of Progressive Dairyman is our annual "Women in Dairy" issue, and like last year, we reached out to friends of our Facebook, Twitter and Proud to Dairy networks to give a shoutout to their favorite dairywomen. Want to add yours? Click here to email Web Editor Emily Caldwell or below. The online version of this article from page 20 of the print magazine features additional responses and text. I need to give a shout out to my wonderful wife, Sonja Rasmussen. On Oct. 1 2011, she gave up her "in town" job to be on the farm full time. It has been a great year. She was involved before, but now I truly have a partner helping me manage this dairy. She has taken a very active role in milk quality. We have dropped our SCC to premium levels and all our milkers have defined and written SOP's. I feel she has helped me regain control of our farm and I don't think I could have done it without her. —Mike Rasmussen, Edmore, Michigan via Facebook

• The University of Minnesota took top honors in both reasons and overall at the 19th Annual Accelerated Genetics Intercollegiate Dairy Cattle Judging Contest. Placing second overall was the University of Wisconsin – Platteville. Each of the top three individuals for oral reasons received a special scholarship from the James W. Crowley Fund. They were Cassie Endres, University of Wisconsin – Madison, and Tyler Otte and Jon Schmitt from the University of Minnesota. • The Ruegemer family of Villard, Minnesota, received the 2012 Horizon Organic Producer Education (HOPE) Award. The Galens of Clifton Springs, New York, received Horizon’s 2012 National Quality Award.

I recently spent a few days in Guelph, Ontario, attending the first-ever Dairy Cattle Welfare Symposium. This new event left me with a few new perspectives on a topic that I’ve been following.

Click here to download the latest export watch, provided by the U.S. Dairy Export Council (USDEC). PD

While milking cows on her family-owned dairy in Lakeville, Minnesota, Cheryl Mohn knew there had to be a better way to carry cow towels. She designed the Towel Tote – and from there launched a business known worldwide. As president of Udder Tech, Mohn carefully drafts patterns, selects materials and oversees construction of waterproof and water-resistant clothing and products to fit the needs of dairy producers and industry professionals. PD

Heading into the presidential and Congressional elections, dairymen and farmers in general are without a farm bill. The Senate passed its version of the bill in April. And the House Agriculture Committee sent its version of the legislation to the full House for consideration in June. Despite what appears to be sufficient support to get the bill passed out of the House, the bill has not yet made it to the floor for debate or a vote. Rather than discuss the different reasons why House leadership has failed to bring the Farm Bill up for a vote (just file that under “politics”), I want to focus on what the failure to pass a farm bill means for dairy and why an extension of the current bill is probably the last thing dairy farmers need right now.

Over the years, I’ve come to the conclusion that a lot of people who are highly motivated and driven to succeed “just don’t get it.” These highly productive people are focused on getting results and they expect others to be “doers” too. It seems that these go-getters have a hard time understanding why people don’t operate the same way they do. You see, they don’t need to be told more than once to get them to do something and they get frustrated when they have to repeatedly ask others to get things done.

A family with energetic boys raised cattle on a hobby farm. A well-intentioned neighbor, with decades of experience in cattle production, was critical of the “results” he saw and often shared his wisdom. One evening, as the neighbor chastised the father, the mother stepped in and said, “You don’t seem to understand. We’re not really raising cattle on this farm. We’re raising boys!”