Digest Highlights: Droughty dairy areas primarily in the Southwest. USDA reopens disaster programs. Two dairy promotion groups merge. May milk prices improve a little in federal, California orders. Find these and other news summaries affecting dairy farmers here.

Physical dehorning of dairy cattle is a standard practice to protect both human dairy workers and other animals from injury. However, it is not only costly for producers, but also painful and stressful for the animals. As a result, dehorning is currently facing increased public scrutiny as an animal welfare issue. Despite these factors, 94 percent of U.S. dairy cattle producers report routine dehorning.

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue has approved a one-week extension for producers to sign up for the Margin Protection Program for Dairy (MPP-Dairy). Producers now have until June 8 to enroll in MPP-Dairy for 2018; the original deadline was June 1.

In this modern era of dairy farming, it takes more creativity than ever to stay in business. It seems as dairy farmers face an onslaught of forces determined to weed out any but the most efficient, they must be more creative than ever to stay in business. In this article we’re going to mention just a few ideas that many have employed to not only survive in business, but even thrive despite tough economic times. Let’s consider just a few suggestions.

When the acres of pasture, grass hay, alfalfa, corn and sorgum silages, and grazing wheat in the plains are all added up, forages account for by far the most acreage of any US crop. In fact, land used for grazing is over 780 million acres - nearly double the land used for other crops of all types. Add to that the 61 million acres of alfalfa, 15 million for corn and sorghum silages, then add in the grass hays and others, and you can see that forages comprise the vast majority of US cropland. And yet, it could be said that forages continue to be neglected when it comes to fertilization. The majority of grazing lands receive no fertilizer of any kind, with the resulting low forage yield/lower daily rate of gain being widely accepted on land with low perceived value. At AgroLiquid, however, we are discovering that even a very modest rate of our products applied at the right time results in a large return on investment –  Why?

Last year, overall harvested forage acres were significantly reduced throughout the Midwest, according to Progressive Forage, leaving forage inventories lower than usual in 2018. As we look to this year’s alfalfa harvest, it may be more critical than ever to do the little things right to ensure you harvest as much dry matter (DM) per acre as possible.