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Feeding and management practices for dairy calves directly impact not only their survival, but just as importantly, their future milk production. Recent studies which have followed calves through their first lactation have shown a positive relationship be...
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Lameness continues to be a major welfare issue for dairy cows. In addition to the reduction in performance, the visual image of lame cows on farms can lead to a negative public perception of dairy farming. A survey in Minnesota found the prevalence of lam...
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Most business operators would agree that it’s getting tougher out there – every day. It doesn’t matter whether it’s the local grocery store, a machinery dealer or your own farm operation – an environment of continuous change and turmoil is makin...
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Lameness is a common and costly disorder affecting dairy cattle. Freestall housing systems are designed for ease of management but are also associated with a greater risk of hoof injury and disease leading to lameness. For example, the use of concrete flo...
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Depending on where your dairy is located this may be a hot weather season for you. It is always challenging to maintain good gains under these weather conditions. What is “hot” weather for calves? Thermoneutral conditions for young calves cannot be ex...
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In the old days, we expected to get a 50 to 55 percent conception rate (1.9 to 2 services per conception) with milking cows. We have done a great job of breeding high-producing Holsteins. Unfortunately, the modern high-producing Holstein is not high...
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Recent reports rolling out of California might leave the average person believing that digesters on animal facilities are on their way out. First, there is the battle over which is more damaging to air quality – the natural emissions from anaerobic dige...
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A rule limiting pollution from dairies will be suspended while citizens sue for tougher restrictions.
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Methane digesters have recently come under fire in California. Once seen as a viable option for helping producers deal with problems associated with manure management, the engines used to convert biogas into electricity have come under fire as an unwelcom...
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Can dairy farmers capture energy contained in manure produced by their cows and improve their operation’s sustainability, profitability and public image?
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Making electricity is more than flipping a switch or trapping gas. Indeed, the process takes much longer than many hope for, and with all the responsibilities on the farm to take care of, it’s a process that demands more time than a producer has. What a...
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Carbon credits – their creation, how they will impact the struggling economy – are not only generating buzz and discussion online, but action on several fronts. Washington State’s governor has proposed a statewide, cap-and-trade; California and othe...
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The addition of anaerobic digestion with biogas utilization or sale (hereafter a biogas system) to a dairy or other livestock operation can significantly reduce odor problems and possibly increase net farm income. In addition, it can substantially reduce ...
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FSI updates compost spreadersFSI Fabrication Inc. has been building spreaders form more than thirty years. FSI has spent the past three years developing the EzSpred Fp2 compost spreader.
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In 1883, a creative engineer named John Roebling was inspired by an idea to build a spectacular bridge connecting New York with Brooklyn; however bridge-building experts throughout the world thought that this was an impossible feat and told Roebling to fo...
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Amidst the calls that there should be a Greenhouse Gas Tax on ruminant animals (meaning cows; not meaning goats, rice, termites or water buffalo), exciting research is being done genetically to address the issue.
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VIRGINIA CWT announces another herd retirement In light of the perilous financial plight affecting America’s dairy farmers, Cooperatives Working Together announced Wednesday that it will conduct its latest herd retirement round. Bids are being accepted ...
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The complexity of our nation’s economic crisis is truly dizzying. I’m sure a decade or more from now there will be books and volumes of research published about the root cause of this mess. But does anyone know what is the real cause of all our troubl...
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According to the NASS Milk Production report for February released recently, cow numbers in the surveyed Western states were up in one state and down in two. The herd size and change from last year in the selected Western states are as follows: Arizona 18...
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According to the NASS Milk Production report for February released recently, cow numbers in the surveyed Western states were up in two states, down in one, and unchanged in the other two. The herd size and change from last year in the selected Western sta...
Re: Analaine’s Home Cooking: Copper pennies
Posted on Monday, 21 January 2013 by Stephanie Crawley.I have made this for about 5 years. I collect cookbooks, particularly...
Re: A look into compost bedded pack barns
Posted on Monday, 21 January 2013 by Koos Vis.Dr.Bewley and Dr.Taraba, Great to read this research. Out of hoof...
Re: Hello . .. from your past!
Posted on Sunday, 20 January 2013 by Deborah Tucker.John Deere is one of my clients .. . and I was 'playing' around on...