When she was offered the full-time milk tester job in high school, Becky Cook from Blackfoot, Idaho, turned it down. Little did she know that years down the road she would find herself milk testing for Madison County DHIA.

Well, with one exception: That many dollar bills would be nice. And dairy producers could use a stack of money about that high right now. I can always tell when milk prices are painful, as the number of letters to the editor increases and the blame for low prices gets shared more widely.

Millennials are a critical audience for the dairy industry. These consumers (born between 1981 and 1997) have surpassed baby boomers as the nation’s largest living generation, numbering 75.4 million, according to the U.S. census.

The 2016 National Mastitis Council (NMC) Regional Meeting was held June 29-30 in Appleton, Wisconsin. Nearly 200 milk quality professionals attended the event, along with three Wisconsin-based Progressive Dairyman editors.

Much of the news about fluid milk focuses on its declining sales and per-capita consumption. However, there is good news to report. Whole milk sales were 4.5 percent higher in 2015 than 2014.

Dairy farms come in all shapes and sizes. Each one is unique and each dairy producer has his or her own management style based on personal strengths and preferences. They have different habits or routines that characterize the farm.

Dairy farmers consistently face decisions that will materially impact their operation’s financial performance. In a period of low milk margins, these decisions are much more critical to the dairy’s ability to endure.

First off, I want you to depart from the premise that one of the critical strategic components for your dairy to operate and achieve results is its people. You have read through the articles on management philosophies and how those drive your ways of thinking and feeling toward people and work. These are your ways of behaving.

Family first or business first? That is a trick question: Your answer should be “neither” and “both.” An entirely “family-first” family business won’t last. The business will be crushed under the weight of family demands.

“I am trained as a natural scientist,” Marina von Keyserlingk, professor at the University of British Columbia, said. “But the more time that I’ve been working in animal welfare, I have been humbled because I don’t think I can do animal welfare research well if I don’t understand the people that are involved in all of this.