Progressive Dairyman’s Dec. 12, 2017, print issue featured Roy and Mary Bergbigler in Butler, Pennsylvania. The couple farms with their daughter, MaryBeth Guynup. The buildings on their 100-cow dairy showcase the family’s faith, Mary’s love for decorating and the emphasis the whole family places on farming with the Bergbiglers’ four granddaughters.

Dwight Johnson had always loved the idea of raising goats. His story first began when he started buying goat milk for his kids to drink.

No matter how hard I try to think of topics that are strictly farm related, I always sit down and seemingly pour my heart out to the blank page about something that comes out sounding more like a Sunday sermon than a dairy farmer’s blog post.

Getting the proper amount of energy into high-producing dairy cows during the first six to eight weeks postpartum can be very difficult. Slug feeding large amounts of grain or molasses at one time can cause a cow to contract acidosis or fatty liver at a time when she should be most productively lactating.

Medical waste removal costs livestock producers and veterinarians thousands of dollars every year. Due to the monopoly in the medical waste removal industry, prices are increasing considerably and regularly, says veterinarian Karen Seibold.

For most people, Christmas means the yearly round of traditions like carols, eggnog and trimming the tree. For Alpenrose Dairy near Portland, Oregon, it means “Christmas in Dairyville” and Storybook Lane.

Changes in dairy herd management, primarily herd expansion, have turned mycoplasma mastitis into an emerging disease. The U.S. National Animal Health Monitoring Service conducted a recent survey, which estimated during any single year, 20 percent of 500-plus-cow herds in the U.S. will have a positive mycoplasma mastitis bulk tank.

Earlier this year, the company that owns the most commonly used herd management software in the industry – DairyComp305 – hired a new CEO and began rebranding itself. Valley Ag Software (VAS) is spending millions to redesign the interface of its herd management software and announced at World Dairy Expo that a cloud-based version will be available in 2018.

In 2000, Roy and Mary Bergbigler were looking for inspiration for a new milking parlor for their 100-cow Holstein herd in Butler, Pennsylvania. While they wanted to keep it simple, they had a few special requests.