Magazine

Negative Producer Price Differentials (PPDs) are killing producer income. What is a PPD and what is its purpose? This post will examine why PPDs are negative and what it will take to make them positive. Some examples [Read More …]

Dairy Sense: By the Numbers

“There is no one single area that determines whether a farm will have a competitive cost of production. It always comes back to the big picture and not getting lost in the details.” Production perspective: [Read More …]

2020 New England Green Pastures Award Cites Region’s Top Dairies

Outstanding farm management always takes the spotlight, and the changes and challenges faced in 2020 can’t deter such attention to detail and excellence in agricultural production. Since 1947, the New England Green Pastures Award program [Read More …]

Does Your Culture Reflect Who You Want to Be as An Employer?

How To Measure Your Farm Business Culture Why use an employee survey to measure culture? Sound employment practices geared toward attracting, training, retaining, and rewarding employees must reflect a clear understanding of employee views and [Read More …]

Management Tip: Protect Your Investment in Your Heifer Crop

Protecting your investment in your heifer herd has never been more important. We tend to put a lot of emphasis on genetic progress with our breeding programs but sometimes fail to partner that with a [Read More …]

The food system cheats working people

December 4, 2020 DairyBusiness News Team DP 1

According to the USDA, Americans spend less on food as a percent of their incomes than anyone else in the world. This may seem like a good deal, especially for people who struggle to make [Read More …]

Updated Yield Forecasts to Benefit DRP in California, Two Other States

On Friday, November 20, Federal Crop Insurance Corporation Board of Directors approved changes to Dairy Revenue Protection that are very important for dairy producers in California, Texas, and Illinois. The forecast model, used to project [Read More …]

California Water Update

Water availability is a big deal to a dairy. Without an accessible and relatively clean water supply, dairy farming is not possible. Much of California enjoys a Mediterranean-style climate, where precipitation is not a year [Read More …]

Avoid These Calf Raising Bottlenecks

Each dairy farmer has their own philosophy around the best way to raise calves. Every farm is different, and what works best on one farm may not work on another. Regardless of system, there are [Read More …]

Fluid Milk Revitalization Efforts Delivering Results

October 30, 2020 DairyBusiness News Team DP 1

Fluid milk went decades without major product and packaging investment while the broader competitive beverage universe innovated at a dramatic trajectory in categories from coffee to alternative beverages to water. So, five years ago, Dairy [Read More …]

Dairy Replacement Program: Cost & Analysis Summer 2019

This project was conducted as part of the PRO-DAIRY Activity Analysis Project and was supported by PRO-DAIRY As the dairy industry becomes more competitive and farms increase in size, economic performance of the dairy replacement [Read More …]

Why Bother?

John Ellsworth Ouch! That is the question I was asked by a producer in December 2018. Please allow me to put his question into perspective. He had suffered through four consecutive years of low milk [Read More …]

Socialization of Calves

Management of calves has a substantial influence on calfhood performance. A common practice that has been used for many years is to raise calves in individual hutches from the time of birth until shortly after [Read More …]

The Pricing of NDM and Class I and Class IV Milk

In May of 2019, the formula for Class I was changed. The change was covered in the January 2020 and July 2020 posts to this blog. The change in formula was intended to make hedging by processors more accurate [Read More …]

Great Teams Require Psychological Safety

Imagine that everyone on your farm in each of your teams feels safe to take risks, voice their opinions, and ask judgment-free questions. Today that situation or culture is described as psychological safety. Research by Google [Read More …]

Parasites Threaten Dairy Heifer Health and Productivity

Pasture-raised heifers’ relationship with parasites can be damaging Pasture-raising heifers can offer significant feed cost savings, but these animals may have a new friend from the wrong side of the tracks … or grass, in [Read More …]

CA: A Western Focus on the Dairy Net-Zero Initiative

The Western States Dairy Producer Association held a technical workshop, which brought in several the industry’s top professionals and scientists for the purpose of evaluating the current state of the science and progress toward reducing [Read More …]

CA: Speakers Announced for the Virtual California Dairy Sustainability Summit

Dairy farmers, state officials, technology providers, researchers, and partners will speak at the virtual California Dairy Sustainability Summit, November 5-6, 2020. The second California Dairy Sustainability Summit takes place online this November 5-6, with two [Read More …]

CA: Animal Rights Activists Increasingly Aggressive, Dangerous

For producers who have not experienced animal activism directly, it can be difficult to fully appreciate the scope of their illegal activities. Not content with protests and on-line harassment, animal rights activists have turned to [Read More …]

Retrofits Reconstructed: Common Qualities Across Dairy Renovations

The term “retrofit” has been an official part of the English language since the 1950’s, but buildings, equipment, planes, cars and dairy barns have been taken and repurposed in many ways for many, many years [Read More …]

Through It All, We Never Wavered from Sales, Trust Goals

The disruption we’ve experienced due to COVID-19 has caused a monumental shift – in consumer behavior and lifestyles, in the demands on both commercial and institutional channels, and in the supply chains that take dairy [Read More …]

Sunderland Farm Recognized for Excellence in Dairying

Sunderland Farm, a sixth-generation dairy operation in Bridport, Vt., can best be described as a farm with a future that’s not forgotten its past. Although it can trace its beginnings back to the mid-19th century [Read More …]

Are You Adequately Covered?

John Ellsworth As the cost of buildings on your operation continue to rise each year, you certainly wouldn’t think of not covering their replacement with adequate insurance. Yet, have you done the same thing with [Read More …]

Supply Management: Cherries, Cows, and Cognitive Dissonance – Oh, My!

Editor’s note: You can listen to Brittany Olson discuss this issue further in episode 27 of DairyVoice, which is available below the article. Even though my days as a farm journalist are getting farther and [Read More …]

National Association of Animal Breeders Holds 74th Annual Meeting

The Annual meeting of the National Association of Animal Breeders (NAAB) was held September 16th via Zoom conference call. Meeting agenda included the Business session and the election of directors. During the business session, Board [Read More …]

CDCB Industry Meeting Focuses on Genetics and Sustainability of Feed Efficiency