A Saint-Casmir, Quebec, family recently was honoured with the Dairy Farm Sustainability Award. Sylvain Laquerre and Noëlline Dusablon and their son, Benoit — sixth- and seventh-generation farmers —accepted the award from Wally Smith, president of the Dairy Farmers of Canada (DFC), and Andrew Ritchie, managing director of DeLaval Inc.

I pledge:
my head to clearer thinking,
my heart to greater loyalty,
my hands to larger service,
my health to better living,
for my club, my community and my country.

The 4-H pledge was one of the first sayings that I had to commit to memory. As a young member of the South Side Eagles 4-H Club, I could have been called upon at any meeting to lead the club through its recitation.

Lifelong dairy researcher Lowell D. Lindsay has been chosen for induction into the Canadian Agriculture Hall of Fame. The companies Semex and EastGen (EG) nominated Lindsay for the honour.

For its 11th year, the North American Manure Expo will live up to its name and, for the first time, take place outside of the U.S. The 2013 event will be held Aug. 20 and 21 at the University of Guelph Arkell Research Station in Arkell, Ontario.

With all of the challenges present for producers today, the task of continuing to find efficiencies and opportunities to enhance productivity are essential to remain competitive and profitable.

The new joint venture created by dairy farmers across English Canada, which includes Dairy Farmers of Canada, the BC Dairy Foundation, Alberta Milk, SaskMilk and Dairy Farmers of Manitoba, launched its first marketing campaign recently.

Teams of researchers at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada have been working since 2010 on the best approaches to improving the sustainability of Canadian dairy farms.

Every farmer I speak with would like to improve the reproductive success of his or her dairy herd in some way. Although there are many factors that must be managed in order to achieve this goal, I would like to take this opportunity to focus on the nutrition program.

It is well known that dairy cows will not consume enough energy after calving to support their increased milk production. Fat tissue mobilization will partly supply the lack of energy, and cows will be in a negative energy balance. Its extent will negatively affect the reproductive performance of dairy cows and will have a major economical impact for the producer.