Recently, the National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF) held its annual meeting in Reno, Nev. The key message from NMPF was the importance of unity amongst the industry as we go into the next Congress with hopes of making significant reforms to dairy policy. Its proposed reforms, known as the “Foundation for the Future” (www.futurefordairy.com) is a collection of proposals aimed at reforming several different government policies surrounding our industry. Many are well aware of the efforts of myself, MPC and other groups around the country in promoting the Costa-Sanders Bill (a.k.a. the “Dairy Price Stabilization Act,” or H.R. 5288/S. 3531). These bills are the results of several years of work in crafting an effective production management program that will allow our industry to continue growing to meet new demand, while at the same time sending real-time signals to dairy farmers to better manage future milk production growth.

The 2010 Northeast Regional Dairy Challenge was held in Batavia, New York, October 28-30. More than 110 students from 14 colleges and universities participated in the three-day event. During the Regional Dairy Challenge events, students are broken up into comingled-university teams of four or five. These teams, named after the sponsors of Dairy Challenge, are assigned an anonymous farm. Students assess all aspects of the farm, including feeding programs, facilities and equipment, financials and milking protocols. They then prepare a 20-minute presentation to give to a panel of judges and the host farm families. View "114 attend Northeast Regional Dairy Challenge" for more photos and results of the event.

Doris Mold got her start as a 4-H and FFA member in east-central Minnesota. Because of the generosity of the adult volunteers who helped her then, she is now paying it forward tenfold. From dairy promotion and food safety to statistics and women’s leadership, this dairywoman balances it all while teaching, consulting, farming and being a wife and mother. “It is important for people to be involved and have a voice in what’s going on,” says Doris, who has been involved in a lot of different things over the years.

Cows moo in the barn, and a cat meows a sound of surprise. Schoolchildren chatter while sitting on the grass eating a picnic lunch. And Tina Hinchley is in the midst of it all. “Can you hear the noise in the background here?” Tina asks with a laugh. “Those are my tour kids, trying to corral the cat in the yard.” Probably not the everyday sounds to come from a dairy farm, but it is just a typical day for Tina and her husband, Duane Hinchley, on their dairy in Cambridge, Wisconsin.

Raising dairy calves is a delicate combination of science and art. Often, the best observers of the subtleties in calf health – and thus the most successful calf caretakers – are women. Pneumonia is a primary calfhood disease that continually challenges calf raisers. In this roundtable, we talk to four female calf raisers from across the country about how they navigate pneumonia to raise healthy, productive, profitable calves and heifers. Panelists include: • Sherry Arnold, Busses’ Barron Acres in Barron, Wis. • Hanneke den Ouden, Milky Way Dairy in Maricopa, Ariz. • Debbie Feldpausch, Sonrise Farm in Westphalia, Mich. • Cassie Miller, Dream Farms in Newburg, Pa.