Progressive Dairy

New Hire Brian Barber

July 31, 2012

Brian Barber Sheldon, Wisconsin Calf Consultant Golden Calf Company LLC

New Hire Chris Voell

July 31, 2012

Chris Voell Frederick, Maryland Eastern Sales Manager BioCNG, LLC

Silage could salvage value for drought-damaged crop

July 31, 2012

Farmers with drought-damaged cornfields could consider harvesting the crop for livestock feed to salvage some of its value and to help livestock producers supplement short forage supplies, says a Purdue Extension forage specialist. Damaged corn can be harvested as either whole-plant silage or green chop but, either way, growers and livestock producers need to be aware of how it can affect feed quality and animal health.

New Hire Paula Meabon

July 30, 2012

Paula Meabon Wattsburg, Pennsylvania Board Member Center for Dairy Excellence (CDE) Foundation

New Hire Paul Sousa

July 30, 2012

Paul Sousa Turlock, California Director of Environmental Services Western United Dairymen

Dispute over bankrupt dairy's feed liens heads to Idaho Supreme Court

July 30, 2012

A group of feed sellers is attempting to recoup loans from a bankrupt Idaho dairy, arguing that repayment of feed debts shouldn't be considered secondary to bank loan repayments. Bob Naerebout, executive director of the Idaho Dairymen’s Association, fears that the lawsuit could have detrimental effects on farmers' ability to borrow from banks. “It has the potential to lower the value of what you can borrow based on cattle,” he said to The Times-News.

Tulare County report says milk over $2 billion for first time in 2011

July 30, 2012

According to the newly released 2011 county Agricultural Crop and Livestock Report, sales of crops, livestock and agricultural products in Tulare County reached record levels last year, exceeding $5.6 billion. Among the most dramatic sales increases were the county’s top agricultural commodities, milk and products manufactured with milk, which generated $2 billion and $8.17 million in sales last year, respectively.

New activity system stores data with cloud technology

July 30, 2012

Dario Martinez

“Versatility," "adaptability" and "accessibility” are three words James Bringe, dairy equipment consultant for GEA Farm Technologies, uses to describe his company’s newest activity monitoring system. In early April, GEA Farm Technologies launched CowScout S, the company’s latest generation of heat detection technology. Unlike other systems, the CowScout S system stores the data that it collects using cloud technology, making it accessible to the producer at any time and anywhere.

Cream o'Weber closing Salt Lake City operations

July 27, 2012

Darigold Inc. will close Salt Lake City milk production plant Cream o’Weber on July 31, eliminating 96 positions. The Cream o’Weber brand will now be produced in Boise and its milk products will continue to be sold in Utah stores. “The plant closure was an extremely difficult decision that came only after careful review of the significant losses from the past year and losses we anticipated in the future,” said Darigold communications coordinator Michelle Carter.

Tips to deal with drought-stressed forages

July 27, 2012

With extreme drought conditions affecting more than half of the U.S., and in excess of 30 percent of the corn crop rated at poor or very poor conditions – this year’s forages are likely to present some challenges. “Unfortunately you can’t control the plant that’s presented for harvest,” says Martha Baker, dairy nutrition specialist with Purina Animal Nutrition LLC. “But you can control what you do with it.” The upside to dealing with drought-stressed forages is that total plant digestibility tends to go up and they tend to be good quality feeds, because of higher stem to leaf ratios.