Roto-Mix VX single-auger mixers The new VX Series single-auger vertical mixers by Roto-Mix includes three models: the VX-315, VX-415 and VX-515, which provide capacities in 300, 400 and 500 cubic feet, respectively.

• John Kappelman of Cedar Grove, Wisconsin, has joined the board of the Professional Dairy Producers Foundation. A former dairy producer, he is currently a consultant for Cereal Byproducts Company.

Sometimes I am struck by how fields keep their past. No matter how thoroughly a dead furrow seems to be disked before new seeding, you can still find it after every cutting.

I’ve been pondering the state of veterinary medicine in the new millennium. These subjects deserve deeper thought or at least a master’s degree thesis:

Uncle Joe was makin’ his rounds this spring checking the horses and cows to make sure everything had water. When he got to the bull lot, one of his prize young Charolais bulls had managed to crawl through one of the round-bale feeders and was lying down, happily chewing his cud.

In December 1968 economist Dr. Garrett Hardin wrote a seminal paper called “The Tragedy of the Commons.” Largely used in the field of economic theory, I believe it has relevance to those of us tasked with thinking about resource management.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a farmer's replanting of harvested Roundup Ready© soybeans violates Monsanto Company's patent rights.  The ruling leaves in place a former court award of $84,456 against farmer Vernon Bowman for planting and harvesting the soybeans, which he had purchased as commodity beans from a local grain elevator or saved from his prior harvests.

Relying on the theory of "patent exhaustion," Bowman argued that Monsanto's patent rights exhausted after the first sale of the seed and did not apply to later uses or sales. 

Sarah Fraley Sandusky, Michigan Dairy Specialist Vita Plus