Dietary cation-anion difference (DCAD) for close-up dry cows doesn’t have to be hard. For many dairy producers looking to try DCAD for the first time, implementing a brand new nutritional practice on-farm can often seem like a daunting task. But it doesn’t have to be. With partial DCAD, producers new to DCAD can take an easier approach to starting the journey safely.

Editor's note: The CEO Corner contains editors' compilations of business news from top publications, which they have tailored for the dairy industry. You wouldn’t think of walking past your milkers in the parlor and unplugging the milk hoses attached to your milk line, spilling the hard work of your entire farm on the parlor floor. That would not only be expensive and silly, but extremely demotivating.

Digest Highlights: Dairy waste-to-energy projects gain equity commitment. June fluid milk sales were flat. WOTUS comment deadline near. Find a summary of these and other news here.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released a guidance document on Aug. 11 announcing it will exercise discretion when enforcing the use and labeling of ultrafiltered (UF) milk. Additionally, the FDA will initiate the process to write final rules regulating UF milk used in the manufacture of all standardized cheeses and related cheese products covered by the federal standards of identity.

Summer doldrums characterized U.S. milk prices, but dairy replacement cow prices held fairly steady, and foreign demand for U.S. heifers is picking up steam heading into fall.

Temperatures in Oklahoma have been unseasonably cool in the first half of the month. Temperatures are forecast to be higher late in the month but will still likely remain at or below seasonal levels.

U.S. dairy farmers received a multiple dose of information to update milk income and feed cost forecasts. The USDA released its Crop Production report, which included the first survey-based projections for 2017 crop acreage and yields; along with its monthly World Ag Supply & Demand Estimates report, including 2017-2018 feed and dairy price estimates.

Amino acids are the building blocks that make up protein, and the actual nutrients that calves require. However, dairy calf nutrition is behind the curve with respect to embracing precise diet formulation by balancing for these key nutrients. Today, most milk replacers for calves are formulated and scrutinized based only on crude protein (CP) content, a number that doesn’t give us any real measure of the true building blocks the calves need: the amino acids.

Starting next week, I begin training a new calf feeder at Cedar-Pine Farm. The title of calf feeder has been mine for six years, and believe me – I am ready to give it up!

No matter what, there is almost always a group of cows that don’t conceive on the first attempt. They are inseminated, but within a month or two, they have either required another insemination or unexpectedly turn up open. What is going on?