On Nov. 15, the Idaho Potato Commission (IPC) hosted its annual Big Idaho Potato Harvest Meeting in Idaho Falls. The “state of the industry” meeting welcomed growers, packers and processors from across the state gathered to network and learn about how the larger industry affects their operations and vice versa.

Fitting the event’s tagline, “Research. Innovation. Solutions.,” the two-day North American Manure Expo featured groundbreaking research and solutions for manure handling and management.

The Canadian Forage Analysis Green Cup is a national forage competition with products raised in a farm field near you.

In the mid-to-late 2000s, dwindling university dairy herds and dairy programs in the Southwest led Dr. Mike Tomaszewski from Texas A&M and Dr. Robert Hagevoort from New Mexico State University (NMSU), along with Dr. Bob Collier, previously with the University of Arizona, to develop a program that provides university students with a hands-on dairy education to prepare them for careers in the dairy industry.

Over the past two to three years, the heart of cattle country experienced extreme drought conditions. Many producers have faced difficult decisions concerning their cow herd health and maintenance on top of the financial pressure of managing through a difficult weather event.

The usual suspects (expected progeny differences [EPDs], genomic testing, heterosis) were covered, as were some issues (beef-on-dairy, methane emissions, cardiac health) that may have been a bit more of a surprise to the uninitiated at an event ostensibly dedicated to beef cattle genetics.

Held in the nation’s capitol on May 3-5, the 2023 Animal Agriculture Alliance Stakeholders Summit attracted 320 attendees from five countries to learn, network and discuss key topics facing the industry. 

“When we talk about raising a dairy replacement heifer, it’s going to ultimately make a milk cow,” said John Robison, a consultant at JDR Livestock Consulting Management Services, during a session of the 2023 Dairy Calf and Heifer Association annual meeting.