In 1856, in Fitchburg, Massachusetts, fire extensively damaged a number of retail stores.

Increasing U.S. and global pressures are creating a need for individuals involved in animal agriculture to successfully build and communicate an ethical foundation for their operation and engage in value-based communication with the public that builds trust and protects their freedom to operate.

Within our office we have a standing company policy for all returning from an industry trade show. It is: Staff must write up their show experience, including leads found, contacts made and underdeveloped opportunities. So, to be as fair to readers as I am to my colleagues, I share with you a few of my most recent discoveries from World Ag Expo.

Q. How did the Annual Business Conference get its start? MAYER: The Annual Business Conference is our marquee event.

“To share ideas, solutions, resources and experiences that help dairy producers succeed” is the mission the Professional Dairy Producers of Wisconsin (PDPW) was founded on.

“This summit offers a vision and a hope for a more vibrant dairy industry,” announced Dina Zug, 2009 Dairy Summit chairperson at the opening session on Feb. 11 in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

Milk cows experience high levels of stress at the time of calving and the weeks that follow. More often than not this extra stress manifests itself as metabolic problems such as milk fever, mastitis, retained placenta, ketosis, displaced abomasum or laminitis.

DairyComp 305 (DC305) is an important management tool for producers to collect herd data for use in monitoring performance.

After 30 years of working in the dairy industry, I’ve learned that you’ve got to be smart and efficient in the fresh pen. That almost sounds like Dick Vitale describing a college basketball team’s offense during a game on ESPN.

Every dairy farmer, nutritionist and veterinarian is familiar with the drop in feed intake experienced by almost all cows before calving. Numerous attempts have been made to prevent or reduce the negative effects of that drop in feed intake, but transition cow nutrition and management is still an issue on many farms.