The Dairy Calf & Heifer Association Conference Committee has scheduled another great lineup of speakers and presenters, including Gary Sipiorski, dairy development manager, Vita Plus Corp.; Kerry Scott, H2A program manager, Mid-Atlantic Solutions Inc.; and Gary Conklin, Conklin Farms. The 2012 Dairy Calf & Heifer Conference will be held March 20-21, in Visalia, California, centrally located in California's dairy country.

Select Sires Inc. has completed the new Calf Campus facility located near Plain City, Ohio. During the summer of 2011, construction began to develop two state-of-the-art facilities that will foster bull calf health and growth at Select Sires. The bio-secure campus will be home to nearly 150 calves when it is fully occupied.

Dairy Day will be held at the Miner Institute in Chazy, New York, on Wednesday, Dec. 7. The free event begins at 10 a.m. with time to visit with vendors present. The speakers program begins at 11 a.m.

Michigan high school and college students who are interested in pursuing a career in the dairy industry have until Jan. 6 to apply for the 2012 Michigan Dairy Ambassador Scholarship and Leadership Program. The annual program, now in its seventh year, awards two scholarships, one to a junior winner and another to a senior winner. The senior division is reserved for college students up to age 22, and the winner receives a $1,500 scholarship. The junior division is limited to high school students in grades 9 to 12, and the winner goes home with $1,000 that can be applied toward higher education or purchasing a dairy animal within the upcoming year. Money raised during auctions held annually during the Great Lakes Regional Dairy Conference (GLRDC) funds the scholarship.

The American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (ASABE) has initiated a project to revise its standard for agricultural machine belt drives. ASAE S211.5, V-Belt And V-Ribbed Belt Drives for Agricultural Machines, is being updated to reflect latest industry technology and harmonize the content with Rubber Manufacturers Association (RMA) and ISO standards.

The Agriculture Council of America (ACA) calls on ninth-grade to 12th-grade students to submit an original, 450-word essay or a two-minute video essay about the importance of agriculture. This year's theme is "American Agriculture: Feeding the Future, Filling the Gaps" and the deadline is Feb. 1, 2012. The ACA asks teachers and parents to encourage student participation.

The Agriculture Council of America (ACA) calls on ninth-grade to 12th-grade students to submit an original, 450-word essay or a two-minute video essay about the importance of agriculture. This year's theme is "American Agriculture: Feeding the Future, Filling the Gaps" and the deadline is Feb. 1, 2012. The ACA asks teachers and parents to encourage student participation.

Dairy checkoff-led efforts are changing lactose intolerance attitudes and behaviors among physicians, resulting in an additional 276 million pounds of increased consumption of dairy among self-described lactose intolerant consumers, according to a health and wellness study conducted in September 2011. The Milk Opportunity Study, funded by the dairy checkoff, reveals that family physicians who recommend dairy alternatives to lactose intolerant patients have decreased by 44 percent since 2008. In addition, supermarket scanner data indicates that 1.4 million more households are purchasing lactose-free milk.