Forty-five young dairy enthusiasts came together at the Professional Dairy Producers of Wisconsin (PDPW) Youth Leadership Derby held in Milton, Wisconsin, in early November.

I milked with my father every morning in the dark. We herded cows into the parlor eight at a time and dipped their teats. When we were at the end of the row we turned around, wiped it off, and started putting milkers on. We smelt like iodine and manure, and while we waited for the cows to milk out we passed the time talking.

A few years ago, Tom Wall with Language Links, LLC, spent the holiday season in Mexico visiting with the families of U.S. dairy employees. Having worked with those employees back in the States, it was very apparent to him that if granted their Christmas wish, they would all like to be together for the holidays.

Dairy cow population reduction • Economists estimated the industry would need to remove between five and six billion pounds of milk, the production of approximately 250,000 cows, to boost milk prices.

More than 52,141 unique visitors read content at www.progressivedairy.com in 2009. The following is a recap of the Top 25 most-read stories that appeared in Progressive Dairyman in 2009 as well as follow-up comments about some of the article topics from the articles’ original authors or contributors.

I have often marveled at how the Bible uses symbolism in basic stories to teach lessons about life. The story of Job is one man’s journey through adversity, yet is the inward story of every man’s struggle. The story of Moses in Egypt is an outward story of a prophet, trying to lead his people, but is an inward story of God’s dealings with the wicked and righteous children.

Some of the tales I hear from the next generation are as interesting as things I had happen when I was hauling hay. About four years ago, the fellow who stole the heart of my oldest daughter spent the summer with us. He was attending college at the time, working on his MBA degree.

Steve Schumachersteves@vanbeeknaturalscience.com

Publishers’ note: Clair Yardley was a great friend to us here at Progressive Dairyman and to many in the dairy industry. He loved working with dairymen to help them solve their problems. One afternoon, Clair was out on an Idaho dairy watching the dairy try to deal with a whole bunch of sloppy manure. He turned to his friend and said “Wayne, (Loewen Welding) – couldn’t you vacuum this up with one of your tanks?” From that conversation the idea for the Loewen Honey-Vac was born. Over the next few years, Clair was responsible for identifying several product enhancements for the Honey-Vac.

The Hindu dairymen, represented by the Hare Krishna (HK) in the United States, have much in common with dairymen from California, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. The HK dairy is in West Virginia and is called New Vrinaban. They refer to themselves as a cow sanctuary.