According to the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA), the practice of tail docking in the dairy industry began in the early 1900s in New Zealand as a method to reduce the incidence of leptospirosis ...
I recently read an interesting blog post about how bees manage their time and resources. The author Michael O’Malley’s main point is that: “Honeybees have institutionalized procedures that prevent catastrophic ...
Two years ago, leaders of Ohio State’s animal science department decided to cut the campus dairy herd, located at the Waterman Dairy Farm, from two breeds to one. The Holsteins were sold to the state ...
With grant funding from the NRCS, the University of Idaho has recently created a series of field days focusing on manure handling on dairy operations. The first of such field days about manure collection ...
Editor’s note: This is the first in a three-part series on developing middle managers. The next article will discuss how to develop protocols and provide training. It will be followed by an article describing ...
It is amazing how much the current and future outlook for dairy production has changed since I last penned an article for Progressive Dairyman in June. At that point, experts were forecasting a record ...
Have you ever wondered if you were saving money in the most tax-efficient way? People like to talk about asset allocation (the mix of stocks and bonds in your investment portfolio), but few ever talk about ...
Do you remember the “tree interview” that Barbara Walters did with Katharine Hepburn back in the early ’80s? She asked her, “If you were a tree, what kind of a tree would you be?” In all fairness to Walters, ...
The USDA recently completed an analysis of potential economic and productivity impacts from changes to the availability of farm labor. Their results found that dairy would be one of the sectors most affected ...
Had anyone asked a corn and soybean grower in June what their forecast for fall grain prices were, chances are good that the response would have centered around one word … Lower! However, much has changed ...
What’s it worth?
You might be surprised at the variety of items of which dairy nutritionists are asked to assess the value.
Partially intact feed bins, antique farm equipment, crossbred bull calves ...
Livestock held for draft, breeding or dairy purposes that are sold as a result of drought or weather-related conditions may qualify for favorable tax treatment.
Gain does not have to be recognized on ...
Feed prices for the last five years have been at historic highs. Coupled with periods of low milk prices, this has resulted in extremely tight (sometimes negative) margins for dairy producers.
The ability ...
“For years and years, we’ve all known the very best thing for a sick cow is to receive healthy rumen fluid,” says Bernie Mulder, founder of Drench-Mate.
Yet, until now, there hasn’t been an easy way to ...
There are many things dairy producers do every day to keep cows healthy and productive, but there may be nothing more important than focusing on the first two hours when a calf is born.
A recent article ...
Progressive Dairyman recently reached out to several industry researchers to provide up-to-date information about automatic calf feeding. Roundtable participants include:
Tom Earleywine, technical ...
Dairy heifers have a lot riding on their shoulders. They may not be competing in the Olympics but, like an athlete, they must prepare and perform at their best or they won’t go home a winner.
Your role ...
The first two months of a calf’s life can be challenging due to high risk of scours and respiratory disease – but this time is also one of opportunity because calves have the potential to grow very efficiently. ...
To maintain a profitable business model and maximize productivity, producers need to be highly efficient with available resources. In today’s dairy industry, high genetic potential in heifers is one of ...
Technology is advancing at an unprecedented pace – and technology in the dairy industry is no exception. Some is considered “disruptive” technology, defined by Clayton Christensen of Harvard University ...
Many dairy veterinarians prescribe the use of prostaglandin F2α (PG) in dairy herds to control time to estrus (heat), as part of synchronization programs or for postpartum treatments. There are two primary ...
The economics of the dairy industry today continue to squeeze the bottom line of every operation. Naturally, expenses and feed rations have been under tremendous scrutiny by every business manager. Likewise, ...
Short of animal abuse, dairy owners are pretty much free to do whatever they want with their own cattle.
That includes checking cows for pregnancy, whether by conventional trans-rectal palpation or ...
When asked to write this piece for Progressive Dairyman, I was asked to write about the misconceptions about organic dairy farming. The main thing I want you to know is: We are not crazy.
Well, maybe ...
Thomas Jefferson and his fellow Agrarian philosophers founded the new republic of America on the idea that the farmer was the ideal citizen. One of his reasons for claiming legitimacy for the occupation ...
In seventh grade, I memorized the Gettysburg Address. At the time, the speech was just pleasing words grouped together in a concise poetic manner.I have quoted them many times since, but until recently ...
Each year, dairymen, farmers, truckers and equipment operators spend an ever-increasing amount of money on maintenance costs. The most expensive of all maintenance repairs are those of catastrophic failures, ...
Editor’s note: As part of Progressive Dairyman’s 25th anniversary celebration, we’ve checked back in with the producers and businesses we’ve profiled over the years. We profiled Rehder Farms of Cottonwood, ...
Smoke in the air. Every summer we watch hundreds of thousands of acres of forest burn. As I listen to folks anguish and wring their hands, I have to remind myself it is all part of nature’s cycle in the ...
I am now home from Africa. My duty station is East Lansing, Michigan, on the Ecological Sciences Staff at the NRCS state office. I am on standby status, which means if I am needed to go somewhere outside ...
Ranch hands and cowboys often get put in the position of playing host to all manner of guests, reporters, owners’ grandchildren and bank vice presidents.
Dave works on a ranch in south Florida. In the ...
For our readers' convenience, we've compiled a list of all of the trending topic articles features.
July 1, 2013: A.I. company hand-picked its preferred activity monitor system June 11, 2013: Flavor ...
Click a link below to see updates on Cattle from a specific issue of Progressive Dairyman.
Issue 18 2012: December 11, 2012
Issue 17 2012: November 21, 2012
Issue 16 2012: November 1, 2012
Issue ...
Created on 27 December 2010
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