Not long ago, I wrote an article that was perceived as a political ploy and an attack on the Catholic church. I was horrified when I read the critic’s message and realized how I had been so totally misunderstood.

A radio sits in the crux of two pipelines at the top of the parlor. It’s mostly tipped to its side and tentatively secured by a piece of baling twine. Dust clogs the speakers and the quality of the reception changes every time a cow walks past it on her way to the freestalls.

I looked at my schedule for the first week in December – Jamestown, North Dakota; Denver, Colorado; Laramie, Wyoming and Springfield, Ohio. I asked my secretary why she couldn’t book me in Victoria, Texas, or San Diego, California, in the winter? She reminded me she had booked me in Miami last winter. “Yea,” I said, “Miami, Manitoba!” Actually, I don’t worry about traveling in cold weather. It would be easier to plan if I could count on global warming, but it’s just not reliable. Al Gore found that out. You just can’t count on it when you need it.

Recent world events in the Middle East and outbreaks of Foot-and-Mouth disease (FMD) in South Korea suggest we should continue to update ourselves about possible threats to our food system. For livestock producers, this means looking at biosecurity and emergency plans for all foreign animal diseases (FADs) including FMD, a highly contagious viral disease of cloven-hoofed animals. Foot-and-mouth disease affects cattle, swine, sheep, goats, deer and other ruminants. Livestock owners fear FMD because it spreads rapidly and results in severe economic losses, shutting down exports and loss of consumer confidence.

In the previous two parts of this series, the extreme importance of drinking water for dairy cattle was emphasized. Click here to read the first part of this series and here to read the second part of this series.

The sex sorting of semen is a relatively new technology that has been commercially available to U.S. dairy producers since early 2006. The process of sorting semen by gender was developed in the late 1980s and has improved significantly over time. Today, most sexed semen is sorted so that 85 to 90 percent of the offspring are of the desired gender.

I don’t know you but I know that hat. I wore a hat just like it. Back in the days when men were men. You bet the pot and played to win And if you lost you tried again. You bet your life I know that hat.