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, ...
In the July 19 issue of Progressive Dairyman, my colleague Peggy Coffeen confessed to us readers that she has felt like kind of an outsider. She’s writing for a commercial dairy magazine, but she not-so-secretly ...
Ken Nobis is an active member of the Nobis Dairy Farms team, which milks 1,050 cows and farms 3,400 acres in Clinton County, Michigan. He is also the president of the Michigan Milk Producers Association. ...
A nutritious diet including dairy is just one part of the equation to assure healthy schoolchildren across the country.
Students also need 60 minutes of physical activity each day to maintain a healthy ...
Around the world and back again, the eighth annual Kentuckiana Dairy Exchange on July 29-30 covered a lot of ground.
Not only did 100 attendees from both states visit five central Kentucky farms selected ...
In today’s busy world, with all our electronic forms of communication, conflict can arise very quickly. Workplaces have evolved from authority-controlled (where people are told their specific tasks) to ...
During several in-depth interviews with dairy owners and managers regarding personnel management, we often heard about challenges and the difficulties associated with managing people.
However, in most ...
A proposed organic agriculture promotion program has rankled some organic dairy producers. But what is really at stake for organic dairies in the possible creation of an organic promotion program?
When ...
Several months ago, I wrote an article discussing the relationship between milk price and several economic factors to determine if there was a correlation between these economic indicators and the Class ...
Two dairymen who are test-driving web-based margin projection software both say the program is giving them increased confidence in their management decisions. One of the two is even taking steps to lock ...
There are 313 million people living in the U.S. Of that 313 million, only 2 percent are directly involved in agricultural production, and few more understand the importance of it for the sustainability ...
The following statements are from the House Agriculture Committee’s Subcommittee on Horticulture, Research, Biotechnology and Foreign Agriculture public hearing on July 9, which discussed the benefits ...
Bovine colostrum has come a long way in the past few decades.
It’s no longer just the “first milk” fed to calves to boost their immune systems. Now it’s used in a growing list of products for humans. ...
Born without an active immune system to defend against disease, a newborn calf relies on the consumption of colostrum to build immunity.
Disease-fighting immunoglobulins (commonly called IgG) in colostrum ...
As margins become tighter for dairy producers, prioritizing the investment in raising healthy calves can pay large dividends down the road.
Professional heifer growers and dairy producers need to pay ...
Nearly half of all dairy calves raised in the U.S. are fed a diet of whole milk in the pre-weaned stage. The source of this nutrition is primarily hospital waste milk, salable milk or a combination of ...
It happens. Good intentions with good directions fall apart with poor implementation or misunderstanding. Colostrum did not get fed. The calf hutch did not get cleaned.
Feed was late getting delivered. ...
Walking down a row of hutches or pens, they always stand out. First to greet you, full of curiosity, and of course, their brown coats. Jersey calves are gaining popularity across dairy and calf-raising ...
Capital costs and quality calf care go hand-in-hand. You can’t have one without the other; there will always be a financial impact following the building of a new calf barn or improvements to an existing ...
Birth through 12 weeks old is a critical time in establishing the lifetime growth potential of a calf, and feeding strategies weeks 12 to 24 are essential to optimal rumen development. As a result, it ...
Among the most critical nutritional tools available to today’s modern dairies are those products that enhance rumen function and efficiency.
These products, commonly referred to as rumen enhancers, increase ...
Vitamin D is typically recognized as being necessary for proper bone formation and maintaining calcium and phosphate in the body. Recent discoveries indicate that vitamin D also is required for the activation ...
Mastitis is inflammation of the mammary gland usually caused by a bacterial infection. Poor nutrition does not cause mastitis, but poor nutrition can make it easier for bacteria to become established in ...
While doing some digging for an undergraduate nutrition course recently, I came across an interesting controversy from the early years of nutrition science.
It seems that Louis Pasteur, the renowned scientist ...
The world inhabited by rumen microbes, though hidden from view, is fascinating. Dark and devoid of oxygen, the rumen may seem inhospitable to life.
In reality, it is quite the opposite: Hundreds of trillions ...
Higher grain prices in recent years have encouraged dairy producers to consider increasing the amount of forage and byproduct ingredients in rations for lactating dairy cows.
Because this differs from ...
In the previous two articles, feed efficiency (FE) has been defined, and its use as a stand-alone monitoring tool or in conjunction with income over feed costs has been examined.
The other opportunity ...
Throughout this article, NDF refers to aNDF, determined with use of amylase and sodium sulfite as described by Mertens and official AOAC methods of fiber analysis. For brevity of the acronyms, the “a” ...
An important factor in calfhood health is the presence of maternal antibodies in calf serum during the critical first few weeks of life for protection from disease.
One study shows that compared to maternal ...
“We can improve feed efficiency by improving how we feed, breed and manage cows,” says Mike VandeHaar of the department of animal science at Michigan State University.
VandeHaar was a presenter at the ...
On-farm variation is a hot topic. Forages, commodities or grains, TMR mixing and delivery, and cow level sorting are sources of variation that change the diet cows eat from that directed by a nutrition ...
When is a pasture walk more than a pasture walk? When the farmers and ranchers in a discussion group help each other in unexpected ways. When a meeting about forages leads to decisions far larger than ...
The inclusion of buffers in dairy rations is a well-researched and successful strategy. But buffers seem to have become a forgotten tool – or at the very least, one that’s taken for granted on many dairies ...
This is the third article I have written comparing marriage to Hernán Cortés’ conquest of an impregnable Aztec city. His battle plan was unique: “burn the boats,” not giving himself or his army a path ...
What is the most important tool on the farm? A friend of mine answered that question at a local school career day by saying his pencil was his most important tool. A great answer in a time when agricultural ...
Recently, I went to the alumni banquet of Canaseraga Central School, the high school I, my father and my grandfather attended. Currently, the district only has 250 students enrolled from kindergarten to ...
Promoting the dairy industry has always been important to me. I was a dairy princess at heart long before I ever put on a crown and sash. Even though those years as dairy royalty are long over, I still ...
I was talking to my accountant the other day, and she said the cookie jar was almost empty. “Crumbs” in the bottom of the jar was what she should have said.Now, I never really had a plan for my “future ...
Every stage of an animal’s life matters in order for her to reach her full potential as a cow. Newborn calves rely on the farmer to assist them in building their immune system. As a calf’s caretaker, it ...
It all started because Jo wanted a small lawn behind the house. Tom encouraged her. Tom’s friend offered to lend them his heavy-duty, magnum, Humvee version of a tiller.
Jo borrowed my Ram diesel to pick ...
The news out of Iraq is not good. There is much discussion today about the history of our U.S. government involvement in the Middle Eastern country.The discussion includes the military costs of lives and ...
Created on 15 August 2014
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