Robin Roberts Webster has won milk for life from Oakhurst Dairy in a contest that encouraged customers to share their "Oakhurst moments" from over the years on the dairy's Facebook page. Webster, of Morrill, also won a $1,000 donation to the charity of her choice. She picked the Morrill Fire Department. Oakhurst says Webster submitted a heart-warming and funny story about her father, Roger Roberts, a 30-year dairy farmer and former Oakhurst Dairy producer.

A new clay target championship event will be held prior to World Dairy Expo with the goal of raising funds to help support the numerous youth programs. Designed to offer a recreational opportunity for the thousands of visiting attendees, industry employees, cattle exhibitors and general public, this new event will take place on Monday, Oct. 1, starting at 9 a.m. at the Waunakee Gun Club.

A mild spring and a little rain at the right time in June made for an early and bountiful winter wheat harvest in Wisconsin, perhaps the best in decades. The early harvest gives farmers an extra few weeks of growing season to do something virtually unheard of in this part of the state – plant another crop. Farmers are devising drought plans that include planting oats and peas over harvested wheat fields or over withered, immature cornfields that were cut midway through the growing season for use as cattle feed because the plants won't reach maturity.

On Aug. 31, the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship began to require aflatoxin screening and testing of milk received in Iowa. The order, which will continue indefinitely, requires milk processors to screen all Grade A and Grade B farm bulk milk pickup tankers and farm can milk loads for aflatoxin on a weekly basis. Aflatoxin can sometimes be found in drought-stressed corn. The FDA has established action levels for aflatoxin in milk and feed.

Writing that volatility is "the new reality for dairy farmers," California Agriculture Secretary Karen Ross is calling for cooperation and strategic reform. Ross wrote on the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) website, "If we have learned one thing from this crisis, it is that the current regulatory and pricing system needs to change and all sectors of the industry need to collaborate and develop reforms that can bring new markets and new stability to the marketplace.

After meeting with Chobani, U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand and U.S. Representative Richard Hanna announced support for the reclassification of Greek yogurt under the USDA's MyPlate nutrition guide, which requires school lunches to contain fruits, vegetables, dairy, grains and protein. Currently, Greek yogurt is not differentiated from traditional yogurt. The lawmakers pointed out that it has twice the protein of regular yogurt. “Greek yogurt should be a protein option during lunch in our schools,” Senator Gillibrand said.