When temperatures and humidity rise, often milk production falls. What about the other repercussions of heat stress in dairy cattle? Just like milk production, reproduction rates can drop as temperatures and humidity rise. 

A dairy price correction is coming with a reduction in U.S. dairy cow numbers, elimination of recombinant bovine somatotropin and an increase in fluid consumption.

World Health Organization delegates approve dairy marketing restrictions for infants and children. USDA streamlines acreage reporting requirements and extends the deadline to report restructuring or operational changes affecting participation in federal farm programs. A Pennsylvania law raises allowable milk truck weights. Key dates for potential immigration reform loom. This and other U.S. dairy policy news can be found here.

Good news is hard to come by as we reach the halfway point of 2016. Heading into the locker room, milk prices continue 2016 swoon, but the latest GDT auction showed improvement. U.S. farm wages are higher. Tightening margins trigger more MPP-Dairy payments. Russia is expected to extend import embargo, weakening U.S. dairy export outlook. This and other U.S. dairy economic news can be found here.

A bill requiring California dairy farmers and other agricultural employers to pay overtime for workers after 40 hours per week fell short of the necessary votes. A U.S. district ordered Idaho to pay legal fees to animal activist groups. Three Midwest Farm Credit groups are exploring a merger. This and other U.S. region-by-region dairy news can be found here.

Chobani is expanding its Idaho yogurt facility. The national fluid milk promotion board gets some new appointees. Cooperatives Working Together assists with export sales. ‘Acres and Avenues’ launches a second year. New FDA labels may not be too sweet for dairy. This and other U.S. dairy industry news can be found here.

Read the article “Harrison Dairy future built on cow basics, cow flow,” which ran in our June 12 issue. Click through the photos below to view more images of Harrison Dairy in Tennessee.

Read the article “Schuttes rely on robots now, proud of dairy heritage,” which ran in our June 12 issue. Click through the photos below to view more images of the Jo-Lane Dairy operation and the Schutte family.

“What other job would allow us to work together as a family every day?” says Jonna Schutte.

“There’s a lot to be said for simplicity,” Steve Harrison observes about the cow management and cow flow basics that prevail at the expanding and diversified Harrison Dairy Inc. based on the family’s Century Farm near Loudon, Tennessee.