It usually happens when you’re by yourself. You’re trying to load a bunch of cows in the one-ton. It should hold 12 head but with four to go, they plug up. You’re slappin’ them with the BQA-approved paddle, you chunk a piece of wood at the one in the gate. You’ve actually turned around and leaned up against the last cow in the loading chute and you’re pushing like you were trying to jumpstart your car.

In this column, once again I visit the development of the comprehensive nutrient management plan (CNMP). The point of reference is a recent visit to a dairy farm in northern Michigan. The reference CNMP notebook is 600 pages long. Yet from my perspective, it is of no use to the landowner and of little value to the NRCS field office case file. Here are three reasons why.

With many dairy operations still trying to gain ground from the 2009 collapse of the sector, Rabobank’s Food & Agribusiness Research and Advisory (FAR) group is recommending that industry work collaboratively to find more ways to maximize the value of milk for California producers. The bank released a report titled “California Dairies: Getting More Moola,” which details suggestions/recommendations for maximizing value and cites a variety of reasons why the traditional way of solving milk pricing issues isn’t necessarily the answer producers need.

Canadian Dairy XPO (CDX) show management plans to double the size of the show for 2014, after the success of the inaugural CDX this past February. With support from the mayor of Stratford and key city officials, the 2014 CDX will expand to the entire Stratford Rotary Complex, including both hockey rinks.

Listen as Dr. Les Hansen, dairy genetics professor from the University of Minnesota, discusses dairy cattle crossbreeding and current research related to crossbreeding.

Chemicals are used in many dairy farm operations, and many of these chemicals pose a wide range of health and physical hazards. Chemical exposure may cause or contribute to many serious health effects such as heart ailments, central nervous or reproductive systems, kidney and lung damage, sterility, cancer, burns and rashes. Some chemicals may also pose physical hazards and have the potential to cause fires and explosions and other serious accidents.

On April 22, 2013, from noon to 1 p.m. CDT, Dr. Paul Fricke will present a webinar titled "New Tools for Dairy Reproduction Programs." Fricke is a professor at the University of Wisconsin – Madison Department of Dairy Science. He is also an extension specialist in dairy cattle reproduction for UW-Extension.

Four of Alltech’s crop science products have received approval from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. Agro-Mos, Soil-Set, Crop-Set and Grain-Set are now registered as micronutrient fertilizers in the Canadian agronomic market.