When you live in a rural area, it’s common to receive visits from neighboring animals. Dogs, cats and even cows or horses sometimes range freely between neighboring farms with little concern for property lines and are usually sent back home with relatively little trouble.

As the labor market in the dairy industry continues to tighten, employers are forced to become more creative in attracting employees. One option that many farmers have contemplated is offering housing. For the right farm, and the right manager, housing can be an excellent choice to put your farm above the rest. We’ve listed three pros and cons to help you decide if it’s the right decision for your farm.

The Quality Milk Alliance (QMA) and the Southeast Quality Milk Initiative (SQMI) are two USDA projects focusing on improving milk quality in the U.S. The two projects are similar but use different methods to determine what producers are doing well and not so well when it comes to producing high-quality milk.

“Why do you hang on to your calves?” the beef economist asked cow herd owners in the room. Scott Brown answered his own question: “Because their price is going up. Right?”

USDA’s 2016 Crop Production report provides harvest summaries and other information for hay and forage crops. The numbers might also offer reasons why hay prices are at six-year lows.

In the fall of 2015, the news broke about the Flint water crisis in Michigan, where Flint residents were found to have high blood levels of lead stemming from a contaminated municipal water source.

With President-elect Donald Trump set to take office on Jan. 20, U.S. dairy and other agricultural organizations remain unclear regarding future trade policy direction. One thing that is certain is the steady resurgence of U.S. dairy exports as the leadership transition nears.

The Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy, established under the leadership of dairy farmers, is accepting nominations for the sixth annual U.S. Dairy Sustainability Awards honoring exceptional dairy farms, businesses and partnerships for their socially responsible, economically viable and environmentally sound practices.