DFA CEO Dennis Rodenbaugh outlines a shift from defense to proactive leadership, framing sustainability as a generational legacy of stewardship that empowers farmers of all sizes to lead innovation.
Diagnostic strategies help identify gestational nutrient gaps linked to stillbirths and weak calves.
Updated guidelines from USDA and HHS urge Americans to focus on protein, full-fat dairy, fruit and veggies and avoid processed foods.
Annual survey shows a traditional meal with all the fixings will require fewer dollars per person this year. But look to shell out more dollars if turkey isn’t the only meat on your menu.
Potassium may often be an underappreciated mineral in the world of ruminant nutrition, but it plays key roles in the body.
With tightening margins, higher feed cost and more attention to environmental consequences, there are opportunities to refocus on just how much or how little protein is needed to sustain high production and returns to the herd.
One strategy used by Midwest dairy managers in 2009 when feed prices were high and milk prices were at record lows was feeding more forages.
Balancing dairy rations for rumen-protected amino acids is often an exercise in confusion. There are few hard and fast rules.
The challenge is to utilize wet corn correctly in your dairy rations
In Florida, the old joke is that farmers measure corn silage yields in tons per acre and forage sorghum yields in board feet. But new, highly digestible brown midrib (BMR) varieties of forage sorghum change all that.
Dutch veterinarian Joep Driessen gives producers a pretty straightforward formula for correcting common cow management bottlenecks: •Look at cows closely to detect problems. •Think about what’s causing those problems. •Act to correct them.
From birth, provide calves with a clean, comfortable environment with good colostrum management, consistent feeding and management practices and plenty of dietary calories
If feed isn’t mixed and fed properly, balancing rations to the nth decimal point doesn’t really matter.
There are steps farmers can take to get the hay up quickly and reduce the potential for rain damage.
Livestock production depends largely on the feeding program; and what you should feed your animals will depend on an analysis of the forage quality.
With cold weather looming, calves energy requirements will be increasing greatly in the coming weeks. Calf starter consumption plays an important role in providing your calves with the energy they need, when they need it most.
Grazing or feeding green sorghums, sudangrasses and sorghum-sudangrass crosses to cattle can be a bit worrisome because of the threat of prussic acid poisoning, but there are ways to mitigate that risk.
The Agriculture Department would be barred, under language in a House appropriations bill, from proceeding with proposed marketing regulations opposed by major meatpackers and livestock trade groups.The House Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee approved the draft fiscal 2012 spending bill, including the provision, by voice vote on Tuesday. The bill would provide $17.3 billion in discretionary funds to the Agriculture Department, Food and Drug Administration and related agencies, a $2.6 billion cut from fiscal 2011. The measure also includes $108 billion in mandatory funding, almost 3 percent more than in fiscal 2011.The policy rider would bar the Agriculture Department’s Grain Inspection Stockyard and Packers Administration (GIPSA) from producing a regulation requiring meatpackers to report and justify pricing agreements with livestock producers. The proposed rule, unveiled last year, was written in response to a 2008 farm law (PL 110-246) directive to review marketing and competition issues in the livestock industry.
Robotic calf-feeding system provides flexibility, reduced labor, weight gain
Constant light pollution, particularly in large dairies operating around the clock, can be a problem.
High forage diets offer multiple benefits, but extra management is also required.
New support tool for nutritionists simulates rumen fermentation and evaluates the nutritive value of total mixed rations.
Cows perform best when they can be kept on a consistent ration and forage quality is excellent.