The names on Rabobank 2017 Global Dairy Top 20 list haven’t changed much from a year ago, but the world’s largest dairy companies are taking different paths as they focus on the future.

One California dairyman is expanding his definition of “milk quality” beyond somatic cell count to better capture what customers and consumers are really looking for in his products.

Eliminating horns has long been part of basic herd management, but the economic value, practicality and acceptability of traditional horn removal practices is in question. A recent analysis compares the cost of dehorning with breeding for naturally hornless cattle.

Technology provides tools to gather data, enabling dairy farmers to make immediate decisions based on real-time herd information. A producer panel discussed their individual uses of “wearable” technologies during the Precision Dairy Farming Conference and Expo, held May 30-June 1, in Lexington, Kentucky. The event was organized by the University of Kentucky and the University of Minnesota.

Digest Highlights: Utah ‘ag gag’ statute ruled unconstitutional. HP Hood buying former Müller-Quaker yogurt plant. Find a summary of these and other news here.

The recently announced bilateral free trade agreement between the EU and Japan FTA is a threat to U.S. agricultural exports, according to American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) economist Veronica Nigh. Japan has long been a key U.S. market, consistently ranking as the fourth-largest market for U.S. agricultural products, despite high tariffs on many agricultural goods. However, EU-Japanese trade negotiations went into “hyper-drive” after the Trump administration pulled the U.S. out of Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations in January.

Editor's note: The CEO Corner contains editors' compilations of business news from top publications, which they have tailored for the dairy industry. “As the CEO, you have to realize you can’t do everything yourself anymore,” says Michael Dubin, as recently quoted in the July/August issue of Inc. magazine in an article he wrote himself titled “How I created a billion-dollar company.”

May 2017 U.S. dairy product exports hit a two-year high, but U.S. agriculture turned in a rare trade deficit during the month. And, a new trade agreement between the European Union (EU) and Japan threatens U.S. dairy sales to one of its major buyers.

According to one study, activity and rumination monitors have the potential to accurately detect fresh cow diseases like ketosis, metritis, displaced abomasum and even mastitis days earlier than clinical signs can be detected.

The most profitable dairies all have one thing in common – they are really good at getting milk components from cows.  They recognize the real value of milk lies in the fat and protein components and to get the best return on investment, they focus on feeding their cows for the most efficient component production, not just the highest milk production. In other words, they make sure every bite of the ration is working towards the right goal.