Frost crocheted like lace flutters over the windows and waits for the sun to melt it away. The morning sunlight leaps and dances over the new fallen snow, and the blue abyss of sky stretches forever in cloudless wonder over the trees that droop with their burden of wet snow and icicles, which scrape the whiteness below.

If you have been to a Boise State football game, or any college football game, you know there are a lot of tailgaters enjoying themselves before the game. Boise State University has its own special tailgating group – the Bronco Dairy Boosters. This group of 150 to 200 dairy producers has made a big splash for Boise State’s fundraising efforts and has started a tradition that has enhanced one of the Western Athletic Conference’s premier rivalries.

I know it’s old, but I get tickled when I hear the saying, “Remember, you’re unique … just like everyone else.” I’ve visited dairies from the West Coast to the East Coast, from Canada to South Texas. If it weren’t for the cows on the place, a non-industry person probably couldn’t tell a Wisconsin herd and a New Mexico herd were even in the same business (even though they usually are).

Like other mammalian species, the dairy cow’s requirement for protein is a requirement for specific amounts and balances of amino acids. Amino acid supply to the mammary gland can affect milk protein content and milk volume. In addition, amino acids can impact productivity by affecting metabolism and immune function.

Gar-Lin Dairy Farms Inc. currently consists of 1,100 cows on 3X milking with 45 percent bST use. We have a 30,985 RHA with a 25 percent culling rate. All heifers and cows remain under our management and nutritional scheme. We grow our heifers on an accelerated growth program with an average age at calving of 23 months.

Paying attention to body condition score, feed intake and energy metabolism can help minimize the risk of your transition cows developing fatty liver. Even moderate cases of this condition can result in decreased milk production and poor reproductive performance.

The Holstein beef market is a fascinating and integral part of the beef supply chain. Holstein steers have been largely overlooked in academic research. The primary motivation behind this study is to develop an understanding of, and document the driving forces that are active in, the markets for Holstein feeder steers and finished steers.

Genes in diploid organisms operate singly, in pairs and in conjunction with genes at other locations throughout the nuclear DNA. Inbreeding depression and heterosis arise from the effects of gene combinations; that is, the effects of pairs of genes. Gene pairs are unique characteristics of individuals that are broken down and reformed each generation. This basic biological fact, introduced to many of us in high school biology, is the foundation of everything there is to say about this topic. Very few topics are so well rooted in a simple process.

Estrus is monitored in dairy cattle so that artificial insemination (A.I.) is performed at the appropriate time relative to ovulation. The emphasis that has been historically placed on estrous detection has diminished because of the development of systems for timed A.I.

Reporting to you from Dushanbe and Khujand, Tajikistan … I am currently on a United States Agency for International Development (USAID) assignment in Tajikistan. My duty station is actually in the Sughd Oblast. I am living in an apartment located in Khujand, the second largest city in Tajikistan.