Editor's note: The CEO Corner contains editors' compilations of business news from top publications, which they have tailored for the dairy industry. You wouldn’t think of walking past your milkers in the parlor and unplugging the milk hoses attached to your milk line, spilling the hard work of your entire farm on the parlor floor. That would not only be expensive and silly, but extremely demotivating.

Digest Highlights: Dairy waste-to-energy projects gain equity commitment. June fluid milk sales were flat. WOTUS comment deadline near. Find a summary of these and other news here.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released a guidance document on Aug. 11 announcing it will exercise discretion when enforcing the use and labeling of ultrafiltered (UF) milk. Additionally, the FDA will initiate the process to write final rules regulating UF milk used in the manufacture of all standardized cheeses and related cheese products covered by the federal standards of identity.

Summer doldrums characterized U.S. milk prices, but dairy replacement cow prices held fairly steady, and foreign demand for U.S. heifers is picking up steam heading into fall.

U.S. dairy farmers received a multiple dose of information to update milk income and feed cost forecasts. The USDA released its Crop Production report, which included the first survey-based projections for 2017 crop acreage and yields; along with its monthly World Ag Supply & Demand Estimates report, including 2017-2018 feed and dairy price estimates.

Amino acids are the building blocks that make up protein, and the actual nutrients that calves require. However, dairy calf nutrition is behind the curve with respect to embracing precise diet formulation by balancing for these key nutrients. Today, most milk replacers for calves are formulated and scrutinized based only on crude protein (CP) content, a number that doesn’t give us any real measure of the true building blocks the calves need: the amino acids.

Starting next week, I begin training a new calf feeder at Cedar-Pine Farm. The title of calf feeder has been mine for six years, and believe me – I am ready to give it up!

No matter what, there is almost always a group of cows that don’t conceive on the first attempt. They are inseminated, but within a month or two, they have either required another insemination or unexpectedly turn up open. What is going on?

As a family we have been thinking about our farm transfer for over five years. We have talked about it. We have changed it. We have lost sleep over it. We have made plans. And more plans. And then a few more.

There are plenty of financial indicators of which dairy producers should keep close track. Milk prices, of course. Your income over feed cost is certainly important, and knowing your margins is a key to maintaining healthy liquidity. But if there’s one number that every dairy producer should know, it’s the cost it takes to produce 100 pounds of milk. Regardless of herd size or breed, knowing your farm’s cost of production could provide the answer to the crucial question: Is this the year I make an investment, or do I tighten the belt?