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Current Progressive Dairy digital edition

1. Checkoff Watch: Evolving to meet consumers’ needs in the future: (Organizations); We’ve all heard the phrase, “The only constant in life is change,” and today’s dynamic global landscape certainly reflects that sentiment. From evolving expectations around the food consumers choose ...; Created on 26 March 2020
2. What happened? What’s next? - Dean Foods bankruptcy proceedings continue to unfold: (Industry News); You’re busy milk cows and finalizing cropping plans. With that in mind, Progressive Dairy looks at issues in the news impacting you and your dairy business. In recognition of your time, we’ll attempt ...; Created on 26 March 2020
3. Milk solids: A better indicator of supply and demand: (Management); Since the beginning of the 21st century, commercial disappearance of milk solids (milkfat plus nonfat solids) increased almost 40 percent. Milk solids disappearance went from 20.6 billion pounds in ...; Created on 26 March 2020
4. Financial management decisions are enhanced by benchmarking: (Management); Financial planning and management is more than keeping track of your checkbook. It includes financial benchmarking and is more relevant today than ever before. It is often perceived separate from the ...; Created on 26 March 2020
5. Employee retention in modern agriculture: The truth and the road to change: (Management); The labor supply for agriculture has been changing in recent years. Some experts attribute this to stricter U.S. immigration policies and an improved economy in countries where much of the foreign-born ...; Created on 26 March 2020
6. The manager’s challenge: My time during planting (or any other critical time): (Management); Crop managers and dairy managers with crops have been planning all winter for planting to arrive. Now it is time to be a doer (plant, spray, etc.). Right? Well, yes and no. Yes, because with everything ...; Created on 25 March 2020
7. City View Farms: Raising a better heifer: (Management); When their milking facility burned down in the early ’80s, the Franken family had two choices: They could rebuild or they could shift gears. They chose to shift gears and began custom-raising heifers. ...; Created on 25 March 2020
8. Shocking: Grounding waterers and fences: (Barns & Equipment); Two of the most common stray voltage and electrical issues on dairy operations are improperly grounded cattle waterers and improperly grounded electric fences. Understanding equipotential planes can ...; Created on 25 March 2020
9. Choosing the right feed mixer: (Barns & Equipment); There’s an old adage in the feed business. It goes: “There are four rations: the ration on paper, the ration that gets mixed, the ration that gets delivered and the ration that gets consumed.” The ...; Created on 25 March 2020
10. All the buzz on biodiesel fuels: Fill it up please: (Barns & Equipment); Nowhere is there more change than in the energy sector. Electric bills now include the option to choose your fuel source. Coal, natural gas and nuclear fuel sources to generate electric energy are ...; Created on 25 March 2020
11. Farm technology coming your way: (Barns & Equipment); When ag engineers get together, it’s not as though competition among brands disappears, but the focus is really more about ag engineers cheering each other as they try to “figure stuff out” to make it ...; Created on 25 March 2020
12. New ag equipment products and technologies: (Barns & Equipment); Another National Farm Machinery Show in Louisville, Kentucky, wound down in February after showcasing new equipment and technology to more than 300,000 visitors. Here’s a look at a few of the products ...; Created on 25 March 2020
13. 3 Open Minutes with Ray Bohacz: The ‘Hot Rod Farmer’: (Barns & Equipment); For more than a decade, Ray Bohacz has been tailoring his mechanical experience as an automobile engineer to help farmers with their own equipment. He operates a podcast and website dedicated to explaining ...; Created on 25 March 2020
14. Test your farm machinery knowledge with this toolbox test: (Barns & Equipment); Are you mechanically inclined? Most farmers know how to fix their equipment, but do you know how to diagnose why things break down? Everyone at the coffee shop will offer you an opinion. But who is right? ...; Created on 25 March 2020
15. Using liquid manure with emerged corn: (Manure); Not many years ago, there were only two people allowed to enter a newly planted Midwest cornfield: One was the person applying the side-dress nitrogen, and the other was the person applying the weed control. ...; Created on 25 March 2020
16. Dairy cow pens to Walmart shelves: (Manure); While most cowgirls spend their time on horseback working cattle and helping out around the ranch, this is not where you will likely find Jennifer Cummins. Though she may be wearing a cowgirl hat, ...; Created on 25 March 2020
17. More crop per drop where water is scarce: (Manure); “More crop per drop.” This is the mantra of De Jager Farms in Chowchilla, California where water is scarce and conservation is king. In a state where they are staring down a several year drought, the ...; Created on 25 March 2020
18. Just dropping by ... I have a folder on my head: (Yevet Tenney); God has allowed me to have this folder to make me strong for some future purpose. I am not going to mess up His plan by spending my days wallowing in self-pity. Many years ago, when I tried my hand ...; Created on 25 March 2020
19. The Milk House: Live (for now) from the Chilean desert: (Ryan Dennis); If location is everything, let me start by disclosing this one thing: This column is being written inside a tent in the mountains of a drought-stricken desert of Chile. These mountains, in particular, ...; Created on 25 March 2020
20. Put on a happy face: Five tips for being more positive: (Guest Blog); If you were to look the word “happy” up in the dictionary, you would find a few different definitions. They include: Feeling or showing pleasure Having a sense of confidence Satisfied with the ...; Created on 25 March 2020
21. The Manure Spreader: ‘Munny’ rabbit: (Tim Moffett); What do the Easter Bunny and the IRS have in common? Well, this year, they shared the same week in our lives. There is a joke in there about how fast rabbits multiply and the IRS does the same thing ...; Created on 25 March 2020
22. Animal rights activists are now environmental activists, too: (Industry News); If you’ve read the news or a social media feed this year, chances are you’ve seen a headline about the environmental impact of animal agriculture. Sustainability, the environment and climate change are ...; Created on 04 March 2020
23. Additional solid extraction improves manure storage and nutrient management at Bettencourt Dairy: (Manure); Bettencourt Dairy has been operating in Jerome and Wendell counties of Idaho since 1982. The farm owns 19 barns housing 50,000 milking cattle in the Magic Valley. At 18 gallons of manure per cow per day, ...; Created on 25 February 2020
24. Is manure spreading disease-causing pathogens on your dairy?: (Manure); The components of manure reflect the components of the cow’s internal and external environment, including a variety of potential disease-causing microorganisms. Proper manure management and attention to ...; Created on 21 February 2020
25. 7 podcasts for the busy dairy farmer: (Guest Blog); If you see me walking around the farm, and I don’t hear you calling out my name, it’s probably because I don’t want to talk to you. Just kidding. It’s mostly because I’m listening to one of my many podcasts. ...; Created on 20 February 2020
26. Dairy farming in the cloud: (Management); You don’t need technology to milk cows. But it sure makes it a lot easier. In the past few decades, many dairies have switched from physical cow cards to computerized herd management systems. In ...; Created on 12 February 2020
27. How ‘one thing’ has changed me, my marriage and my family’s business: (Guest Blog); At the beginning of 2019, I started implementing The One Thing principals in my personal and business life, and it has transformed how I make decisions and approach change for myself, with my spouse and ...; Created on 07 February 2020
28. Four ways to improve employee performance without a bonus: (Management); What is the best way to motivate your employees to improve their work performance? This is a common question of farmers hiring full-time employees. In addition to basic wages, many employers offer pay ...; Created on 03 February 2020
29. 4 'ideals' to promote rumen development at weaning: (Calves & Heifers); Everyone’s weaning process looks slightly different. Facility constraints or labor considerations might cause two farms with similar pre-weaning programs to look vastly different come weaning time. And, ...; Created on 21 January 2020
30. Web Tool: Technology Catalog: (Manure); With a wide variety of manure management and nutrient recovery technologies available to dairy producers today, it can be difficult to know which one would be the best investment. Newtrient, a business ...; Created on 30 October 2019
31. 10 things everyone utilizing manure should know: (Manure); Balancing manure and fertilizer applications, crop production and environmental conservation is an ongoing challenge. Having the knowledge and understanding of several foundational principles of nutrient ...; Created on 25 October 2019