Most people who know me, know that I really like to plan things. In fact, most days I can get so caught up in what I’m going to do next that I forget what I am doing in the moment. However, even with all those plans, I find the secret to successful planning is to be able to throw said plan out the window at a moment’s notice.

The old adage of farming being a “way of life” no longer rings completely true. Farming is very much a business these days, much like any manufacturing or service industry in town.

Even the smallest dairy operations can show assets in excess of $1 million, as milk quota, in many cases with this size of unit, is the main contributor to the farm balance sheet.

With a name like World Ag Expo, the event is bound to attract people from all over. While there, Progressive Dairyman met up with Meerten and Anita Zeldenrust from Barrhead, Alberta. They had traveled to Tulare, California, as part of a tour group.

Jeff Nonay is a third-generation dairy farmer in Alberta. His grandfather’s family business grew to include his father, Dave, and his uncle, Dan, and moved to its present location near Legal – 30 kilometres north of Edmonton – in 1976.

The World Holstein Conference is an international event held every four years by the World Holstein Friesian Federation (WHFF).

The first was held in 1964 in the Netherlands. In 2012, the 13th conference will come to Canada for the first time ever.

The answer is the modern dairy industry still has not recognized the requirements for the hoof to function “normally.”

As many veterinarians, nutritionists, farmers and students would agree, management during the transition period is one of the most crucial roles to produce a successful lactation. Making your transition cow program a success relies heavily upon proper body condition score at calving, minimizing pre-calving energy intake and maximizing feed intake throughout the freshening period.

Although special attention is commonly given to transition cows, heifers calving for the first time are often not seen as high-risk animals. This may be due to the fact that heifers often suffer from lower rates of milk fever, or displaced abomasum during the fresh period, when compared to animals in their second or third lactation.

Back when I was just a rookie reporter I was introduced to a new phrase – “meeting season.” The established journalist that shared the term with me had been through their fair share of meeting seasons, at least 25, I’d say. At the time, our editorial team was sitting down for one of our semi-annual planning meetings and trying to decide who could go where.