The agricultural headlines of 2023 have issued a steady drumbeat of drought – particularly in the Corn Belt, where so much U.S. livestock feed is grown. But just how bad was it?
Organic Valley, the nation’s largest farmer-owned organic cooperative, is partnering with Hawaiian seaweed grower, Symbrosia, to test the viability of feeding seaweed as a means of mitigating livestock methane emissions.
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?
Colostrum’s myriad benefits for calves may be transferrable to an entirely different field: human health. Researchers are discovering the benefits of colostrum in both health nutrition supplements and therapeutic agents.
The unique growing conditions of the 2023 crop year have a lot of dairy producers on edge about the quality and safety of their new-crop corn silage. But the experts advise that there’s probably little need to panic.
From the Mississippi River to the Panama Canal, this year’s drought has resulted in low water levels that are likely to disrupt agricultural production and trade through at least the end of the year.
Mercer Vu Dairy wanted to utilize group housing and waste milk to raise their preweaned calves with round-the-clock access to milk. Here's how they came up with their own one-of-a-kind system.
Dairy technology innovation. Industry networking. Educational seminars. Elite cattle shows and sales. Dairy youth activities. It’s all there and more at the 2023 World Dairy Expo, slated for October 1-6 in Madison, Wis.
Heat stress undoubtedly causes setbacks for cows. But a growing body of research shows it also impacts the calves they are carrying, and possibly even the generation after that.
In these tumultuous times of drought, global unrest, and supply chain disruptions, feed grains may not be as plentiful, available, and affordable as we have traditionally enjoyed.
The best and most effective technologies in dairy production today are not necessarily the ones with the most bells and whistles. Rather, they’re the ones that simply “let cows be cows.”
The Cryptosporidium parasite is endemic to even the tidiest dairy farms, and is especially threatening to calf health. But it can be kept at bay in the calf management system with one simple and consistent approach.
The most precious cargo in a barn fridge is most likely the biologics you purchase to vaccinate your herd to prevent diseases. How are you protecting them?
The state of U.S. dairy industry in 2023 may later be recalled as the year of “the correction,” “the valley,” or “the crash,” as milk prices have plummeted by as much as half from record-setting highs in 2022.
By 2031, an estimated additional 71 million tons of animal protein will be needed globally, thus boosting demand for livestock feed commodities – mostly corn and soybeans.
One Holstein sire born in 1962, Pawnee Farm Arlinda Chief, sired 16,000 daughters, 500,000 great-granddaughters, and more than 2 million great-granddaughters.
There’s a brawl at the American dinner table, and consumers need to put up a fight. Animal activist groups are not just impacting the lives and livelihoods of farmers, but are threatening consumer interests as well.
You might say Shawn Saylor was regenerative before regenerative was cool. The Rockwood, Penn. dairy producer has used no-till farming methods for as long as he can remember.
The younger consumers of today may not embrace meat consumption like previous generations, but they are more inclined to seek and pay for high quality. That’s good news for producers selling beef cross calves.
Dairy labor challenges will be a major focus of the 2023 Precision Dairy Conference, hosted by the University of Minnesota College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences.
The dairy cattle of the future may be more comfortable and less susceptible to heat stress thanks to genetic alterations to change the physical characteristics and color of their hair coats.
Calves and heifers aren’t as susceptible to heat stress as cows, but they do suffer from it to some degree, and their production is diminished as a result.
Kentucky-based feed and food additive company Alltech has acquired a majority interest in Agolin, a Swiss company specializing in sustainable animal nutrition.
