Winter is a good time for reflection – even in sunny California where I produce milk. The days and nights are cooler, easier on the cows and the people. With 2010 just around the corner, a certain kind of thoughtful silence settles in.

I received instructions the other day to be available by 6:00 Saturday evening for a birthday party for now six-year-old Ashton. There were four generations at the party. Charlie and Lois did the honors as the great-grandparents. Also present were Grandpa Troy, the boom loader, and Grandpa Brad, the old hay hauler, and their respective spouses, to whom the grandchildren are the neatest thing ever to happen.

In dealing with complex relationships and numbers, it is common to employ “rules of thumb.” Rules of thumb are broadly applied descriptions used to approximate calculating or recalling a value. As a rule, rules of thumb are not strictly accurate, which means they probably are wrong to some degree or another. They survive because the differences are within a small range.

January 2009 seems like a decade ago. Milk price averaged a balmy $16.12. Predictions of 2009 losses of $1,000 per cow seemed fanciful. We urged both producers and industry to work together to cushion against an industry-wide decimation, and wondered how farms would cope. Now we know. Unfortunately, the end of this story is far from over and although now we know, we don’t know it all.

Milk production on a global scale had a definite impact on U.S. milk prices the past few years. Looking forward, it will be domestic production that will have the largest influence on prices in 2010.

Proud to Dairy has been helping producers find pride in their work since October 2008. In November 2008 we started www.proudtodairy.com. Since that time we have grown in numbers, purpose and action.

Click the links below to download the Progressive Dairy's annual U.S. dairy statistics poster. 2020 U.S. dairy stats (Low Resolution) 2020 U.S. dairy stats (High Resolution) 2017 MPP-Dairy enrollment stats map 2016 Organic Dairy Growth (Low Resolution) 2016 Organic Dairy Growth (High Resolution) 2016 Milk Quality (Low Resolution) 2016 Milk Quality (High Resolution)

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In this first issue of a new decade, we’re introducing a new way to review, even perhaps debate, issues we believe are necessary to rethink our industry and its competitiveness. Here’s how you will be reading these discussions this year as they unfold.

With so many cattle vaccines available – nearly 125 different vaccines are currently on the market – there is a considerable amount of information, and misinformation, out there. To help clear up some misconceptions, Vic Cortese, DVM, PhD, DABVP and Pfizer Animal Health, bust nine common vaccine myths.