Among the Christmas lights, the tinsel, baking and shopping, our family goes caroling to the seniors in our community.

Fate of dairy reform uncertain after Super Committee failure Just prior to the pre-Thanksgiving failure of the Super Committee to reach an bipartisan agreement on deficit reduction, Rep. Collin Peterson (D-Minnesota) addressed, via a pre-recorded video segment, dairy producers attending NMPF/DMI’s joint annual meeting in San Diego, California. Peterson said his sponsored legislation, The Dairy Security Act of 2011, had and “as much consensus as one can get” in Washington. During the meeting NMPF confirmed that it was not support for dairy reform, but rather reform of direct payments to ag producers for other commodities, that stressed a deal on deficit reduction for agriculture committee chairs in both the House and Senate.

Progressive Dairyman Editor Walt Cooley recently spoke with Chris Galen (far right), communications director for NMPF, and Keith Yazmir, (right) a communications consultant, about the emergence of the U.S. Farmers and Ranchers Alliance and some of its early work to influence the perceptions of U.S. agriculture with consumers.

Muddy River Farm, like other Northeastern dairies impacted by strong Atlantic storms that brought heavy rains and flooding earlier this fall, continues to clean up while looking for relief. Dairywoman Karli Johnson said the day before the first major storm – Hurricane Irene – was just like any other day at Muddy River Farm. “We knew there could be strong winds and heavy rains and that there wasn’t much we could do to prepare,” Karli says.

The federal government’s ban on horse slaughter in the U.S. died quietly on the budgeting table on Nov. 18, after Congress chose to end a prohibition on horse slaughter plant inspections.

Eating horses may not be popular in America, but the U.S. horse-slaughter industry is making a comeback. A recently passed bill that lifts what amounted to a five-year ban domestic horse slaughter has readied the federal government to resume inspections of U.S. slaughterhouses, should they reopen.