One of the things a good cowman has to have, besides a good banker, is an early detection system for determining when an animal is sick.

Sometimes I’m a walking cliché. I tend to leap before I look, try to run before I walk, step over a dollar to pick up a dime, put the cart before the horse, count the chickens before they’re hatched … Well, you get the idea.

Talk about takin’ a beating. I stood on the porch at Dale’s horse farm and soaked up the view. It was deep springtime in west Tennessee. The grass was so green it hurt your eyes.

As an industry there has rightly been a tremendous focus on the pre-fresh, post-fresh and on the first 90 days of lactation. This critical time period sets the pace for the whole lactation, and as a result, we’ve made significant improvements in fresh cow management, welfare, nutrition and performance, all of which combined have pushed peak milk to new heights.

Ohio’s House of Representatives passed a resolution differentiating between direct dehydrated alfalfa and sun-cured alfalfa. The resolution is an effort to provide a clear distinction between chopped alfalfa and alfalfa stored as bales or stacks.

Coleman and John Locke are fifth- and sixth-generation members of the J.D. Hudgins family. The father/son team operates one of the seven divisions of J.D. Hudgins Inc., a 110-year-old Brahman ranch on the Texas Gulf Coast.

Nutrigenomics is scientific study of the interaction of nutrition and genes or, alternatively, the effect of nutrition on the expression of genes.

Opportunities for improvement exists on many dairies in second and subsequent insemination (2nd+) efficiency for lactating cows and age at first calving (AFC) for heifers.

Significant increases in dry matter intake and milk production with increased digestibility were reported in animal trials where forages of higher in vitro digestibility and similar Neutral Detergent Fiber (NDF) concentration were fed.