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Current Progressive Dairy digital edition

1. Market Watch: Cattle: (Organizations); Click a link below to see updates on Cattle from a specific issue of Progressive Dairyman. 2020 Issue 2, 2020: January 19, 2020 Issue 1, 2020: January 1, 2020 2019 Issue 20, 2019: December 12, ...; Created on 16 October 2019
2. Dare to be different: (From the Editor); In my father’s milk herd, there is one little Jersey that stands out in contrast to a whole herd of Holsteins. Although she doesn’t stand taller than the rest or match the consistent black and white, she ...; Created on 25 August 2017
3. New OSHA rules emphasize injury reporting, discourage retaliation: (Management); In 2016, OSHA finalized rules it hopes will improve the tracking of workplace injuries and illnesses. Some of the regulations that accompanied this ruling have percolated through the system, and now dairy ...; Created on 25 August 2017
4. Preparing for an ICE workplace raid: (Management); If you employ foreign-born workers on your dairy, preparing in advance for a raid by ICE is a lot like buying insurance. You hope you never have to use it, but you want it to be there if and when it’s ...; Created on 25 August 2017
5. Cellphones on the farm are a problem: (Management); There are family members and employees who use their cellphones too much these days. They are texting everyone, watching Youtube videos or getting up-to-date with their Facebook feed instead of doing what ...; Created on 25 August 2017
6. The case for us all having our heads examined: (Industry News); Did you know that when contemplating the price of equipment, clothes, feedstuffs or anything else, you’re battling biases in your mind? Hidden forces are at work against you, and that’s worth a peek inside ...; Created on 24 August 2017
7. Your milk check: It’s better with butter: (Industry News); “It’s better with butter” might be a marketing theme, but it’s also true when it comes to dairy farmer milk checks. Without the strong U.S. butter prices during a recent period of weak world prices, domestic ...; Created on 24 August 2017
8. Dairy grazing their way: A panel of graziers share their management strategies: (Management); Joe Borgerding Joe Borgerding of Belgrade, Minnesota, says he turned into a “reluctant grazier” about 20 years ago. They started with a very conventional farm and went from 60 to 180 cows in 1994, ...; Created on 24 August 2017
9. How a new dairy partnership is building elite genetics: (A.I. & Breeding); Three Idaho dairy establishments have set out on a unique business venture by coming together to form WinStar Genetics in an effort to improve their herds and the Holstein breed. Last September, Cannon ...; Created on 24 August 2017
10. Dairy genomics research update: New aspects of selection for health and fertility: (A.I. & Breeding); A new herd health strategy, in addition to vaccination and biosecurity, is to change the health and reproductive efficiency of the herd through genetic selection. In a recent set of presentations as ...; Created on 24 August 2017
11. Milk quality relies on more than good production traits: (A.I. & Breeding); Key takeaways for improving milk quality Let’s think about what makes for a profitable cow on your dairy. Yes, the cow is productive – strong milk production, the right balance of fluid and solids, and ...; Created on 24 August 2017
12. Data and analysis are keys to reproductive success: (A.I. & Breeding); As concerns over falling reproductive performance escalated around the turn of the century, dairy cattle breeders and advisers decided to take on this trend by putting more emphasis on reproduction-related ...; Created on 24 August 2017
13. 4 nutritional keys to optimize dairy reproduction: (A.I. & Breeding); Nutrition is one element of dairy management that can have a profound effect on the cow’s ability to conceive. Many key components of the ration – like energy levels – directly impact the dairy cow’s ability ...; Created on 24 August 2017
14. Cows find their ideal voluntary waiting period: (A.I. & Breeding); A decade ago, the National Animal Health Monitoring System (NAHMS) Dairy 2007 study showed the average voluntary waiting period (VWP) on U.S. dairy farms was 54.8 days in milk and did not differ by herd ...; Created on 24 August 2017
15. Building the right heifer facility: Balancing cost, time and care: (Calves & Heifers); Your replacement heifers are your next generation of milking cows. Take care of them. With the intense focus on cow comfort, we all know that milking cows need comfortable barns, adequate space, appropriate ...; Created on 24 August 2017
16. Heifer nutrition: Keeping your investment growing: (Calves & Heifers); Each day, multiple times a day, you carefully calculate the amount of milk replacer and calf starter you feed each calf. But what about after weaning? What if you place the same level of focus on heifers ...; Created on 24 August 2017
17. Balancing milk: The ‘liquid TMR’: (Calves & Heifers); You’ve probably heard or read it 100 times or more – cows love consistency. Numerous research studies and on-farm experiences show dairy cows perform better with day-to-day sameness in their care and ...; Created on 23 August 2017
18. Dos and don’ts of dairy colostrum: (Calves & Heifers); Every day, we make hundreds of decisions. Some are big, while some appear minor and without a significant future impact. Colostrum handling is one of those processes that falsely appears to only have short-term ...; Created on 23 August 2017
19. Calves and crude protein: Are your calves getting what they need?: (Calves & Heifers); The crude protein (CP) concentrations and sources used in calf starters and growers are frequently questioned and debated today. Thirty-five (or more) years ago when the understanding of rumen-degradable ...; Created on 23 August 2017
20. Labor efficiency and effectiveness for the calf enterprise: (Calves & Heifers); Dairy managers and consultants focus on feeding and managing the lactating and dry dairy herd. This is logical since mistakes become readily apparent in substantial lost income, increased expenses or poor ...; Created on 23 August 2017
21. Potential benefits of growing heifers to reach puberty at a younger age: (Calves & Heifers); Puberty in dairy heifers can be defined as a measurable increase in blood progesterone with the presence of a corpus luteum (CL) on an ovary, and heifers begin actively cycling. Dairy heifers reach puberty ...; Created on 23 August 2017
22. Manure matters in robotic dairy barn design: (Manure); Designing a robotic milking barn, whether it’s a new build or a retrofit, involves a lot of moving parts and pieces, with many experts involved along the way. However, it’s important for a manure-handling ...; Created on 23 August 2017
23. Worms and wastewater: How farms are managing nitrogen with a unique system: (Manure); A handful of dairies are adopting an eco-friendly solution to treat wastewater that uses nature’s most simple workers: earthworms and micro-organisms. This technology, created by the company BioFiltro, ...; Created on 23 August 2017
24. Just dropping by ... Flooding the gates of heaven with our prayers: (Yevet Tenney); Among the masses, prayer has become a thing to post on Facebook, a thing for only church-goers and religious fanatics, and seldom a thing to change the course of one’s life. Jesus meant it when he said, ...; Created on 21 August 2017
25. Mechanics Corner: Hammers: Not created equal: (Barns & Equipment); You know the old saying, “If your only tool is a hammer, the whole world looks like a nail.” While that might be the case, the next question has to be, “What kind of hammer do you have?” Hammers come ...; Created on 21 August 2017
26. 3 reproductive technologies transforming dairy cattle genetics: (A.I. & Breeding); The last 80 years have seen great innovations in the field of assisted reproductive technologies, which has rendered farmers and their agricultural businesses more efficient and more profitable. Between ...; Created on 21 August 2017
27. Why dairy cow biological priorities are important to operations: (Feed & Nutrition); Most dairy producers focus on their cows’ ability to produce milk and milk components, and become pregnant, because profitability of a dairy operation occurs here. However, this does not align with ...; Created on 21 August 2017
28. The Milk House: Grounded in the past: (Ryan Dennis); Dragging our moldboard plow through the fields in the spring always tended to turn up more than just the soil. Sometimes there would be a cow’s lost neck chain that got scraped into the spreader or parts ...; Created on 21 August 2017
29. HERd Management: Organic opportunities and why we passed on them: (Guest Blog); For me to effectively tell this story, we need to go back in time. The year is 2002, and my husband, Nate, is in his third year of college pursuing a degree in political science with goals of becoming ...; Created on 21 August 2017
30. What does it cost to calve your springing heifers later than 24 months?: (Calves & Heifers); As I look at thousands of calving records every month for dairies ranging in size from 100 to 5,000 cows, one thing that is consistent among almost all of them is the wide range of ages that springing ...; Created on 21 August 2017
31. The Manure Spreader: All alone: (Tim Moffett); We all love a good story. We all like to see the bad guy lose. And we all like to see a big girl squeeze into a wedding dress that’s three sizes too small just to watch her family cry. That’s why they ...; Created on 21 August 2017
32. Humans or cows? Who’s to blame for brown water events: (Manure); When brown water starts coming out of kitchen faucets and filling bathtubs, it is concerning for all involved. One of the first reactions is to point fingers. Local residents point to area dairy farmers ...; Created on 08 August 2017
33. Is the future polled? The economic impacts of the alternative to dehorning: (A.I. & Breeding); Eliminating horns has long been part of basic herd management, but the economic value, practicality and acceptability of traditional horn removal practices is in question. A recent analysis compares the ...; Created on 13 July 2017
34. Real Dairy Wives: Losing all my blankets: (Guest Blog); Every day, dairy farmers go to great lengths to care for their cows. In this series from Dairy MAX, Tara Vander Dussen of New Mexico shares her story about caring for newborn calves during Winter Storm ...; Created on 01 June 2017
35. Keep calves off the temperature roller coaster: (Calves & Heifers); Spring and fall weather conditions often present calf raisers with the challenge of fluctuating temperatures. The rapid and ongoing transition from warm days to cold nights creates a temperature roller ...; Created on 02 March 2017
36. Is your dairy team Super Bowl worthy?: (Management); In the big game this Sunday afternoon, highly trained players will coordinate their activities as precisely as they can against the onslaught of the other team. If all goes according to plan, the quarterback ...; Created on 30 January 2017
37. Manure separation systems: Comparing costs with opportunities: (Manure); With the objective to develop novel waste-to-resource technologies capable of converting organic wastes into value-added fuel and chemical products, Dr. Dana Kirk, Ph.D., P.E. in biosystems and agricultural ...; Created on 06 January 2017