Dragging our moldboard plow through the fields in the spring always tended to turn up more than just the soil. Sometimes there would be a cow’s lost neck chain that got scraped into the spreader or parts of a deer carcass turkey buzzards might have pulled off the road.

For me to effectively tell this story, we need to go back in time. The year is 2002, and my husband, Nate, is in his third year of college pursuing a degree in political science with goals of becoming a lawyer.

As I look at thousands of calving records every month for dairies ranging in size from 100 to 5,000 cows, one thing that is consistent among almost all of them is the wide range of ages that springing heifers calve.

We all love a good story. We all like to see the bad guy lose. And we all like to see a big girl squeeze into a wedding dress that’s three sizes too small just to watch her family cry. That’s why they created “reality television.”

Nutritionists and dairy specialists at Provimi North America started using a new bulk tank test to troubleshoot herds that have low milk fat. The technology being used is the analysis of milk fatty acids in bulk tank samples and was developed in a collaborative work between Cornell University and Miner Institute. Combined with other technologies such as analysis of fatty acids in feeds, the fatty acids in milk can help suggest adjustments to the ration and herd management.

Most progressive producers have their cows examined for the diagnosis of pregnant versus not pregnant (or “open”) at some time point prior to calving, most commonly around the time of weaning. There are some potential advantages to performing this examination earlier – approximately 90 to 100 days following the start of the breeding season.

I sat down the other day to write down all the upcoming appointments, church activities and sports for the kids. As I continued filling in the space for the next couple of months, I found myself feeling a little overwhelmed. How in the world am I going to do all this with a newborn baby? I caught myself wondering why in the world would I sign up for this many things.

A handful of dairies are adopting an eco-friendly solution to treat wastewater that uses nature’s most simple workers: earthworms and micro-organisms.

The last 80 years have seen great innovations in the field of assisted reproductive technologies, which has rendered farmers and their agricultural businesses more efficient and more profitable.

With fall just around the corner, cattle producers across the country are preparing for the season of shipping and processing cattle. This preparation should include taking a fresh look at their protocols for bovine respiratory disease (BRD) to make sure they are managing the disease the most effective way possible.