Have you heard of the Rural Tour? Sponsored by the United State Department of Agriculture (USDA), the Rural Tour’s mission is an effort to engage in a more robust dialog with folks living in rural America. The tour is crossing the nation – click here to find out if a stop is near you! If you can’t make it to … Read More
Secretary Vilsack Seeks Nominations for Dairy Advisory Committee
Do you know of a dairy man or woman who would make a good nomination for the new Dairy Industry Advisory Committee established by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)? Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack is seeking your nominations for the new Committee. Written nominations must be received on or before September 28, and should be sent to Judith Lindsay, … Read More
Idaho OKs Cargill Manure-Based Power Plant
A new Cargill Inc. manure-based power plan was given the green light by the Idaho’s Public Utilities Commission. The poo-powered plant will soon begin supplying electricity to Idaho Power Co. Moo-verlous! The cow manure digester, located at the 10,000-cow Bettencourt Dairy near Jerome, Idaho, is expected to start operating at the end of the month, according to the commission’ approval … Read More
First Wisconsin Cheese Festival Brings Cheese-Lovers Together
Attention cheese lovers! This fall, the state of Wisconsin is hosting the first Wisconsin Original Cheese Festival, where “cheese-heads” will have the opportunity to tour cheese factories, attend seminars, and taste over 100 different Wisconsin made cheeses! Book your tickets now for the November 6-7 event! “Wisconsin is becoming nationally recognized as a mecca for original artisan, farmstead and specialty … Read More
On Dairy MPCs – A Red Herring?
There’s been a lot of talk in dairy industry circles lately regarding the effect on imported MPCs to the farm milk price. Last week, Dairy Today’s editor, Jim Dickrell, tackled this issue, with some surprising insights. Read on to learn more aboiut MPCs. MPCs Aren’t Dairy’s Biggest Problem By Jim Dickrell At the risk of being labeled the anti-Christ, I’m … Read More
Michigan State Opens Experimental Dairy to Public
Michigan State University has opened an experimental dairy with the latest technology, including two robotic milking machines made by Maassluis, Netherlands-based Lely Group. Robot milking operations have long been in use in Europe but spread only slowly in the U.S. Part of the new dairy is also pastured-based paddocks. Financing for the 94-cow dairy at MSU’s W.K. Kellogg Biological Station … Read More
New DeLaval Swinging Cow Brush Makes Cows Happier, More Productive
A new study by Cornell University shows that dairy cows using the DeLaval Swinging Cow Brush (SCB) register higher milk production and lower clinical mastitis cases. The SCB is a grooming device that allows a cow to brush and scratch herself at her leisure! The study compared different groups of cows housed in pens using the Swinging Cow Brush to … Read More
National FARM Program Launched
Dairy producers take pride in providing high-quality care to their animals, and now a new program being launched by the National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF) and Dairy Management Inc. ™ (DMI) called the National Dairy FARM Program: Farmers Assuring Responsible Management will demonstrate producers’ commitment to animal care and quality assurance. The program, which will become available in the fall … Read More
Lifetime As Dairy Farmer Comes to an End
These stories are kind of hard to hear, but I imagine there are many dairy farmers that can relate to this scenario. This article was written by Dennis Pollock for the Western Farm Press. Here is an excerpt… FRED MACHADO, Easton, Calif., 77 years old, spent more than a six decades milking cows, but the dairy he started in 1950 … Read More
4-H State Dairy Judging Winners Announced
Wisconsin Ag Connection recently published an article about these winning dairy judgers. Congratulations to these enthusiastic, young dairy farmers. Here is an excerpt from the article… Eleven senior teams and 11 senior individuals along with 10 junior teams and 10 junior individuals competed at the Wisconsin State 4-H Dairy Judging Contest held recently at the Polk County Fairgrounds in St. … Read More