Producers will soon have a way to contact custom manure applicators, said Dale Baird, working with the University of Illinois Extension Certified Livestock Manager program. “Extension is developing a new resource, the Illinois Custom Manure Applicators Directory. A significant amount of livestock manure from large-scale livestock operations is custom applied in Illinois.

The initial upset over Tuesday's announcement of the first case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in the U.S. in six years has started to subside. A dairy cow at a rendering facility in California was determined to have the disease based on samples sent to the USDA National Veterinary Services Laboratory in Ames, Iowa.

Highly respected dairyman and advocate for the Idaho dairy industry Dr. Bill Stouder, DVM, of Buhl, Idaho, ended his 13-month battle with cancer on March 30 and passed away at home at the age of 70. He was born on September 21, 1941, in Huntington Park, California, the son of Russell LaVon and Vera Belle Williams Stouder.

Reporting to you from Yambio, Western Equatoria state, South Sudan, Africa … On a hot Thursday afternoon, we drove east from the capital city of Yambio, Western Equatoria state in South Sudan. I sat with two officials of the state Ministry of Agriculture, an official from the state Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and two persons from one of our U.S. government implementing partners. The road, a bed of red sandy soil and gravel, wound through the bush. We were in the Greenbelt, so called because of the rainfall here for seven to eight months of the year and the relative productivity of the land to grow nearly any kind of crop. However, most of the landscape was native vegetation, an amazing collection of trees, undergrowth and grass. This was truly the bush.

Trevor Tomkins, recently retired chief executive officer of Milk Specialties Global, has created a new, enterprise-based development organization. The official launch of venture | dairy will be celebrated May 1 at the Union League Club of Chicago. venture | dairy combines Tomkins’ executive experience and dairy science background. Promoting dairy as a powerful tool for growth around the world, particularly in emerging markets, venture | dairy works to improve milk production and quality, generate income, create jobs, help businesses grow and communities develop.

Proposed federal legislation would give dairy farmers tax credits and savings incentives to keep up with the booming upstate New York yogurt industry. New York leads the U.S. in production of Greek-style yogurt, which requires three times the amount of milk than regular yogurt. Several firms have already opened or are planning large new Greek-style yogurt plants from Fulton County to Western New York.