Chris Szydel began working as a milker at Pagels Ponderosa nearly 30 years ago. Today, he's the herd manager of both the Pagel Ponderosa and Hilltop Farm dairies and oversees three different parlors and 65 employees.
The list of challenges facing animal agriculture is complex and multifaceted. This is what Dr. Robert Hagevoort from New Mexico State University Dairy Extension shared at the 2023 Milk Business Conference in Las Vegas.
The High Plains Dairy Conference will be March 5-6 in Amarillo, Texas. The conference will explore alternative revenue streams, the future of exports and much more.
As a new approach to robotic milking for larger dairy operations, DeLaval has announced the launch of their new VMS™ Batch Milking system, a method advancement in robotic milking technology.
Darigold, Inc. announced that Chief Executive Officer, Joe Coote, is leaving the company, and the Board Chairman, Allan Huttema, has been named the interim CEO, effective immediately.
Athian announced the establishment of the first-of-its-kind voluntary livestock carbon insetting marketplace with the first accepted protocol aimed at reducing methane emissions with help from Elanco Animal Health.
For decades, 305 days of lactation, plus a 60-day dry period, has added up to a dairy cow’s target calving interval of one year. But is this a standard that needs to be broken?
The dairy economy is in rough shape. This is what Ken Bailey shared at the Dairy Financial and Risk Management Conference. He said that higher prices will come when domestic and global demand resurges in 2025.
A massive question dairy producers often ask themselves is who should be raising replacement heifers. Should they be raised by the producer, contracted out and customed raised, or should they be purchased?
Aimed at doing better and gaining efficiency on their operations, producers are determining how they want to milk their cows in the future, and larger herds have leaned into technology and turned to robotic milking.
The beef market is sizzling hot and dairy producers have not only noticed but have taken action to capitalize on securing an alternative profit source to their bottom line.
When a cow freshens during the fall or winter, she tends to produce less colostrum than her herd mates who calved in spring and summer. It's no coincidence. Now research is shedding some "light" on the situation.
There is a reason why dairy farmer Kip Siegler’s YouTube channel is growing. His upbeat personality and his ability to show viewers firsthand what it is like to farm in fast-paced videos resonates well with his audience.
Nestled in a beautiful secluded mountain valley at Colorado State University beef feedlot in Ft. Collins served as the location for AgNext’s climate-smart research facility ribbon cutting ceremony earlier this month.
Bongards Creameries, a leading national cheese and whey manufacture recently announced a $125 million expansion project. The project will increase the plant’s capacity to take in 5.5 million lbs. of milk per day.
Ben Laine shares we would need a big demand surge to see a significant increase in prices. He also adds that June is likely to be the bottom of prices, although he remains cautious for the second half of 2023.
Feed costs will continue to be the No. 1 expense. Jim Salfer, Extension dairy educator with the University of Minnesota, offers some best practices to help producers lower feed costs.
Head to Lancaster County Pennsylvania and the sweet aroma of candy can be smelled on a family dairy farm. Red Knob Dairy has been feeding upcycled Hershey candy waste to their cows for more than a decade.
The “Wood Milk” ad— funded through MilkPEP —goal is to make people pause and question what they are consuming and the nutritional value of their choices.
With drought and production costs pushing the native beef population to a record low, beef-on-dairy has a huge opportunity to keep the feedlots and processors at full capacity.
As we transition the cows into a new facility, take time to watch the cows' usage of the facility. Cow behavior in the facility will indicate what may need to be adjusted.
There’s a new face in the winner’s circle for the most lifetime milk produced by a U.S. Holstein cow, and it belongs to Chrome-View Charles 3044, owned by Mason’s Chrome View farm in Nottingham, Pennsylvania.
Getting cows pregnant is vital to keeping the pipeline full. According to Jeremey Natzke of Wayside Dairy, a 35% plus pregnancy rate equates to an outstanding repro program and a number his dairy worked hard to achieve.
A high school dance proposal used to simply consist of asking your date to the dance, but now there is a lot of hype about when and how you ask. Recently my daughter's proposal included a trip to the cow barn.
The latest USDA Milk Production report saw a mere 0.8% increase in December’s milk production over the prior year. While states, like Texas and South Dakota continue to lead the way in year-over-year cow number growth.
The statistics surrounding mental health are alarming. The reasons varied, but while the holidays can be a time of happiness, it also can be challenging. Follow these tips if you notice your mental health worsening.
The latest CPI shows that while inflation may be slowing, it still remains above the Fed's target. As inflation impacts farmers across their operation, Dan Basse looks at some of the concerns as farmers head into 2023.
Labor shortages are no longer a stark headline, but instead a continued headache dairy farms are faced with. Recently on an Ag Future podcast, Dr. Luke Miller with Alltech spoke about training and retaining labor.
While Lung Ultrasound is the cornerstone of any good Calf Herd Health Program, there are many other benefits to getting your herd vet in your calf barn on a regular basis.
California dairy farmer, Steve Maddox found a newfound love for Amazon Prime, who hauled premium alfalfa dairy hay from his Logan, Utah hay ranch to his Riverdale, Calif. dairy farm.
Dairy farms are a hustling and bustling place. Last year, the Berning family in Illinois opened their dairy farm barn doors and offer Farm Camp for kids of all ages. Camp includes farm chores, scavenger hunts and more.
The increased cost associated with raising heifers has made producers retool their thinking. Earlier management decisions are happening on dairies, with a more dialed-in, strategic breeding philosophy being adapted.
Art Schaap, owner of Highland Dairy in Clovis, New Mexico, has been living a nightmare for the past four years. His nightmare is finally coming to an end, but not without the heartache of euthanizing 3,665 cows.
The power of a mother is enormous. A mom is more than a chauffeur, a cook or someone who does the laundry. A mom shapes self-esteem and responsibility in her children and makes endless sacrifices to empower her children.
With the cost of inflation impacting every corner of a dairy, the producer’s breeding strategy has been forced to become finetuned. More and more producers are keeping just enough replacements to fill the pipeline,.
A long-anticipated “origin of livestock” final rule has been released by the UDSA that illustrates the uniform standards for transitioning dairy cattle to organic production.
Dairy cow numbers started 2021 at an all-time high in January, with 9.445 million animals in the U.S. milking herd. However, those numbers would steadily drop throughout the summer and fall months.
The most profitable parts of the U.S. in 2022 will be the Northwest and Northeast, but smaller farms in those regions won’t participate in this success. Here's why.
Nearly two years after COVID-19 invaded our world, we are still living with its disruptions, but we should not overlook the more traditional factors also at play.
Dairy farming is a 24/7, 365-day commitment. At times it can even feel like farmers are literally with their cows nonstop. Nestled in the small Northeast Iowa town, Dan and Lynn Bolin offer an experience to do just that.
Caring for calves, milking cows, chopping corn – pretty much every farmer remembers exactly what they were doing and where they were at on 9/11. Dan Baginski is of no exception.
Think about the tasks and duties that fill your day. Do you continually put some off? Are there ones you just don’t like? If so, it’s time to delegate.
As dairy caregivers, we see “Poor Doer Syndrome.” These are cows that struggle for unknown reasons until they subsequently develop an infectious disease, a surgically correctable condition or are culled.