This last year, shortly after Christmas, we had our insurance agent, Jim, into our home. When he went into our living room, he saw our Christmas tree in the corner, all decorated. His response surprised all of us. “You have a Charlie Brown Christmas tree,” he said. I didn’t say much to his comment, but I realized he was right.

By understanding how Deerfield Farm, a Connecticut dairy farm, finds ways to add value to their supply chain, we can better understand how other farmers in the region may replicate such a methodology.

Here is a listing of the stories that made a difference in 2014.

Editor’s note: The following is an original short story by the author. Joe and Sue were sitting on the front step looking like their ice cream cones just got squashed. “Listen to that,” Joe said. “Did you hear them? They’re singing about me. My mom told me just this morning that I’m gettin’ nuttin’ for Christmas.

The French have more style than we do. I say that in concession, the grievance not coming from American nationalism nor any bad experience as much as regret that I will never have the advantage of being French.

What is it about a dairy farm that no matter how much you plan ahead, everything breaks at 4 p.m. on Christmas Eve? I’ve got 15 5-gallon buckets of spare parts, extra motors, a good hammer and a brand new roll of airplane duct tape but don’t have the one dang piece I need to get the cows milked. Hunker down, my friend.

The most efficient rate of growth a calf experiences is in the first month of life. Strong growth and good calf health is linked to improved performance of heifers with a trend toward earlier first breeding and increased milk yields.

The discussion about the importance of proper prepartum dietary cation-anion difference (DCAD) levels often centers around cow health, and rightly so. It’s been repeatedly shown that lowering ration DCAD prior to calving helps stave off serious health challenges, including milk fever (clinical and subclinical), reduces incidence of displaced abomasum and retained placenta, and boosts immune function.