A South Dakota dairy producer who traveled with his wife on a mission to Haiti is the headline speaker at the 2013 Nebraska Dairy Convention on Tuesday, March 12, at Divots Conference Center in Norfolk.

Dave Hansen was featured in a recent Midwest Dairy Association video that emphasized how dairy plays an important role in feeding the world.

His presentation – and the crowning of the new Nebraska Dairy Princess – will take place during the convention banquet at 6:30 p.m., preceded by a reception at 5:30 p.m.

Salmonellosis is a pervasive disease that is hard to keep out of a dairy operation. With help from a new online tool from Pfizer Animal Health, dairy producers can assess their risk of a Salmonella outbreak.

The short self-assessment — found at www.SalmonellaRisk.com/Assessment — helps producers find proactive measures to help lessen the risk of a disastrous outbreak.

“Salmonella is on the rise and is a risk to every dairy operation,” says Gary Neubauer, senior manager, dairy technical services, Pfizer Animal Health.

H.J. Baker & Bro., Inc. recently made donations to more than 70 non-profit organizations across the U.S. and in Canada.

Employees at H. J. Baker's headquarters in Westport, Connecticut, and at plant and operation locations throughout the country, were asked to suggest charities in their area to which the company might make contributions this year. 

The classic textbook, “Rumen Microbiology and Its Role in Ruminant Nutrition,” originally published by the late James B. Russell in 2002, is now available free of charge for noncommercial educational or scientific purposes.

Russell wrote the book “for beginning students or people that simply want an overview” of rumen microbiology. He considered it to be particularly useful for college undergraduates.

Earlier this week, the California Department of Food and Agriculture released its much anticipated announcement on the Dec. 21, 2012 milk pricing hearing, saying it would temporarily increase Class 1, 2, 3, 4a and 4b prices by approximately $0.251/cwt for the period of Feb. 1 to May 31, 2013.

The announcement by Candace Gates, chief of the Dairy Marketing Branch, provided these details:  

Wyoming County, New York, ranked 32nd nationwide in milk production in 2011, reaching 1 billion gallons annually. And the booming yogurt market could mean a lot more business for its farms.

A project called the Wyoming County Agriculture Business Center of Excellence is underway, intended to consolidate numerous county and related agencies into a single location.

The hope is that the center will create new opportunities for the county’s large agriculture and dairy industries, as the Alpina and Project Wave yogurt plants become operational in Batavia.

Dino Giacomazzi of Giocamazzi Dairy in Hanford, California, will talk about the latest dairy apps to keep local farmers on the cutting edge of technology during the Maryland Dairy Convention.

The convention is set for Saturday, Feb. 23, at the Frederick Fairgrounds in Frederick, Maryland. Registration starts at 8:30 a.m. and the program kicks off at 9:30 a.m.

In August, Progressive Dairyman spoke with Penn State Department of Animal Science Senior Project Associate Rebecca White about PSU's DairyCents app.

Click here to watch the video interview.

As of November, DairyCents – which performs standardized Income Over Feed Cost (IOFC) calculations using the user’s state-specific milk and alfalfa prices and corn and soybean meal prices from the Chicago Mercantile Exchange – had more than 600 registered users.