Dairy farmers are digging out from the treacherous late winter storm that dumped nearly 3 feet of snow in parts of the Upper Midwest last weekend.

Editor’s note: On April 18, the House Agriculture Committee approved the Agriculture and Nutrition Act of 2018 (aka the House version of the 2018 Farm Bill) on a straight party line vote. Twenty-six Republican ag committee members voted for the bill, with 20 Democrats voting against the proposal. It’s anything but a done deal, but the House version of the 2018 Farm Bill outlines congressional efforts to address federal programs affecting the dairy industry.

America’s dairy community is controlling its destiny by funding programs that address the ongoing needs of the next generation of dairy leaders. Farmers are nurturing dairy’s future by sharing their knowledge with technical college and university students.

“Dairying to Thrive” was the theme for the 26th annual Professional Dairy Producers 2018 Business Conference, held March 14-15 in Madison, Wisconsin.

U.S. milk quality – measured in terms of somatic cell counts (SCC) – improved in 2017, according to the annual summary of Dairy Herd Improvement (DHI) test-day results.

Digest Highlights: Whole milk sales limit February fluid decline. Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board changed its name. Leprino and Agropur announce expansion plans. Find a summary of this and other news here.

Emerging markets show promise for increased exports of U.S. dairy replacements later this year.

The USDA’s April Livestock, Dairy and Poultry report left 2018 milk production projections unchanged, at 219 billion pounds. If realized, it would be up 1.6 percent from 2017. The USDA’s March 2018 Milk Production report will be released April 20.

This VAS DairyComp tip is on Breeding Quick Pick Sires. This is a new feature available in DairyComp that will increase accuracy and speed of entering breeding information using the Pocket CowCard (PCC) cow-side.

Fourteen dairy cooperatives and several dairy trade associations filed a formal request seeking a public hearing to consider implementing multiple component pricing (MCP) in two additional Federal Milk Marketing Orders.