Just when hay stocks are at a low, and haylage inventories are dwindling at the end of another season, Mother Nature is giving us a gift in the form of an early spring. Throughout much of the country most hay is three to four weeks ahead of normal.

Olivia Siglin of Webster is South Dakota’s 57th State Dairy Princess. She was crowned in Sioux Falls during the Central Plains Dairy Expo. Siglin, 18, is the daughter of Kevin Siglin and Patty Siglin and is a student at South Dakota State University majoring in agriculture education and agriculture business. Throughout the coming year, she will represent South Dakota dairy farmers at a variety of appearances, helping consumers to understand how milk is produced in a wholesome and responsible way. She receives a $1,000 scholarship from Midwest Dairy Association’s South Dakota Division. Christina Maher, 18, Nunda, was named runner-up. Her parents are Rae Lynn and Phillip Maher and she is a student at Lake Area Technical College in Watertown with a major in large animal technician and dairy. She was awarded a $500 scholarship from the Central Plains Dairy Expo.

The following excerpt is from Raechel Kilgore Sattazahn’s blog. Sattazahn is a marketing officer with AgChoice Farm Credit and farms with her husband, Doug, and his family at Zahncroft Dairy in Womelsdorf, Pennsylvania. She blogs about ag issues at http://gobeyondthebarn.wordpress.com/ For those of you that know me, you know that Molly is our loveable, huggable one-year-old Newfoundland dog. Why am I clarifying that she is not a cow? Read on, and you’ll understand why our views on animals are increasingly blurred. I recently attended the final conference for Holstein Foundation’s Young Dairy Leaders Institute (YDLI). The conference was jam-packed with outstanding speakers, but the day-long conflict management and messaging seminar facilitated by Wes Jamison, president of Cornerstone Public Relations, LLC, had a message that hit home to me: Farm animals are not the same as companion animals.