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Flying to California to attend World Ag Expo in February, I re-learned an important lesson about the public’s perception of agriculture.
Interestingly, it was an in-flight game that recalled an obvious, but often forgotten, reality about today’s food...
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CWT prepares for herd retirement
Cooperatives Working Together will soon conduct its fourth herd retirement.
The first three, conducted in 2003, 2004 and 2005, reduced U.S. dairy cow numbers by more than 147,000, representing the milk equivalent of 2.8...
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Editor’s note: The following are available market reports and futures data as of February 16, 2006.
Butter
The CME cash butter price has traded lower during five of the last eight sessions and is at levels ($1.2100) that many butter producers desire f...
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Instead of viewing cultural differences as an obstacle to communication and productivity, successful employers draw upon differences to enhance their businesses and improve their workplace. In order to do this, employers must understand how culture influe...
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On a successful dairy, several thousand details need to be properly attended to each day. Well, maybe it’s more like hundreds, but I got your attention. The most common complaint I hear from dairy managers is that their workers (family members or employ...
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Editor’s note: This article is the second of a two-part series entitled “Marginal Thinking.”
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Meeting fresh cow nutritional needs is critical to increased milk production and profitability. How cows are fed and cared for during the transition period – the three weeks before and three weeks after calving – sets the stage for milk production in ...
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The following article is the second in a series of articles summarizing the “Supervisory Skills for Managers” DVD collection produced by Jim Henion. The series provides helpful management hints for owners and managers working with employees on dairy o...
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The science surrounding protein and energy nutrition, no matter the livestock species, is a couple of generations ahead of mineral nutrition – particularly trace mineral nutrition. Yet finally there are signs that mineral nutrition science might one day...
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How do we compare to others? What can we do to improve? Are we making the right changes?These are all questions the most progressive dairy managers ask regularly. Of course, most producers are basically doing the same thing (i.e., producing milk), but tho...
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I recently interviewed Terry Feldmann, head of Maurer-Stutz’s agricultural engineering division, about the manure management landscape that dairy producers face today. Feldmann assists livestock producers planning, designing, siting and building new or ...
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Leon Weaver hopes new changes to his manure management system cut in half the time and management it currently takes to manage his dairy’s 40 million gallons of manure. Weaver, an owner of Bridgewater Dairy in Montpelier, Ohio, jokingly admits that if h...
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The world’s largest agricultural exposition closed its 40th anniversary run in February with officials declaring that World Ag Expo’s special events were excellent, attendance was strong and exhibitors were successful.
Opening day, Feb. 13, brought f...
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Research conducted by Brad Mullens, Veterinary Entomologist, UC Riverside and Nyles Peterson, Director and Dairy Advisor, UC Cooperative Extension, San Bernardino found that high springtime stable fly numbers on California dairies could be predicted by ra...
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Unlocking the full potential of manure as a resource and defining that resource so it is environmentally friendly: that’s the overall vision. Industrialized anaerobic digestion holds this kind of promise and extends the renewable energy-producing capabi...
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We have been working with the concept of the compost dairy barn for a few years now, and it seems we learn something new just about every day. That might be an exaggeration, but we have learned a few things that seem to be cornerstones of well-bedded pack...
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Often farmers are plagued with the reality of poor reproductive performance in their herds. Heat detection generally is the single greatest reason for poor reproductive performance in dairy herds today. But what about those farms that are out three times ...
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The daily challenge of getting cows pregnant is nothing new to any dairy producer. What is new is the variety of approaches researchers are taking to understand the mechanisms underlying this problem and propose effective solutions to it. Our applied repr...
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Accelerated Genetics adds balance and power to Holstein lineupAccelerated Genetics lineup continues to impress Holstein breeders worldwide and now has added new sires after the February 2007 dairy sire proofs. New PACE graduates 014HO03964 BOB, 014HO0424...
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In the musical play, Camelot, the queen sings a song that has become my theme song these last few weeks: “Where are the Simple Joys of Maidenhood?” Guinevere’s lament is, of course, about her lack of knights in shining armor who have shown their val...
Re: Free traffic vs. directed-cow traffic in robotic milking barns
Posted on Friday, 17 May 2013 by Jeff B.I quote "In addition, in directed-cow traffic the selection gate should...
Re: Raw milk bill killed twice in Montana Senate
Posted on Tuesday, 14 May 2013 by Laura.Montana small herd producers, tell your Congresspeople to KISS! Idaho...
Re: Five-day E. coli treatment of gram-negative mastitis largely garners favor
Posted on Thursday, 02 May 2013 by IDLaura.Idaho has a Small Herd Exemption program where we can sell...