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Karen Bohnert

Dairy Editorial Director

Karen Bohnert is the Dairy Editorial Director at Farm Journal, overseeing Dairy Herd Management and Milk Business Quarterly since 2021. A lifelong advocate for dairy, Karen draws from both professional expertise and personal experience—she and her husband operate Bohnert Jerseys, a 750-cow dairy in East Moline, Illinois.

Raised on a dairy farm in Oregon, her editorial career spans freelance journalism and roles at organizations like Swiss Valley Farms and the American Jersey Cattle Association. She was named a Distinguished Alumni Leader by the Holstein Foundation.

Latest Stories
Patrick Christian life calling was away from the family farm, or so he thought. Eventually, he married his two loves together—education and dairy—and has used that to help push his family’s dairy farm forward.
The deadline to enroll for the USDA’s Dairy Margin Coverage (DMC) and Supplemental Dairy Margin Coverage (SDMC) programs is approaching fast. The last day for producers to sign up is Monday, April 29, 2024.
As long as the beef market is hot, the key for producers will be maintaining the right number of lactating cows going through the parlor and ensuring the right number of replacement heifers can keep that pipeline full.
The language barrier is often a challenge for dairies, as the owner and employees don’t always speak the same language. Now that barrier is extended as K’iche’ is becoming more well-known on U.S. dairy farms.
While we watch how Ozempic continues to shift from a prediabetic to a weight loss drug, the food industry is now exploring how these medications might potentially reshape the future of food consumption.
Consistent biosecurity measures have always been needed on dairy farms. And, on the heels of several confirmed cases of the HPAI in dairy cattle this spring, the need for stepped-up biosecurity measures is essential.
Tough financial situations unfolding on farms accelerated the pace of farms exiting, and DFA shared that more than 500 of their member farms exited in 2023. They are now planning to have around 5,100 farms by 2030.
Lucas Fuess with RaboResearch says we are now in a far different state as producers have kept fewer replacement heifers and the milking herd numbers are the lowest they’ve been in four-plus years.
The conversation about how the farming business is going to be transitioned from an established generation to the next generation is a conversation these families cannot afford to put off for another day.
Once again, Farm Journal will be awarding Milk Business awards to dairy producers from whom our readers can learn business concepts, ranging from technology to young producers to employee excellence.
The Idaho State Department of Agriculture announced that HPAI, known as highly pathogenic avian influenza, or bird flu, has been found in dairy cattle in Idaho.
At the Professional Dairy Producers Annual Business Meeting, dairy producer, JJ Pagel, of Pagel’s Ponderosa Dairy, spoke on his journey to measuring his farm’s carbon footprint during a 2023 carbon pilot program.
What’s new and rare for the dairy industry is that we are experiencing nearly a year of weaker global milk supply. What’s not new is that for the seventh consecutive month, milk production has documented a decline.
Comparing a leap year versus a non-leap year in 2023, February milk production was up 2.4%. However, on a per-day basis, production was down 1.1%. Milk cows totaled 9.3 million head, down 89,000 compared to a year ago.
Kansas Dairy Development provides temporary housing for up to 80,000 head of cattle — from a few days old to springers nearly ready to calve. Their formula for success is all in the details.