YES, Tail docking in cattle should be permitted and the entire subject be left up to the owner and no one else – period! First, my safety and the safety of my children and any other who may milk for me is paramount. In the past, I have been hit in the face with crud-covered tails – twice I have suffered scratched corneas and once I had a capillary in my eye ruptured, leaving the white part of my eye blood-filled and painful.

In March, President Obama appointed Dr. Sonny Ramaswamy as director of the USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA). Ramaswamy, an entomologist, grew up in India at a time when food was scarce. However, he also experienced firsthand how research – especially agricultural research – can transform a country for the better. Throughout his career, Ramaswamy served in administrative and educational and research capacities at multiple land-grant universities across the country. Prior to joining NIFA, Ramaswamy was dean at Oregon State University’s College of Agricultural Sciences. Progressive Dairyman Editor Dario Martinez followed up with Ramaswamy to discuss NIFA’s current research endeavors, including those connected to the dairy industry.

It’s no secret that corn supplies will be low this year – and tensions are running high on what to do about it. Numerous organizations have signed on to a petition presented to EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson asking for a waiver of the Renewable Fuel Standards (RFS) to reduce the ethanol industry’s demand for corn and, therefore, increase the amount of corn available to the farmers and livestock who need it.

I learned about computers during a time when punch cards, FORTRAN and COBOL were trendy terms. I’m not going to say that I remained stuck in the computerized era of the 1970s and ’80s. After all, I found my way around the Web and I could always email with the best of them. But this Facebook and Twitter stuff seemed to be for a generation of people I simply didn’t feel I needed to – or could – connect with.

Feed prices are at historic highs. Along with this, milk prices have not kept pace, causing extremely tight (many times negative) margins. High feed prices and variability in supplies have created the challenge of utilizing ingredients that give us the best return on the investment.

Renaissance Nutrition, Inc. held its annual company educational conference in late July, with a lineup of 10 nationally recognized speakers from the dairy industry. A total of nearly 150 people from both the U.S. and Canada, including company nutritionists, university dairy extension faculty, veterinarians and allied industry personnel, attended the three-day meeting to learn about the newest information and research on cow management, cow comfort, nutrition and economics. The following summary shares some of the take-home messages provided by the 17 presentations offered at the conference.

There is something new coming to World Dairy Expo this year that you won’t want to miss. Actually, at 26,000 square feet, the New Holland Trade Center will be just plain hard to miss. “I’m really excited about this,” exclaims John Rozum, World Dairy Expo sales manager. “It is the biggest new thing on the grounds since the Exhibition Hall was put up in 1995.” Over the past 17 years, demand for exhibit space at World Dairy Expo has risen steadily. “We’ve been working with a sell-out trade show and extensive wait list for a number of years,” Rozum says. “Plus, there are always existing exhibitors at the show looking to expand their space.”

“Cows” is the common language spoken every year at World Dairy Expo, says the show’s marketing manager, Liz Matzke. Whether in the show ring, on the commercial exhibit floor or online at the expo’s website or Facebook page, “cow” is the talk. The more than 10,300 World Dairy Expo Facebook fans, nearly 300 Pinterest enthusiasts and 1,700 followers on Twitter can attest to the language of Expo because they all speak it, now even more so with the annual show approaching in a few short weeks.

Progressive Dairyman asked several companies exhibiting at World Dairy Expo to highlight a few of the new products that will be on display at the show. Heifer genomics guide With the introduction of its heifer genomics guide, Raleigh-based Dairy Records Management Systems (Booth MC 37, 38) claims to be the first dairy records processing center to offer a DHI report that provides producers who are genomic-testing their herds with a way to evaluate those results.