Life goes on and I'll make new memories in my truck, but I think everyone's first car holds a special place in their heart. 

One of the key fears of aging farm founders is the conflict they anticipate when the farming heir has access to millions of dollars of land and the siblings who are off to other careers do not have the same net worth opportunity in their future. Or do they?

Winter weather which includes cold temperatures, ice and snow can lead to some additional hazards when completing your regular tasks at work – because of this, you must take extra precautions this time of year.

As with any legacy, it started with one cow. After the purchase of Fernhame PBL Penelope, Don and Wendy Chalack would soon acquire a dairy and buy 25 more cows, developing a business that would produce more than a dozen All-Canadian and All-American nominees, acquire three Master Breeder shields and become a household name in the North American registered dairy cattle industry.

In Canada, the dairy sector is a major source of agricultural methane, placing it squarely in the spotlight as the country races to meet Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) targets and Canada's net zero by 2050 commitment. However, the industry’s sluggish pace toward emission reductions raises serious doubts about achieving this goal.

By focusing on key factors that can influence your herd lifetime productivity and taking a holistic view of your farms, you can identify opportunities to maximize your herd efficiency and the long-term sustainability of your operation.

For a producer, determining whether to introduce a new solution into their operation is an important decision. So it is critical to develop innovations with the herd in mind. As dairy management varies around the world, carrying out validation research on Canadian dairy farms is a critical step in solution development.

In April 2024, four McGill University students from the Macdonald College’s Farm Management and Technology (FMT) program participated in the 2024 North American Intercollegiate Dairy Challenge (NAIDC). Hear from two of the participants about their experience and goals as future leaders in the dairy industry.

Working together, the family was able to have discussions about how the farm could utilize its cash flow to find a combination of saving, borrowing, insuring and gifting assets to nonfarming children at the optimal times to have maximum impact on their lives while also having a minimal impact on farm operations.