Earlier this year, we saw “downer cows” – those too sick or injured to move – being shocked, sprayed with high-pressure hoses and fork-lifted to get them on their feet to be slaughtered at the Westland/Hallmark Meat Co. in Chino, California.

If you didn’t attend a webinar hosted by a collaborative team of extension agents in August, you missed seeing the approach extension experts predict will likely be used to broadcast much of their information and expertise within five years.

Milking routines are all about cow throughput and milk quality.

It’s an age-old business mantra – put the customer first.

Kelly and Christy Cunningham were determined to own their own dairy in Iowa.

We have created the Proud to Dairy logo as a symbol of respect for forward-thinking dairy producers and their families. This logo represents dairymen and women sharing and exemplifying dairying’s fundamental values of hard work, persistence, ingenuity, honesty and homegrown success.

After 33 years of teaching approximately 10,000 undergraduate students about animal agriculture, I have found that only two factors will cause a student to fail in the pursuit of reaching their vocational goals – lack of passion and poor attitude.

This young man leading the cow struck me as depicting both the bond between man and animal and the importance of passion.

When asked which student was most likely to be successful at a higher education institution, I selected Student 2.

While there can be little doubt that a hands-on approach is critical for long-term success, I believe that education and the learning process would be of more value for the professionals of tomorrow.