Click a link below to see updates on cattle from a specific issue of Progressive Dairy.
2021
Issue 2, 2021: January 19, 2021 Issue 1, 2021: January 1, 2021
2020 Issue 20, 2020: December 12, ...
Recently one of my friends asked me for a favor. He runs the quality assurance division for a milk plant and needed some help for an hour. He wanted me to test the plant’s food defense program. I’d ...
Longs Peak Dairy Pierce, Colorado The Greeley Tribune recently published a feature story about Longs Peak Dairy in Weld County, Colorado. The newspaper wanted its readers to know that much of the ...
It’s a simple, indisputable truth: The moment your customers stop trusting you is the moment they stop buying from you. This is true if your business is cars or clothing, meat or milk. Look at what the ...
Attendees of the Dairy Strong conference, Jan. 13-15, in Madison, Wisconsin, enjoyed a rock-star lineup of speakers including Mike Rowe, host of the hit show Dirty Jobs. Rowe wowed the crowd with his ...
In the beginning, your dairy company probably didn’t need to spell out a people management philosophy. You did everything yourself. You managed as you saw fit.
As you have grown and now execute and produce ...
Never in my wildest dreams did I picture myself living and working in Chicago as a licensed commodity futures and options broker. The son of a third-generation dairy farmer, I grew up on a farm in Tulare ...
My oldest daughter is only 10. However, much like her father, she has a very inquisitive spirit. She likes to know how things work. She asks a lot of questions. This includes questions about her future ...
Editor’s note: This article is the final article of a three-part series.
Chronic immunosuppressive diseases have a significant economic impact on many areas of a dairy. In the case of persistently infected ...
Every good calf manager strives to achieve optimal calf health and growth. It’s a fact of life, however, that some calves will get sick.
Therefore, managers also have plans for identifying and treating ...
The administration of supplemental calcium to combat subclinical hypocalcemia in transition cows is a growing practice in the dairy industry. However, most producers may not be aware of the specific details ...
Negative energy balance (NEB) occurs in early lactation dairy cattle when the energy they need for milk production exceeds the amount available through feed intake. To have more energy, these cows break ...
Properly formulated transition cow rations are an integral part of transition period success. Producers and nutritionists often spend a good deal of attention to getting these diets just right and then ...
Rumen transfaunation: Taking rumen fluid from a healthy donor animal and orally transferring the rumen fluid to a recipient animal experiencing simple indigestion.
Rumen transfaunation is a common ...
Down cows are a fact of life for any dairy owner. Although down cow incidents may be reduced through high-quality care and good facilities, they will never be fully eliminated.
To deal with this issue, ...
Employees’ job performance has an impact on the overall profitability of a dairy operation, regardless of the dairy’s size. Efficiency in a dairy farm (from milk production to pregnancy rates) is partly ...
“Yesterday, a young man showed up on my dairy asking for work. He appears to be well qualified, and I took his application. However, I suspect he might be an animal rights activist with a hidden agenda.All ...
Pregnancy losses are extensive in lactating dairy cattle. In fact, in many cases these losses are underestimated because of the challenges that exist on-farm to accurately determine conception early after ...
An effective cow and heifer breeding program is key to maximizing your long-term profitability. Extended calving intervals can quickly lead to lower overall production and higher reproductive culling rates, ...
It is no secret that in the last few years consumers have been asking more and more questions about where their food comes from. Unfortunately, most of them have little knowledge of agriculture, or a skewed ...
For many dairy producers, the task of holding a team meeting to increase herd reproduction rates may seem like a great idea in theory, but once the actual planning begins, the questions on logistics appear ...
With the arrival of lower-cost genomic testing options, an increasing number of registered purebred and commercial producers are using these tools for routine sorting and selection applications.
While ...
Do the continually changing industry selection indexes and recent genetic base change have you questioning what that means for your genetic plan?
The recent genetic base change caused an industry-wide ...
Dairyman Mitch Breunig’s genomic test results are no longer buried in a stack of papers. With the Enlight online management tool, he now has real-time genetic data at his fingertips.
In 2014, Zoetis ...
Sustainability is a core mission for the University of Wisconsin – Oshkosh. To demonstrate this objective, the university commissioned the building of three anaerobic digesters in the state.
The first ...
When designing a new building or retrofitting an existing facility, there are boundless questions that have to be thought through and answered. One of the many areas, and one that I would argue is the ...
Dairy farmers may not have to dig too deep, learn to maintain new equipment or radically change production practices in order to reduce nitrogen runoff from agricultural fields. Good manure management, ...
There is a controversy as to who really chopped down the cherry tree. Was it young George Washington or young Abraham Lincoln? Some say it was Lincoln, and some argue it was Washington.
Some even say, ...
Effective weed and pest control plays an important role in growing optimal yields of high-quality forage for dairy cattle. Proper pre-season inspection and maintenance of spraying equipment can help ensure ...
Change. I don’t know about you, but I am not a big fan of change. It hurts to see a cow have to leave the farm or a heifer’s first calf pass away.
It hurts watching the barn you grew up playing ...
“God help us, we’re in the hands of engineers,” exclaims Dr. Ian Malcom, staring at the recreated dinosaurs in Jurassic Park. It turns out, Spielberg might be a prophet. In 2009, Derek Gow, a farmer from ...
There was a recent scientific study which stated that living in the city is much safer than living in the country. Apparently, they looked at all the relevant statistics from hospital records.
That’s ...
Have you read The Little Engine That Could to your kids or grandkids? Dr. Tom told me a story that brought it back to me. Two good ol’ Nebraska cowboys were given the task of rebuilding a barbwire fence ...
Editor’s note: This is the first part of a two-part series.
I have written hundreds of columns for Progressive Dairyman over the course of 23 years. During this time I have been a public servant, with ...
Created on 19 February 2015
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