Liz Bawden of Hammond, New York, and Netty Loos of Scappoose, Oregon, may live on opposite coasts of the country, but their personal and professional paths and passions led them to discover a similar, fulfilling life of organic dairy farming.

Sheryl Sandberg’s book, Lean In, continues to make headlines more than six months after its release. This “sort of a feminist manifesto” is doing what Sandberg set out to do – call attention to female leadership, or the lack thereof, in the workplace. Progressive Dairyman set out to examine this subject in the dairy industry today. We asked the following questions of three of the industry’s best women in executive roles.

As women in the ever-changing world of agriculture, we continue to have more and more opportunities to take leadership positions. Whether it is as 4-H key leaders, school board members, industry board members, public office or other places in our workplace and communities, leaders are always a necessity if any individual effort is to be successful.

“You never truly appreciate things until they are gone.” Leslie Hammond, a recent University of Kentucky graduate, can now fully appreciate her eyesight after a severe decline to her vision.

Vickie Franken is committed to the dairy industry, not only to the 14,000 heifers her family raises but also to her fellow producers. Franken has been an industry leader by serving as a director in organizations, starting new traditions and setting an example by continually improving her business. Franken’s focus has always been helping others.

“Have you beheld a man (or woman) skillful in his work? Before Kings is where he will station himself; he will not station himself before commonplace men.” So says Proverbs 22:29. We have all observed certain individuals who just seem to excel at their given occupation.

Colostrum and calves seems like an old topic. Good-quality colostrum fed to calves shortly after birth leads to passive transfer of immunity. Have you heard this before? Of course – but the old book on colostrum may be getting a new chapter. Colostrum is now being looked at as not just a source of antibodies but as a source of many nutrients and immune components.

Virtually every dairy producer who raises calves has a “program” of some type for getting these young animals off to a good start. The basics, such as timely feeding of colostrum and good hutch sanitation, are core to that program. There are some things that can’t be done “too well” to get highly susceptible animals up and going.

Properly pasteurized waste milk is an excellent source of nutrition for young calves, but you might be surprised by the variation in its nutritional composition. A recent four-year national study that evaluated waste milk over a seven-day period on 252 individual farms showed a broad range of levels for solids, fat and protein content.