As the year is coming to an end, this is the perfect time to start thinking about next year and what you need to do to be prepared come vaccination time. You want to keep your herd’s health in the best possible condition, and a vaccination plan is the best way to do that.

1. “A lovely thing about Christmas is that it’s compulsory, like a thunderstorm, and we all go through it together.” – Songs of Exile, Garrison Keillor Winter is a struggle for me, as for most farmers, I expect. The time spent unthawing frozen pipes and hoses and waterers, moving snow, putting down extra bedding, feeding cows in the barn … it seems to consume every available hour. Add a few Christmas parties, a couple of 5:30 dinners in town, a quick trip out of town, gifts and Christmas concerts, and it gets overwhelming in a hurry.

With the 2017 hay crop tucked away in sheds and stacks, growing-season factors take a back seat to domestic and foreign demand in driving hay prices.

As a Hudson Institute-certified coach, I have been taught to always ask, “How old are you?” This is not rude. This is a helpful piece of information to assess what key issues need to be talked about. Scott Zimmer of Bridgeworks has helped me with decoding helpful language for communication between the generations.

When it comes to operating a successful business, few relationships are more important than the one linking producer and lender, according to Rob Barley, partner at Star Rock Farms and Star Rock Dairy in Conestoga, Pennsylvania.

One responsibility of my first full-time job was to survey fluid milk cases in supermarkets. I gathered information with regard to products on the shelves, their placement and price.

There is no question the ongoing narrative concerning climate change and the various “man-induced” gas (including ammonia, carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide) emissions includes agriculture in numerous ways.

Hurricanes Harvey and Irma devastated areas of Texas and the East Coast, while wildfires scorched more than 8.8 million acres this past year alone.

Growing up, I had multiple pen pals. There was my cousin in Quebec, the daughter of family friends, a goat farmer and various exchange partners. Nothing could beat the thrill of a personal letter arriving in the mail.

Many of the causes of stray voltage on-farm can be figured out and solved, says Dr. Paul Dettloff of Arcadia, Wisconsin. He says 75 percent of the time, on-farm solutions can be found rather than pursuing lengthy and costly lawsuits. He has observed and studied stray voltage (DC current) over the past five decades.