The auction yard has long been a gathering place for those in production agriculture. Other than an obvious location to sell their livestock, it served as a meeting place for farmers
The robot construction on our farm is well underway, and there are not enough hours in a day for all that needs completing before the first cow is milked
Growing up as a breed convention attendee and competitor, I knew that the end of the school year didn’t mean the beginning of vacation, hanging by the pool, or even simply relaxing in front of the...
Each year, we go through rain spells and dry spells, hot spells and cold spells. When it is cold, we are thinking about how nice hot weather would be, and when it is hot, we dream about how good that cold...
From a business standpoint, the most money saved per heifer on a dairy farm can be saved in the weaned pens. This accounts for calves that are weaned up to when they are around 150 days...
Did you know that one in six kids in the U.S. faces hunger? It's even worse in the summer because they might not have access to free or reduced-price school meals
What’s the best heat stress abatement practice? Standing? No. That’s not the correct answer, but if you watch a pen of cows that are experiencing heat stress, it sometimes appears to be their...
Last week, I was in one of our manufacturing plants changing a line over and one of the men, who was very much my senior, mentioned as he worked next to me that I was “tough.”
Guernseys were the foundational breed of the Hoard’s Dairyman herd when the farm was started by W.D. Hoard in 1899. More than a century later, in 2009, Jerseys were added to the herd,...
How do you define strength? Does it mean you squat 300 pounds and do 30 unbroken pull ups? Is strength being a dairy producer, waking every morning to face yet another day of hardships — but doing...
It doesn't really feel like spring has truly arrived yet. Here in the Northwest, we just enjoyed one of the wettest weeks of weather in a long time while the Midwest and East dealt with yet another dose...
We have been taught there are steps to follow when milking a cow. Books have been written about protocols in the parlor . . . but do they always get followed?
I’m all for a nice sit-down dinner. Shoot, I’m all for most types of dinners. I like casual restaurants, the occasional dive bar, and family meals packed around a too small table and handmade...
