Select Milk Producers has recently entered a letter of intent to form a partnership with Westrock Coffee, a leading coffee, tea and extracts provider, to create a milk-based coffee product.

Since 2011, dairy cows evaluated using genetic testing has doubled every five years to exceed 1 million annually. That reduced sire generation interval to the point where genetic improvement is at the biological limit.

Happy heavenly birthday to my father, Bob. He would also have said that all of you, too, have found success, as you are part of the 2% club that is feeding the world.

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.

Travel the I-29 corridor and you’ll see an explosion of dairy cattle. As of January 2024, USDA announced that the total number of dairy cows in South Dakota totals 208,000, up 70.5% since 2019.

The dairy industry has fundamentally changed in the last 25 years and the current FMMO system is not supporting growth and prosperity across the dairy supply chain. Now is the time to allows USDA to figure this all out.