While the 2001 National Research Council (NRC) has been an ally of nutritionists for years, Bill Weiss' research and experience have proven that some of the minimum levels set in the NRC guidelines are...
How do you explain genetically modified organisms to a consumer without getting too science-based in your explanation? I recently heard the analogy of comparing the technology to produce GMO foods with...
This Thursday, the Cooperative Extension System turns 100 years old. President Woodrow Wilson signed legislation a century ago, on May 8, 1914, that extended the land-grant university concept beyond college...
Dairy producers are living a milk price dream right now, even though scars from the nightmare five years ago are not fully healed. It's a bust-to-boom turnaround of staggering proportions that producers...
Still a long road ahead of us. By Patti Hurtgen, Hoard's Dairyman Online Media Manager Based on 2014 data, 29 percent of American food consumers think food companies are trustworthy. With 44 percent neutral...
Spring is a very popular time for banquets, including dairy princess contests, FFA award programs and fair royalty competitions. These contests and events display the speaking and presentation skills of...
Tracking feed inventory is a valuable strategy for any size farm, especially with the growing unpredictability of Mother Nature and a more volatile commodity market
In the decades ahead, climate change is expected to make heat stress an increasingly bigger problem for dairy cows everywhere. Breeding animals with more natural resistance is one way farmers will cope,...
The Federal Department of Absurd – er, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) – is an entity that regularly seems to defy common sense and logic. This is yet another example: Smoking is a proven...
April is National Grilled Cheese Month. Just the thought of warm melting cheese on hot buttered toast stimulates the taste buds. Delighted customers foster the continued consumption of dairy products....
"SNP chips are information powerhouses," says Tami Smith with Neogen Corporation. Smith addressed the audience at the Dairy Calf and Heifer Association's annual conference last week. A SNP (pronounced...
Record milk prices give milk producers a financial opportunity that is simply too good to ignore – dry pen and hospital pen cooling. They're no-brainer investments whose benefits touch every area...
If you were raised on a tie stall dairy, you quickly learned that a cow's appetite dropped well before her milk yield showed signs of slowing. As our industry has transitioned from this one-on-one setup,...
I recently read a report on "The Enough Movement" and thought I would share its findings. It addresses world hunger and looks at not only food quantity, but quality. Most often when we think of not having...
Transition cow diets have been the focus of considerable research the last few decades. However, 90 percent of that research has been done on dry cow or prefresh rations, says Ric Grummer, University of...
To treat or not to treat is a question whose answer once seemed obvious: treat every clinical mastitis case found, and treat every cow at dry-off. But things have changed. Public perception is intensifying...
"Beef is in the global marketplace," reminded University of Wisconsin-Madison Animal Sciences Department Chairman Dan Schaefer. Depending whether it is beef, pork or poultry, about 10 to 25 percent is...
More than 15 percent of U.S. milk was exported in 2013. That equates to one out of every seven U.S. tanker loads of milk being turned into products destined for overseas
