Ray Prock Jr., a dairyman from Denair, California, has been named the Holstein Foundation’s 2014 Young Dairy Leaders Institute (YDLI) Distinguished Alumni Leader Award recipient. The foundation recognizes one YDLI alum annually who has made notable contributions and utilized skills gained during their YDLI experience for the betterment of the dairy industry. Prock was a graduate of YDLI Class 5.

After the wild January ride, cattle and beef markets are settling into somewhat more stable and realistic levels moving forward. A barrage of winter storms has affected consumption and distribution of beef as well as feedlot production. For the year to date, beef production is down 8.6 percent with cattle slaughter down 9 percent. 

H.J. Baker is sponsoring an agriculture webinar on how limiting and balancing amino acids can improve dairy farm profitability. The webinar, titled “The Value of Amino Acids in Your Dairy Ration,” will take place at 2 p.m. Feb. 19.

For the second year, the Professional Dairy Producers Foundation is announcing a strong field of pie-eating candidates, including Carl Babler, Atten Babler Commodities; Mark Clarke, Alliant Energy Center; Jim Dickrell, Dairy Today; Keith Engel, GEA Farm Technologies; Marty Hallock, Mar-Bec Dairy; Mike Hutjens, University of Illinois; Dean Strauss, Majestic Crossing Dairy.

Speaking to members of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association at the 2014 national convention, McDonald’s Vice President of Sustainability Bob Langert said the company’s recent pledge to start buying only sustainable beef by 2016 is motivated not just by the customer’s demands – but also the goal of selling more beef.

After seeing herd liquidation trends in 16 of the past 18 years, U.S. beef producers are moving toward herd expansion in 2014, according to CattleFax analysts speaking at the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association National Convention Feb. 5 in Nashville.

As many horse owners know, mid-winter brings snow and other forms of precipitation that often continue through the spring – and that can mean wet, muddy conditions for our equine companions.

Frank and Sims Price Ranch, Sterling City, Texas, was named the national winner of the National Cattlemen’s Foundation Environmental Stewardship Award Program. The award, presented during the 2014 Cattle Industry Convention and National Cattlemen’s Beef Association Trade Show, recognizes this father-son partnership, who respectively represent the fourth and fifth generations of the Price family to operate the ranch.