Nichelle Stewert, a Georgia farmer who volunteers with her local Farm Bureau, gave one of our favorite sessions at this year's National Agriculture in the Classroom Conference
Last week at the National Holstein Convention in Springfield, Mo., junior members gathered for the youth forum to hear the state of the association address by JAC Chairman Derek Wasson and to select three...
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...
May milk production refused to buck the trend set by the preceding months. When compared to May 2011, 2012's production was up 2.1 percent in the 23 major states. The milk production estimates are provided...
We posted a photo yesterday on our Hoard's Dairyman Facebook page of a well-dressed young man standing at the end of his dairy barn with rose petals sprinkled down the alley. We thought it was a unique...
Dairy leadership program will now be held more frequently. The time for leadership in the dairy industry becomes more critical as producer numbers decline and the number of consumers grow. Fortunately,...
Use pictures to catch the eye and use your words to catch the mind To build trust, farmers know they must become a familiar face to their customers. From coffee shops to hay sales, farmers have used these...
If the milk prices didn't already tell you, you should know that there's a lot of milk being produced in the U.S. today. Year-over-year, January through April have averaged 767,000 pounds more per month...
The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) seems to have its hands in everything lately. When we turn on the news, HSUS is often cited as a credible source
"Many retailers understand the science behind food production practices, but their customers do not," noted Charlie Arnot with the Center for Food Integrity (CFI), at the 2012 North American Strategy Conference...
It took a ground swell of support in rural America to finally convince the Obama Administration's Department of Labor to withdraw its proposed rule further regulating children under the age of 16 who work...
Pennsylvania was the lone state among the top 23 that did not boost milk flow when this March was compared to the same time last year. The Keystone state's reduction was quite small, 0.6 percent. All other...
How does $3 milk sound? Ridiculous of course, yet the effective buying power that U.S. dairy producers have had for over 20 years has been even less when Class III prices are adjusted for inflation back...
Big changes and much stricter rules are looking very likely. Enormous change appears to be coming in the way dairies and other livestock operations are accustomed to using pharmaceuticals on their animals,...
A number of dairy processors have implemented or reconfirmed delivery constraints. U.S. milk production is heading up, up, and up with milk flow growing 2.5, 3.4, and 4.3 percent nationally in December,...
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
We've talked to quite a few Western dairy producers in the last four weeks, and what they've told us paints a picture that is filled with concern. Hay prices are still crazy. Widespread hopes that they...
"This is our playing field. On October 31, 2011 the 7 billionth human was brought into the world. We are in the midst of a population increase," noted Jeff Simmons, with Elanco, at the Northeast Dairy...
Slowly but surely, word is sinking in with consumers about a different and much less noble image of Humane Society of the United States. The result is a backlash that is hitting them where it hurts the...
The twin combo of more milk per cow and a larger dairy herd pushed up milk production last year. When looking at the year-end statistics released by USDA, cow numbers went up 75,000-head or 0.8 percent...
