This Dairy Regional Recap includes information on an award-winning California Holstein, a historic Texas dairy barn, the northeast’s FarmStart program for beginning farmers and more. This and other U.S. region-by-region dairy news can be found here.

The American Farm Bureau says labor visa backlogs could threaten 2016 crops. The U.S. dairy industry wants continued defense of common cheese names in trade agreements. International Dairy Foods Association is urging flexibility for dairy in federal ‘gluten-free’ rules. This and other U.S. dairy policy news can be found here.

Any dairy farm girl will tell you that there isn’t much she can’t fix with a piece of baler twine, but Kristi Jarek took that mantra to a new level when she fashioned a gown from baler twine, feed sacks and old 4-H ribbons.

Attention dairy producers and veterinarians: A start-up biotech company is conducting research on bovine mastitis. They are administering a survey to understand the needs and wants of dairy producers and dairy veterinarians.

It wasn’t long after we left Wells and set out into the lifeless gravel that I realized I underestimated the amount of water I should have carried. Even before I ran out, I became faint. Not wanting to validate the danger of the situation, I let Paul go ahead of me while I dug out a few energy bars.

Last year, I found myself in a frustrating situation at my off-farm job as a structural engineer. I had multiple projects with overlapping schedules and similar scopes, and I could barely keep them straight. OK, sometimes I couldn’t keep them straight.

It has been brought to my attention that dating among farmers has taken a new approach. There are now websites just for single farmers to meet other single farmers. Long gone are the days of being introduced to a potential suitor by a family member.

These days, it seems everyone loves the little red barn. That includes Craig Culver, former CEO and founder of Culver’s restaurants.

Pizza cheese – once a decades-long staple for dairy farmers’ bottom line – was showing signs of trouble in the mid-2000s after several years of continual decline.

A record crowd of 4,250 people traveled to Sioux Falls, South Dakota, for the 2016 Central Plains Dairy Expo, March 29-31.