It was in the early 1930s and my grandfather, George Elbert, was finishing up milking the cows and the other barn chores on one particular evening – and dreading what he had to do next.

The first adult book I read was Riding for the Brand by Louis L’Amour. I was 12. Afterward, I read anything with cowboys, guns and a high sense of justice, writing book reports on Zane Grey and pushing aside homework for Larry McMurty.

Recently, I entertained for the Tulare County Farm Bureau in the Central Valley area of California. I highly recommend people-watching at LAX airport. These people make fun of us for county fairs?

Understanding the link between nutrition, healthy claws and production Inadequate nutrition during the rearing period may result in heifers of insufficient size at breeding, delayed ovulation, delayed first breeding and extended time to entrance into the lactating herd as a first-calf heifer.

In all aspects of your farming and dairy operation, you are applying increased precision to accomplish tasks, leaving less to chance and directing resources to where the return on investment will be greatest.

Great news – you’ve decided to get an energy audit for your farm. Perhaps you’ve read one of our recent articles for this publication and learned about the value of an energy audit.

As the dairy industry embraces automation, there is a shift to move calves indoors rather than house them outside in hutches.

In 1970, when Keith Goering and Peter Van Soest published their USDA Handbook No. 379, “Forage Fiber Analyses (Apparatus, Reagents, Procedures and Some Applications),” they turned the nutritional world on its ear.

“We wish parents understood” was part of the Twitter feed from young farmers attending the AgExcellence Conference held in Regina, Saskatchewan, in November. Here is the list of the items they wish parents understood:

I have developed a way to evaluate when a person reaches the pinnacle of their profession – their prime, so to speak. I call it the “Peak of Practical Intelligence.” It states there is a point in the lifetime of a profession where your dependence on your knowledge derived from education (ED) equals your dependence on your knowledge gained from experience (EX).