Check back to this section of www.progressivedairy.com to find additional content beyond the print magazine.

• Featured podcast video
Click here to view "2012 World Ag Expo Virtual Farm Tour: John Verhaar". John Verhaar of Aquila Farms near Bad Axe, Michigan, was recently convicted of hiring and harboring unauthorized workers. He was sentenced to three years of probation and ordered to pay hefty fines.

John believes his challenges in finding qualified labor for his dairy are similar to other producers. Hear him explain his hiring protocols and experience in dealing with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). He says what happened to him could happen to others.

• Trending topic article
Click here to read, "Separation system removes liquid, saves money," originally published: July 1, 2011.

This article, written by Editor Karen Lee, was chosen as 2011 Editors’ Pick. Lee describes Minnesota dairy producer Jon Johnson taking advantage of a unique way to manage manure with sand bedding. He’s using a system where the manure is scraped from barns over a ledge into a storage area.

From there, the liquids seep toward screen-lined towers where they are drained via pipes into a liquid storage basin. The process occurs by gravity and without any moving parts. Arlo Habben, president of Southern Minnesota Agronomic Environmental Services (SMAES), modified the weep cell work of Joe Harner from Kansas State University to create this two-stage dairy and wastewater treatment system.

Because this article was so popular, we asked Habben a follow-up question: Does this system work with other types of bedding besides sand?

Click here to see his response.

• Featured /MORE content
-On the "In the news" page, we directed your attention to a web-exclusive article about a solar panel open house. Click here to read, "Open house showcases solar power on California dairy."

-Read more of our interview with CDI's new CEO. Click here to read the online version of "3 Open Minutes with Andrei Mikhalevsky" from pg. 41 of the print issue.

-Can't get enough New Products? Click here for additional photos and information beyond what appears in each print issue.

-The March 21, 2012 issue features a new column from dairywomen. Click here to see even more of Emily Zweber's blog, "Dairying and social media: I got sucked in."

-Make sure you're up-to-date on the latest policy discussions. See more quotes in "Mr. Chairman, Preserve funding to preserve rural communities" and "Mr. Chairman, Don’t lose sight of conservation."

• Featured Proud to Dairy member: Ethan Bloomfield, Valley Grove, West Virginia
Q. How did you find us?
BLOOMFIELD: I was at the Southern Regional ADSA-SAD meeting and our speaker, Ray Starling, spoke about the site. He is on the General Counsel for the North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Sciences. He was a very entertaining and educational speaker. I think all who were in attendance really liked him.

Click here to visit Bloomfield's profile on Proud to Dairy.

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www.progressivedairy.com/pastissues, not www.progressivedairy.com/PastIssues.

• As seen on Facebook
We asked friends on the Progressive Dairyman Facebook page to tell us what they liked best about Progressive Dairyman magazine, in honor of our 25th Anniversary. Click here to "Like" the Progressive Dairyman Facebook page, and click here to see our 25th Anniversary content from the March 21, 2012 issue.

• Featured blog:
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