The congressional journey to develop the 2018 Farm Bill moved to Kansas, where the Senate ag committee held its first hearing on Feb. 23. The Margin Protection Program for Dairy (MPP-Dairy) was again a featured topic.

Dairy Farmers of America (DFA) withdrew a proposal seeking increased milk pooling flexibility in the Northeast federal milk marketing order (FMMO 1). In a letter to Northeast Market Administrator Erik Rasmussen on Feb. 17, Elvin Hollon, DFA vice president of fluid marketing/economic analysis, said the request to withdraw the proposal was due to a lack support from other dairy organizations.

Taylor Clifford and Eric Bogardus decided it was time to get creative when their already decrepit barn cleaner finally gave up the ghost, and shelling out money for a new one just wasn’t in the budget.

“Change is happening out there!” Mike Hutjens exclaimed as he enthusiastically began his presentation on the opportunities and solutions for dairy producers in 2017 and beyond at the recent Great Lakes Regional Dairy Conference held in Frankenmuth, Michigan.

I recently heard a story (from a pulpit) regarding the deadly nature of the hippopotamus. Due to their territorial nature, hippos are extraordinarily aggressive. Depending on which list you read, hippos rank fourth to sixth among mammals in terms of taking human lives (other humans not included) worldwide.

The inauguration of Donald Trump represents a dramatic stylistic change in the way the nation’s government will be managed.

The Dairy Business Association’s (DBA) annual “Dairy Strong” conference was held Jan. 18-19 at Madison, Wisconsin.

In 2010, I retired as the CEO of Southeast Milk Inc. (SMI), a Florida-based regional dairy cooperative. From July to November of last year, seven years after retiring, I returned to SMI as the cooperative’s interim CEO. During those seven years some things changed and some things remained the same. Let me share with you the major ones.

2017 is a year of changes for the dairy industry. An upgraded Farmers Assuring Responsible Management (FARM) program, activation of the Veterinary Feed Directive (VFD), recombinant bovine somatotropin (rbST) use restrictions in a large part of the country and government policy changes will have numerous implications from the perspective of employee management.

When you think about price potential for feed in 2017, it’s important to look back at where we’ve been lately. The last four years have ended with record-breaking or near-record-breaking corn production and demand that has kept pace.