The first annual Indiana Dairy Forum, held in historic French Lick on Feb. 1-2, kicked off with an interactive, hands-on presentation to improve parlor function and milk quality featuring a milking system simulation, “Understanding Your Parlor’s Function,” by Dr. Roger Thomson from Battle Creek, Michigan.

Total U.S. cattle imports were down 7.4 percent in March compared with one year ago. Monthly imports of cattle from Mexico were down about 1 percent while cattle imports from Canada were down 17 percent year over year.

U.S. public schools will get greater leeway in meeting meal program nutritional requirements, and students will get more flavorful dairy options as a result of a USDA proclamation and the recently signed federal spending bill.

A court ruling concerning “hazardous substance” emissions has removed reporting requirement exemptions for some livestock farms and concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs). However, what happens next is still up in the air, according to Tiffany Dowell Lashmet, assistant professor and Extension agricultural law specialist with Texas A&M Agrilife Extension.

I recently attended a small conference involving several people I have associated with for years. There came an awkward time in the day’s agenda when we were directed to pair up with someone we didn’t know well personally, spending five minutes asking each other questions.

It started out as a year dairy farmers optimistically thought they would see milk prices rise. For some, it’s now turning into an urgent search to find markets for their milk.

When your dairy checkoff changed its basic strategy from simply doing generic advertising and promotions to working with partners that handle your milk, very few people probably realized what a huge impact on sales it would mean.

Although the 2014 Farm Bill doesn’t expire until Sept. 30, 2018, the 115th Congress has already begun work on its reauthorization. A piece of the 2018 Farm Bill likely to most directly impact the landscape for dairy producers is the Margin Protection Program for Dairy (MPP-Dairy), also set to expire in September 2018.

Funding the startup of a new dairy operation or the transition of an existing farm can be a tall task for any producer. Remember the “five C’s of credit” – a checklist of factors for producers to consider when securing funding for an agricultural business venture.