USDA officials have provided a broad overview of Trump administration efforts to lessen the negative impact of ongoing tariff wars on the nation’s agricultural producers. Details and implementation, however, aren’t expected until September.

Reason 1: Cows are naturally adapted to high-sugar diets. High-starch diets (greater than 28 percent) or high starch fermentability may depress ruminal fiber digestion, but high-sugar diets (6.5 to 8.5 percent) do not.

Digest Highlights: • Ag groups push for House action on labor bill • Michigan dairy community hosts Great Dairy Adventure • DFA closing plant at Hughson, California • Wisconsin farmers to travel to New York seeking dairy solutions • North Dakota offers cost-share assistance for dairy improvements • Dairy farmers share stories at FUTP 60 Student Ambassador Summit • Hilmar Cheese Company unveils dairy mural

There are implementation challenges, but individual dairy cooperatives can manage milk supplies through the establishment of base/excess milk programs, according to participants in a Wisconsin Farmers Union (WFU) webinar, July 19.

• U.S. milk production up 1.2 percent in June • January-June cow slaughter total up • Semi-annual cow/heifer survey • August Class I base price falls • Trade tensions hurt early July dairy margins • Drought, transportation cloud cottonseed outlook

On June 9, I posted an ad for a registered 20-month-old Angus bull on craigslist.org and an online livestock forum with the keywords “high-performance genetics” along with an outstanding picture taken with a Nikon D800 and a 24-120mm F/4 lens.

Epizootic hemorrhagic disease, commonly referred to as EHD, is a major problem in deer but only affects about 5 percent of the U.S. cattle population.

The road to a successful fall breeding season seems simple enough: Get the most cows bred in the shortest possible window, then maintain those pregnancies until calving time.

My father-in-law is famous for saying “he’s not progressing; he’s degressing.” In fact, for his birthday last year, I gave him one of our spiffy Progressive Cattleman hats.

According to the latest NASS Livestock Slaughter report, commercial production for April 2018 was up 7.8 percent from a year ago to 2.1 billion pounds, pushing year-to-date production levels up 3.8 percent to 8.6 billion pounds.