First Capitol Ag, at the ABA National Agricultural Bankers Conference

The U.S. Farmers and Ranchers Alliance is looking for the new face of farming and ranching. Two dairy producers are amongst the finalists. Deciding who agriculture's spokespersons should be is not a debate....

Congressman-elect David Valadao is a partner in his family's 1,700-cow dairy operation. by Lucas Sjostrom, Hoard's Dairyman Associate Editor Agriculture has some friends in Washington, D.C. But it has...

Drought-stressed alfalfa fields need extra attention "Lack of water at optimal times cannot be made up later with additional rains or irrigation," said Dan Undersander, when discussing the state of alfalfa...

Every dairy conference has a presentation that unexpectedly makes you sit up straighter, listen closer and think harder

Many years and growing use of managed heat protocols by dairy producers continue to generate ways to fine-tune their use, as was discussed by Texas A&M University Extension Dairy Specialist Todd Bilby...