Digest Highlights Culver's to send ‘care packages’ to Wisconsin dairy farmers New York seeks input from dairy farmers Fairlife introduces snack-sized beverages Northwest Girl Scouts can earn Dairy Patch Borden delivers milk, other beverages to Hurricane Michael victims Cheese may lower BMI Land O’Lakes, Gravie expanding farmer health insurance program for 2019 Petition filed over non-GMO label Livestock groups petition DOT for ‘hours of service’ flexibility New Zealand mycoplasma eradication effort expands Multiple factors impacting crop input outlook

September 2018 U.S. milk production increased about 1.3 percent from the same month a year earlier, but that wasn’t the most striking number in USDA’s monthly Milk Production report, released Oct. 19. The more eye-popping numbers were related to the size of the U.S. herd, which were retroactively reduced for June, July and August.

I had the opportunity to attend the Penn State versus Ohio State football game on Sept. 29. Unlike my college days, attending a game now requires much more planning. Back in May, I organized a block of tickets for a college alumni group.

See a need: Contrary to the image of fresh air and peaceful surroundings, thousands of farmworkers are injured, and hundreds more die in farming accidents every year.

You’re busy – milking cows, managing employees and wrapping up harvest. With that in mind, Progressive Dairyman launched this column: “What happened? What’s next?”

Our company has produced averages of our dairy clients’ profit and loss reports on a quarterly basis for dairies across the nation for many years. These reports provide our clients and others in the industry with valuable benchmarking data, which is difficult to obtain from other sources.

Crop harvest season is winding down, if not finished. Dairy farmer attention now turns to pre-winter projects. Progressive Dairyman asked our team of editorial advisers to share their near-term plans.

Have you done something stupid lately? I have. I went away for the weekend and not only left the back door unlocked, I left it wide open.

Editor’s note: This is the first of two articles about managing the maternity area and newborn calves using a team approach. Click here to read the second article "Praiseworthy newborn calf specialists check these boxes". Maternity is a classically overlooked and poorly understood area of the farm.

According to recent phone and online polls conducted by Progressive Dairyman, most U.S. dairy farms do not feed a negative dietary cation-anion difference (DCAD) diet during the dry period.