Did winter arrive before all of your reseeding or pasture renovation was finished? If so, a technique called frost seeding can help. Frost seeding is the process of broadcasting seed onto existing stands while the ground is still frozen with the purpose of thickening the stand or introducing new plant species.

Canadian animal health officials have quarantined approximately 26,000 cattle in Alberta and Saskatchewan to test for bovine tuberculosis (TB).

Ashley Messing-Kennedy farms with her husband, 1-year-old daughter and her parents on her family’s dairy farm in Michigan. They milk about 240 Jersey and Holstein cows with four Lely robots.

In the big game this Sunday afternoon, highly trained players will coordinate their activities as precisely as they can against the onslaught of the other team. If all goes according to plan, the quarterback may throw the ball to a certain spot on the field where his receiver is supposed to be at just the right time. They call it teamwork. It is a thing of beauty when it happens!

I won’t say that you should treat your employees like cattle, but there are some good reminders for managing employees from the role of a cowboy moving cattle. Like them, your job is to ride herd. The most effective cowboys would say that involves the following responsibilities:

This month’s VAS DC305 tip is on clinical mastitis. Clinical mastitis is a very costly disease. Although poor milk procedures, dirty environments and faulty equipment can predispose cows, most mastitis is caused by an infectious agent. Treatment of mastitis (MAST event in DC305) caused by certain bacteria is not improved by antibiotic therapy, so not treating those cows will decrease antibiotic use, decrease hospital days and decrease milk withheld from sale.

Recent news articles and talk shows have discussed the issue of upcoming generations being overwhelmed by difficulty or challenge. One thought behind this is that kids these days have it “too easy.”