Industry research continues to build, showing the short-term and long-term economic benefits of feeding dairy calves a higher plane of nutrition. What was often considered an expense for a dairy operation in the past decades is now an overlooked opportunity for growing calves faster, stronger, bigger and more productive. These calves reach desired breeding age sooner, calve in and become part of the milking herd sooner and produce higher volumes of milk as early as their first lactation. But what about when dairy calves are raised by growers? Obviously, the economic benefits would be no different, but the management decisions and protocols of how to make this a win-win proposition for both the dairy and the grower are significantly different.

At this writing, the harvest season is here. The autumn temperatures and the cloudy days with slow drawn-out rains are right on schedule. I am home in Alma, Michigan, corn and soybean country, where harvest is underway. Most of the soybeans are harvested. Combines are working in corn fields.

The dairy industry is flocking to Texas, especially the Panhandle. Currently, in the Texas High Plains there are 234,000 milk-producing cows. In Texas the number of dairy cattle have greatly increased in the northern High Plains from 6,000 head in 2000 to over 185,000 head in 2010.

Click here to download a pdf of the 2012 World Ag Expo preview presented by International Agri-Center.

New Mexico water regulators adopted a settlement that puts to rest a dispute over the regulation of millions of tons of waste produced each year by the state's $2.6 billion dairy industry. The Water Quality Control Commission voted unanimously during a hearing in Santa Fe in favor of the settlement brokered by state attorneys, dairy farmers and environmentalists.

As U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack visits Vietnam and China to talk trade, he's hoping to build on one of the few bright spots in the struggling American economy: agricultural exports. U.S. agricultural exports are projected to reach a record $137 billion this year and hit that same mark next year. The U.S. agricultural trade surplus is expected to top $42 billion. And new free trade agreements with South Korea, Colombia and Panama are expected to boost farm exports by another $2.3 billion, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Wear Milk? Anke Domaske says why not. The 28-year-old German is the designer of an award-winning new textile made entirely from milk that's environmentally friendly as well as soothing to people with skin allergies. Called "Qmilch," it drapes and folds like silk, but can be washed and dried like cotton.

With high forage costs and grain prices threatening profit margins for dairy producers, a Purdue Extension agricultural economist says it's important to keep an eye on the bottom line. The preliminary U.S. all-milk price for October 2011 was estimated at $19.90 per hundredweight, which is a decrease from September but up about $1.40 from October of 2010. Despite the strong prices, soaring feed costs still threaten dairy producers' profits.

Colorado family farmers are worried about a proposal by the U.S. Department of Labor to change child labor laws, saying they could cripple family farms and hurt programs like the Future Farmers of America and 4-H Club. One rule would allow children under age 15 to only work on their parents' farm. Another would keep children under age 16 from driving most power equipment.

What other industries and businesses have reaped the rewards of excellent management, and how can dairy farm businesses learn from them? That’s what dairy producers and other executives will examine at Professional Dairy Producers of Wisconsin’s 2012 Managers Academy, “Executing Excellence,” Jan. 17-19, Atlanta, Georgia.