Summer always meant fairs and shows as a youngster. As an exhibitor, I looked forward to the shows, especially showmanship – where my ability to work with my heifer or cow as one team could be put...
National Dairy Shrine will name our very own Steven Larson the 2011 Guest of Honor. The Guest of Honor is the highest award from the National Dairy Shrine. This award goes to an individual who has had...
About 25 years after the exodus began, Hoard's WEST joined the dairy migration from southern California to southern Idaho. Since it began publication in 1999, our Western edition was based near the Chino...
One week ago Where do I find more information about the Farm Bill?we told you where to find historical information on the Farm Bill. This week we'll delve into which parties get a hand at haggling over...
"Wow, the Holsteins here are smaller than the ones back home!" I said while walking to work with a co-worker. "You must be American. Those black and whites are Friesians, not Holsteins." This was one of...
New Zealand has followed a similar economic trend to its biggest customer, supplier, and investor, Australia, and it hasn't been pretty. But New Zealand is now beginning to mimic Australia's resource-driven...
Last week, I attended the National Holstein Convention in Virginia, and so did over 1,000 Holstein enthusiasts from across the United States. The four-day event was full of meetings, tours, junior competitions,...
The Foundation for the Future (FFTF) is the most researched and, hence, most debated dairy policy plan being proposed to reform the nation's dairy policy. While other ideas and proposals exist, FFTF has...
We've talked about it before (see our blog, Wars we wage in dairy and agriculture and our editorial from the June 2011 issue, Keep chocolate milk in schools), but, like heat in the summer, the issue of...
Every day a milk truck comes to Shoestring Dairy. We exchange our normal "G'day Mate," then the friendly man hooks up the hose and pumps our cows' hard work from our tank into the truck. He prints off...
The arrest of several undocumented workers at a Colorado dairy farm almost two weeks ago and similar events in recent years has brought the issue of labor to the forefront in the dairy industry. Politicians...
U.S. dairy exports are on the upswing, according to the USDA's Foreign Agricultural Service's Summary of U.S. Dairy Exports released June 9, 2011. During the February to April 2011 time period, exports...
Most June dairy celebrations have come and gone, but June Dairy Month still has 15 days to go. Are you finding ways to celebrate, educate, or at least partake in three servings of dairy each day? With...
When summer arrives, we know how warm and uncomfortable we can become. We look forward to the shade of a big oak tree, a chance to have lunch in an air-conditioned home, or the feel of the breeze on our...
It may be an essential nutrient for growing crops, but phosphorus (P) can wreak havoc when it flows to noncropping areas like streams, rivers, and lakes. Once in waterways, it can lead to algal blooms....
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...
Our well-respected dairy products got special recognition when the USDA released its new, MyPlate nutrition education tool. The MyPlate program replaces the Food Pyramid which had been the government's...
Paul Dyk, who recently left University of Wisconsin Extension for a job in the private sector, wrote a good article in a recent UWEX newsletter titled Higher Speed Internet Options for Fond du Lac County....
Ben Logan's The Land Remembers was originally published in 1975. He is now 90 years old and lives in Viroqua, Wis. Photo by Caroline Beckett used with permission of Itchy Cat Press. As a transplant to...
Earlier this month, we were introduced to Anna Gibson, a Washington State University student who is working on a dairy in Tasmania, an Australian island. She shares stories from her first week "down under."...
