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It’s that time of year again, and graduation is in the air. The AmericanVeterinary Medical Association conducts an annual survey of fourth-yearveterinary medical students.
The 11th annual Great Lakes Regional Dairy Conference took place in Frankenmuth, Michigan, on February 7-9, 2013.
The conference had one of the best attendance numbers, with more than 400 attendees during the Thursday and Friday producer meetings.
The conference featured talks from many industry experts, with topics ranging from calf management to milk quality to social media and consumer perception. With this broad range of topics, there was something for everyone at the conference.
Any progress that has ever been realized throughout history is the direct result of change. While this is an indisputable fact, many people say they just don’t like change.
Here is how psychologist Dr. Heidi Grant Halvorson explains this human phenomenon: “It’s not just that people fear change, though they undoubtedly do. It’s also that they genuinely believe (often on an unconscious level) that when you’ve been doing something a particular way for some time, it must be a good way to do things. And the longer you’ve been doing it that way, the better it is.”
I spend a lot of time on the road, traveling from dairy to dairy, hotel to hotel. And I’ll admit, I don’t always eat as healthy as I should. It seems that every time I have lunch, I have one hand on the steering wheel and the other on a sandwich.
The other day, I stopped at a fast-food place at the top of an exit ramp. I decided I would treat myself to a small shake. The young lady who took my order barely said five words. And the other girl that poured the shake ... she just set it on the counter without saying a word or even looking up at me.
The fiscal cliff has come and gone, and the nation has survived. I’m sure many of you were up late on New Year’s Eve glued to the TV awaiting a decision from Congress on a plan that would save the country from financial ruin.
When the negotiating and politicking was over and the dust settled, we ended up with exactly what we expected from our government: a short-term fix to a long-term problem.
No matter how you look at it, Pennsylvania’s dairy industry is unique. The Keystone State has ranked among the top five dairy-producing states ever since the USDA started tracking milk production in 1964. However, over the past 10 years, Pennsylvania’s position as a national dairy leader has been slipping.
Many dairy businesses today are utilizing dairy advisory teams as sound management tools for improved idea generation, enhanced communication and superior decision-making. However, some teams aren’t as efficient as they could be and become a social hour more than an effective business meeting.
If you have a dairy team in place, take a minute to look around the table at the various team members and assess the cost of having that team in place. If you have eight team members meeting for 1½ hours every quarter, that’s 48 hours.
In 1989, with the use of checkoff dollars, the National Pork Board developed the Pork Quality Assurance (PQA) program, a producer education and certification program to reduce the risk of violative animal health product residues in pork.
A safety leader can set the tone for safety in your dairy operation, especially when aligned with management. The safety coordinator directs planning and monitoring and is a key player in a successful safety program.
Without this kind of leadership, critical activities such as safety inspections or training can fall through the cracks. A safety coordinator is responsible for knowing the federal, state and local laws and regulations that can impact the operation.
When it comes to “game changers,” the dairy industry has seen its fair share.
The science behind creating a gallon of milk continues to change rapidly, thanks to new technologies, and with the push for efficient and profitable operations in the current marketplace, nutrigenomics is today’s game changer producers need to consider.
