Marilyn Calvin has been a strong advocate for pasture-based dairy farming for years, but it was only recently that she took the plunge herself. Better late than never, she figured. The Mt. Vernon, Missouri producer was busy this spring putting up fencing for paddocks that will range from five to 10 acres in size. She also put in 5,200 feet of underground water lines connected to 10 new water stations. A consultant with Dairy Farmers of America helped design the system.

The personal stories and anecdotes of 12-year-old Maddie Cook have been read more than 4,500 times in about 40 countries around the world. This young blogger goes by the user name “Maddie Moo” online – and offline with her family and friends. You may be wondering, “What makes her so interesting?” It’s simple: She has a remarkable amount of ambition to promote an industry that affects every human being on the planet – the dairy industry. Cows of every color are Maddie’s world.

Ann Chaney Kalmey didn’t write the letter that many now know her for in order to gain attention – she wasn’t even writing to any particular person. In her mind, she was just writing a “venting letter” that she was going to throw away. The letter she never intended anyone else to see were words from the heart about what things are like on the 125-cow, 480-acre dairy she operates with her husband, John, near Shelbyville, Kentucky.

In our March 21st issue of this year, Progressive Dairyman launched a new column written by dairywomen. The first contributor of what we now call “HERd management” was Emily Zweber of Elko, Minnesota. Over the past eight months, we’ve featured an additional eight female voices through this column. We asked our contributors to open up about their farms and their opinions about a dairywoman’s role in the industry today. See responses from Terri DiNitto of Marcy, New York; Ellen Durrer of Modesto, California; Karma Fitzgerald of Shoshone, Idaho; Kim (Wilson) Grewe of Cumberland, Wisconsin; Brenda Hastings of Chardon, Ohio; Holly Hull of Preston, Idaho; Ashley Messing-Kennedy of Bad Axe, Michigan; and Joanmarie Weiss of Frankenmuth, Michigan.

A lot of start-up companies hire high-priced marketing agencies to develop a compelling story about their business, paying professionals to script a narrative that can generate well-placed stories in magazines and newspapers. Sonoma County dairywoman Karen Bianchi-Moreda had a great story – she just needed the business to go with it. In fact, she said, it was her family’s story of survival, hard work and perseverance that compelled her to start a farm business that showcases her ancestors’ rich history of life on the land in the Sonoma-Marin dairy belt.

What started as an assignment for a college internship has turned into an Internet sensation for an Illinois student. Erin Ehnle began her Facebook page “Keeping it Real – Through the Lens of a Farm Girl” last January. At the time, she was one of 15 social media interns on the staff of the Illinois Corn Marketing Board. Ehnle says the interns were in charge of creating positive ag messages for use on social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

All across the country dairy farmers are again struggling to stay in business. The milk-to-feed price ratio is the lowest it’s ever been, making it increasingly more difficult to make ends meet. As we know, the solution to the problem is very simple – all costs of production must, as a whole, be lower than the price of milk. And wouldn’t we all sleep a little better knowing we’re getting … hmmm … maybe $30 per hundredweight (cwt) for our milk?

Sixty years ago, Dr. Virginia Apgar developed a simple method to evaluate the well-being of a newborn child at birth. Used worldwide, this assessment is performed within minutes of birth using nothing more than a stethoscope and a clock. Babies are given an APGAR score from 0 to 10, which indicates the child’s initial health status and whether or not medical attention is necessary. Today, researchers at the University of Guelph have created a similar assessment to evaluate the health of a newborn calf.

The results of the 2011 Dairy Heifer Raiser Survey, conducted by the National Animal Health Monitoring System, became publicly available in October 2012. Progressive Dairyman staff will be studying the report in depth and inviting industry experts to comment on trends and developments. In the meantime, find out what NAHMS researchers and our staff found most interesting.