Numerous alfalfa fields, especially in south central and southeast Nebraska, are severely infected with multiple fungal leaf diseases.

Hay is the most popular method for storing alfalfa because it stores well for long periods and is better suited to cash sale and transportation than silage. However, silage may be a suitable option when or where hay curing is difficult.

Silage is the feedstuff produced by the fermentation of a crop, forage or agricultural byproduct of generally greater than 50 percent moisture content. Ensiling is the name given to the process, and the container (if used) is called a silo.

Way back when the earth was still drying up after the great flood I was seeing the Northwest through the windshield of a Freightliner truck.

Oh, no, just when they were beginning to wear me down, a new study concludes that by 2100, forests in the mid and high latitudes will make some places up to 10 degrees warmer than they would be if the forests did not exist!

I’m excited for June Dairy Month again this year. This month I hope to be riding in a truck throwing out candy to the children of local dairy producers and their employees in a parade held in Wendell, Idaho. The free dairy products, including ice cream, yogurt and milk, passed out after the parade courtesy of dairy producers are also a treat. If this issue were a dairy product, it would be as tasty as those freebies. There’s a special celebration of our own in this issue. On page 41, you’ll find the beginning of a special section discussing U.S. dairy breeds as seen through the eyes of dairy producers and breeders who own and milk the cattle.

Imagine a dairy cow that gave 15,000 liters (33,000 pounds) of high-quality milk year after year after year at a high level of efficiency, a cow whose milk had health benefits for the consumer, a cow that got in calf when you wanted her to; a cow that was highly resistant to infections such as mastitis and whose milk had a consistently low somatic cell count, a cow that never suffered from acidosis and a cow that was never lame. Now imagine a herd of such cows, and imagine how profitable it would be.

The following article is the fifth in a series of articles summarizing the “Supervisory Skills for Managers” DVD collection produced by Jim Henion. The series provides helpful management hints for owners and managers working with employees on dairy operations.

Copper, according to internationally renowned dairy scientist Jesse P. Goff, is “the trace mineral where deficiency is common and toxicity is also common.” That observation, combined with the wide array of bodily functions in the dairy cow that involve copper, makes it a good idea to keep an eye on this trace mineral in dairy cattle rations.

Editor’s note: The following benchmarks have been compiled using data reported by dairies enrolled in Alta Genetic’s AltaAdvantage program, a progeny testing program. More than 182,500 cows in 175 herds participate in the program nationwide.