More than 2,000 dairy farmers and allied industry representatives from 39 states attended the Professional Dairy Producers 2017 Business Conference, March 15-16 in Madison, Wisconsin.

One of the most beneficial outreach strategies we can do as a dairy industry is to put ourselves into situations where people aren’t expecting us to be.

Immigrant labor is a necessity on today’s dairy. From small farms that employ one milker to dairies with hundreds of workers, producers are watching the Trump administration with caution and facing the daily reality of operating their business under a broken system of immigration.

Last year, the nation’s dairy farmers produced in excess of 30 billion pounds more milk than they produced 10 years ago. In a recent publication (Agricultural Projections to 2026), the USDA suggests milk production will increase at an even faster rate during the next 10 years.

To start your farm succession plan, you’ve formed a limited liability company (LLC), signed your estate plan and maybe even transferred some interest in the LLC to your successors. Hopefully, you have reviewed and updated your plan and taken periodic actions to move your farm transfer forward.

Ninety-nine percent of farm insurance policies sold today have fundamental coverage flaws when it comes to dealing with environmental liability. Those gaps in your general farm liability insurance coverage may be leaving your dairy open to substantial financial risk.

If you watched the men’s or women’s NCAA basketball tournaments, you witnessed extreme strategy at work. Coaches game-planned to attack opposing defenses and put points on the board while shutting down the other team.

My kids are fighting the crud right now – with the sickness here, you'd think we walk around licking doorknobs, light switches and the bottom of our boots. (We don't.) I've made soups, cleaned, disinfected and opened windows. I think it helps.

“Alternative therapy” is a nice, ambiguous term for almost any remedy that falls outside the familiar realm of antibiotics and stitches. Highly conditioned athletes like NFL stars and Olympians have been using treatments like acupuncture and Reiki for years, and now dairy cows, highly conditioned athletes in their own right, can benefit from a little acupuncture as well.

With Congress expected to tackle immigration reform later this year, two bills introduced in the House of Representatives would provide dairy worker access under a revised federal guest worker program.