Lately, there has been a re-examination of milk fat’s role in the diet.
The National Dairy Council (NDC) has been an active leader of the conversation as experts “de-demonize” dietary fats, including ...
It’s that time of year again to prepare yourself and your animals for the winter months ahead.
Both calves and people can be subjected to freezing temperatures, but proper attire can take the edge ...
Jim Abacherli, owner and manager of South Slope Dairy, wanted to come up with an easier, less stressful way to handle down cows, and with a few modifications, he outfitted a skid steer bucket to do just ...
Following a devastating fire that destroyed their barn and milking herd in January 2013, Roosburg Farms of Athens, Ontario, is back in business, in a new facility built to please both cows and people. ...
“Is this just a speed bump on the road to expansion of U.S. dairy in the world market?
Or is this a major detour that could cast doubt on the premise that U.S. exports can and will move beyond their ...
Editor’s note: This is the third of four articles explaining producer payment systems for milk in the U.S.
This article will analyze the Federal Milk Marketing Order’s “advanced” payment formulas and ...
Maybe you’ve gotten to the point that you’ve read so many articles, been to so many seminars and heard so many different viewpoints about transition planning that you have “paralysis by analysis.”
This ...
The cream always rises – and like their cream, the Fulper family rose to the occasion on a soggy December evening in 2014, making their Christmas on-farm event sparkle.
Christmas lights strung from ...
Age: 36
Location: Lomira, Wisconsin
History of your dairy in a nutshell: Christian Hill Dairy is a family-owned dairy that has been in our family for almost 100 years.
If I were not a dairyman ...
From within our dairy community come stories that touch our lives and warm our hearts.
This holiday season, we are pleased to share with you how one Florida teacher has been providing opportunities ...
For the dairy producers and industry folks involved with the dairy project at Andrea’s Home of Hope and Joy in Bolivia, the labor is truly “Love in Action” with a decidedly dairy twist.
The orphanage ...
Marieke Penterman decided she wanted to do something with herself before she turned 30 – and what a “something” it turned out to be.
Marieke met her husband, Rolf, who is also Dutch, in 1998 when ...
Judges rule manure is a ‘pollutant’
Two separate court decisions made near the beginning of the year will have a major role in how manure will be viewed and handled for years to come.
The first ...
Each December, Progressive Dairyman compiles a list of the most popular online content based on Google Analytics.
This list reflects content published from Oct. 1, 2014 through Oct. 1, 2015.
1. ...
Christmas is the most wonderful season of the year, a season full of love, hope and giving.
A season that blesses us all. Or at least, it should be that way, but unfortunately it isn’t always. Sometimes ...
We sat by the fire long into the night listening to Grandfather tell stories.
They were not ordinary stories, nor were they fables or legends. There was a magic about them that I could not explain. ...
No matter how many hours of work you’ve put on your compact tractor during the spring and summer months, now is the time to prepare it for storage or another season of snow removal and winter use.
In ...
Sometime in early December, the municipal leaders will put up the town’s Christmas decorations in Galway, Ireland, where I’m living again.
The official launch of the season is not dictated by the Thanksgiving ...
It is almost Christmas again. I’m sure throughout the past weeks your mailboxes have been full of Christmas cards.
Some of those cards may even contain letters from your friends and family updating ...
Lunatics Demand Ellen DeGeneres Remove Leather From Clothing Line! Oh, No!
Care2 gathered more than 1,800 signatures. To the dismay of animal rights activists and vegan martyrs, her “luxury lifestyle” ...
Have you ever wonder how Santa Claus can eat 2 million pounds of cookies in a 12-hour period and not end up in a diabetic coma?
I think in the off-season he must train by entering a lot of pie-eating ...
As professional businessmen and businesswomen, dairy producers battle with the costs of running their operation on a daily basis.
One such routine cost is the purchase of liners. With countless options ...
A recent court decision carved a giant hole in farm liability insurance.
When a Wisconsin Supreme Court judge ruled late last year that manure that contaminates a well is a “pollutant,” it meant the ...
I have a file drawer marked “miscellaneous” where everything that doesn’t fit anywhere else fits.
I’ve cleverly labeled the files in this drawer “misc-1,” “misc-2,” “misc-3,” etc. These are all big ...
When you think about reducing energy costs on your dairy farm, your animal housing and milking parlor present some of the largest opportunities for energy savings.
You may already be using energy-efficient ...
Accommodating cows’ behavioral needs, or time budget, is essential for their welfare and their overall productivity.
In the “big picture,” the physical factors of the facility (stall design, flooring ...
There are many people who complain about radio stations that play Christmas music too early.
I am not one of those people. I’m a member of my church’s choir, and we start rehearsing for our annual ...
I often get asked to consult with multi-partner farm businesses. When I ask the partners, “What are areas that need improvement?” the most common answer is “better communication.”
In most situations, ...
After experiencing the joys of dancing outdoors instead of in a studio, one ballet company in Vermont decided to take their performance not only outside but to local farms as well.
This group of amateur ...
A little more than half of dairies say they use pain relief when dehorning calves. That’s according to recent online and phone surveys conducted by the magazine.
The non-scientific findings indicate ...
Each year, we ask our team of editors to select 10 noteworthy print articles that didn’t make our Top 25 list. We then narrow down those lists to an overall Top 10.
Visit www.progressivedairy.com/2015-editors-picks ...
We asked a team of 16 of our editors and graphic designers to weigh in on their top selections for the 21 different magazine covers published between Oct. 1, 2014 and Oct. 1, 2015.
Our staff’s top ...
How should rural communities entice the next generation to return to their hometowns?
“Build more parks and bike trials” is the advice from John Cromartie, a research geographer with the USDA Economic ...
Consumers of all ages can get a glimpse of modern dairy farming at New Generation Dairy, located in Owensville, Indiana, where Brian and Ranell Rexing milk 1,200 Holstein cows.
“I want to tell our ...
A wedding is a day to be remembered and cherished forever by a couple, surrounded by friends and family. It is one of the most important and happy days in a person’s life. For Caroline Conley of Sayland ...
Open cows that aren't cycling normally can hamper successful reproduction. This article, the first in a series on cyclicity, defines the terms “anovulation” and “anestrus.”
If you think about it, ovulation ...
1. Do they have a proven, step-by-step process that ensures your time and money will be well invested?
The cold hard truth about stray voltage is that it may not be the source of your problem. Odd livestock ...
At Brooksco Dairy (2,750 cows), Calvin Moody has created a well-managed “mother ship,” where all cows calve and all calves are raised for the three stand-alone dairies, including Jeffco (2,350 cows) ...
Feeding time can cause a host of unique stressors to cows as they compete for space at the feedbunk and navigate their position in the herd’s social hierarchy.
Recently, I had the opportunity to ...
I walked past the little date carved by the post on the front porch of our new milking facility and was instantly struck with a smile. It read “3-19-14” in hand-carved numbers that my husband and I etched ...
An investment in your calf nutrition program is an investment in the future of your herd. Research has shown that a calf diet focused on good, healthy growth from birth to breeding can reap significant ...
In an ever-changing industry, you never know when feed costs will soar and milk prices will fall.
“All you can do is be prepared for challenging times,” explains Lonnie Wells, an associate from ...
“There is a revolution going on in activity systems,” said Kevin Havartine, Ph.D., assistant professor of nutritional physiology at Penn State University’s department of animal science.
As collar ...
Brittany Tilleraas, a farm girl from Iowa, went to school for agriculture business but discovered a different passion along the way: photography.
Growing up on her grandparents’ dairy farm, she developed ...
“I’m the cow guy here,” says dairy producer Steve Bollant, who runs a 695-cow dairy and grows 1,800 acres of crops together with his brother near Stitzer, Wisconsin. “I am the one who always walked all ...
A little over 11 years ago, Cathy Speirs and her husband, Gordon, decided to move their small dairy operation from Alberta, Canada, to Brillion, Wisconsin. At the time, they only had 125 cows on their ...
Created on 31 December 2014
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