The crops are in, and it's time to decide how to use what's available. Winter is in full swing now, and it is time to start thinking about how to most effectively use the forages in the bunker. Bob James,...
Gadgets and devices aid – not replace dairy management. All that cool technology that people use to communicate, record exercise levels and monitor their sleep patterns, now are being applied to...
The old saying goes, "the first step to fixing a problem is knowing you have one." I would argue the second step is knowing what and how significant that problem is
121.5 million dairy farms exist on our planet. By Patti Hurtgen, Hoard's Dairyman Online Media Manager Yep! Those numbers are current. They are based on worldwide data. Initially, your reaction might be...
The employment rate in rural America is slowly recovering after the recession. Many of us working in agriculture, myself included, grew up in the country. I think most "country kids" would agree that small...
A clean environment, adequate cow comfort and footbath use all bolster your ability to prevent digital dermatitis. Lameness affects everything a cow does. Feed intake, fertility, milk production and, in...
Introducing heifers to the milking barn or parlor before calving may be the ticket to reducing stress. When a dairy heifer has its first calf, its world changes dramatically. A first-lactation heifer is...
When we throw away food, we are tossing more than just nutrients into the trash. No doubt, water is a valuable resource. We use it every single day in a multitude of ways. When water supplies get tight,...
Delaying a herd's age at first calving to 25 months has the potential to cost $45 to $90 per heifer. Age? Weight? Height? If you ask three dairy producers what criteria they use to breed heifers, each...
Veterinarian shares ready-to-use information. "Technology is great, but you still need to manage it," shared Scott Poock, D.V.M., during the Hoard's Dairyman webinar, "An update on repro technologies and...
Where people shop for food is constantly moving away from traditional outlets. More and more these days, taking a quick trip down to the grocery store doesn't involve a grocery store at all. Instead, a...
Now is the time to conduct a postmortem on your heat stress mitigation plan and evaluate potential modifications. With full bunkers and only a few remaining harvest tasks to check off the list, the warmth...
Choosing the correct bedding material for your farm's system is an integral part of managing milk quality and production. Selecting the ideal bedding for a farm can be a difficult and intensive project....
Growing up on a Guernsey farm in eastern New York, this year's silver anniversary Duncan MacKenzie recipient, Timothy Coon of Amenia, N.Y., came to his first World Dairy Expo in 1981 and hasn't missed...
Featuring deep classes and fancy cows, the International Brown Swiss Show did not disappoint. by Amanda Smith, Hoard's Dairyman Associate Editor The cows paraded in with the traditional fanfare of the...
Annual banquet is a night to celebrate The National Dairy Shrine banquet will be held on Thursday, October 1, during World Dairy Expo. The organization will honor its pioneers, a distinguished dairy cattle...
Whether you're here to take in a cattle show, visit with trade show attendees or catch a few seminars, there's plenty to be learned at World Dairy Expo. To test that knowledge, an Associate Editor took...
Cows in Wisconsin had a lot, cows in California did not. Two very different songs sum up what milk production per cow was like in the nation's two biggest dairy states this summer. In Wisconsin it was...
Leachate and runoff can drain nutrients from your bunk while hampering water quality. When it comes to feed, shrink – or nutrients that are lost before they have a chance to be consumed – can...
