Guest Blog

It was Friday, August 11, 1989. My 13-year-old self, dressed in jeans and a tight-fitting yellow polo shirt, sat restlessly on the bleachers of the livestock arena during our county Farm Show awards ceremony. I didn’t want to attend. Truth be told, I argued with my mother about going altogether (and about wearing that yellow shirt); after all, I had not received any awards that year anyway. No new halters or trophies for me – just an opportunity to watch everyone else who fared better than me win their prizes.

As a young woman, my mother, Ruth Elbert, put together three large photo albums of her family and her ancestors before marrying my dad. She highly valued these photo albums and always kept them tucked away in her cedar chest.

There are two types of people in the world – dreamers and doers. Most farmers are doers; we like to visibly see the progress we’re making. But I’ll admit I’m a bit of a dreamer. I need a creative outlet.

Summer is officially in the rearview mirror, and teachers and kids are back in school. For some, the feeling of being back in the classroom is nearly electric – especially after the turbulent year that was 2020 thanks to COVID-19.

Progressive Dairy launched the HERd management column in 2012. It was intended as a dedicated column written for dairywomen by dairywomen. Since then, we’ve published more than 150 columns from dairy farmers across the country. Here’s a quick look at 10 of our most popular columns, according to Google Analytics.

Is your farming operation looking to expand? Are you currently milking in a tiestall barn and looking to upgrade into a freestall barn with a milking parlor? Or, maybe your current barn and parlor need updated. Completely changing your facilities and day-to-day operations can be very overwhelming. You’re so used to doing things a certain way, at least twice a day, and although it might be labor intensive, switching to something more labor friendly might seem daunting. If so, there are some key features I feel are of utmost importance when looking into building or upgrading a freestall barn and parlor.