Spring arrived in a blade of wheat this afternoon. The rebirth of the organic world is here. This is spring. Of all times of year, spring brings immortal thoughts. The cycling of life from death and then rebuilt as new life through birth is everywhere. We gaze upwards and feel the warmth of the sun. Our pale skin turns reddish and like pigments in plant cells. They are made different when sunlight enters them.

She came in the shadow of her big sister, Katrina, and wreaked havoc on the Cajun gulf coast of Louisiana. Her name was Rita. It was September 24, 2005. Whereas Katrina was like pouring water on a city in the bottom of a bucket, Hurricane Rita was her own 100-mile-wide tsunami. Livestock producers across the country have been ravaged by fire and blizzard and drought; the backside of Louisiana was not spared. A massive wall of seawater forged its way up the canals and bayous into the lowlands along the coast across the southern belly of Louisiana, sweeping megatons of natural and man-made refuse inland for miles. It picked up houses, boats, cars, barns, fences, horses, cows, goats and wildlife as far as it could reach, then turned on its head and returned seaward, a monstrous backhand that was a thumb in the eye to man’s meager attempt to control the waters.

Historic is the best adjective to describe this issue. It’s been 20 years since Progressive Dairyman first landed in a dairy producer’s mailbox. In this issue, we take a look back at how Progressive Dairyman publisher Leon Leavitt got the magazine started. On page 36, readers will find Leon’s personal commentary about the growth of the magazine. We’ve also included comments about the magazine’s most memorable articles. It’s a section both new and old readers are sure to enjoy.

Today’s dairy producers have access to a lot of new and innovative technology. These technologies are positioned to improve health, cow comfort, reproduction, milk yield, milk components and more. If a producer adopted every new technology that was available, all herds would be over 100 pounds of milk, cull rates would be less than 20 percent, all cows would conceive, heifers would not cost more than $1,800 and all dairy producers would be extremely profitable. Unfortunately, this is not the case.

Starting with this column and continuing each month, this space will include benchmarking data on a number of key performance indicators (KPI) for U.S. dairy producers. The data has been compiled from 175 herds and about 182,500 cows located across the United States that are participating in Alta’s AltaAdvantage® program. These herds average approximately 850 cows, with a minimum of about 200 cows, and a maximum of 4,000 cows. All herds are managed under commercial conditions, where income is mainly generated from the production of milk.

The following article is the third 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. As farms grow larger and profits become tighter, farm owners and managers are working harder to get all employees focused on a common set of goals and procedures. The foundation of this effort is the basic mission of the farm business.

Dairy producer Kay Carter recently signed an affidavit saying his farm wouldn’t supplement its 180 cows’ milk production by using rBST. Carter of Preston, Idaho, says the processor accepting milk shipped from his farm made the request for “rBST-free” milk last fall.

Have you ever considered what it takes to motivate cows to do their best work? It’s an odd question to ask, especially when directed at bovines. It puzzled me at first, until I simply pulled out a dictionary and looked up the definition of the word “motivate.” Motivate means “to provide someone (or, in this case a cow) with a motive.” A motive is “a need (in this case let’s assume a behavioral need) that causes a person (or even a cow) to act (produce milk and stay healthy).” So when we say we want to “motivate” cows, we are really just saying: let’s provide the cow with an environment that satisfies her behavioral needs and allows her to be as healthy and productive as possible.

Your cows don’t talk, but they can be communicating some very important messages. Are you listening? The way cows behave can tell us a lot about how the cattle are handled, how comfortable their facilities are and if management is causing or reducing stress. It’s easy to write off a cow’s opinion since college-trained people have scientifically taken care of all her nutritional and housing needs. Cow-handling skills are not considered because the cow is confined in a barn and we can make her go where we want. Here are some reasons why we need to pay attention to our cows’ behavior.

Last month was the 20th anniversary issue of Progressive Dairyman. Publisher Leon Leavitt recently wrote the following commentary about how the magazine began and its growth during the last 20 years.