I told you last month about our great sale. Well, one thing leads to another, and you never know what that will bring most of the time.

In fifth grade, I thought Atari computers were cool. Typing my report in green letters on a black screen and printing to a tractor feed printer seemed so advanced. My teachers said they were a blessing for students; they complained about typewriters.

Editor’s note: California dairy producer Randy Mouw gave the following statement to the House of Representative’s Agriculture Committee regarding the labor needs of agriculture in the U.S. Mouw testified on behalf of Western United Dairymen, Dairy Farmers of America (DFA) and National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF).

Transformations go on around us every day on the dairy – heifers become cows, grass becomes hay and fall weather quickly turns to the bitter cold of winter. But, over the last year, we’ve seen even bigger changes in the dairy industry.

Editor’s note: Jim Tillison submitted the following response after Progressive Dairyman invited him to respond to an open letter from Gary Genske printed in the magazine in September (see Issue 9, page 17). Both the producer-led CWT committee and the staff of CWT have been charged with the responsibility of utilizing, as effectively as possible, the investment made by dairy farmers across America who produce nearly 70 percent of America’s milk. Both groups take this responsibility very seriously, and this “effectiveness” mandate is the main reason why CWT has always been a multi-faceted program.

Getting cows pregnant is one of the most important functions on a progressive dairy, perhaps the most important one. The degree of profitability is highly correlated with the velocity of pregnancy creation on a given dairy. This is mainly because a pregnancy is the source of a new lactation and a genetically superior heifer replacement.

David Albers wishes he could say the reason he’s covering his lagoon and capturing methane is because he had a genius epiphany one day, but instead he says he’ll be producing enough commercial-grade methane to power about 1,200 homes because of persistence and luck.

We’ve become accustomed to the fact that if cows aren’t comfortable in their environment, milk production, reproductive performance and overall herd health will suffer.

Since the onset of the modern era of biotechnology in 1973, scientists have made impressive strides in developing new agricultural biotechnologies. Biotechnologies that enhance productivity and productive efficiency (feed consumed per unit of output) have been developed and approved for commercial use. Technologies that improve productive efficiency will benefit both producers and consumers because feed provision constitutes a major component (about 70 percent) of farm expenditures.

The following is the second of a two-part series about design specifications for feed and water spaces in freestall barns. Water plays an important role in milk production, temperature control and body functions for dairy cattle. Cows may consume 4.5 to 5 pounds of water from drinking and feed per pound of milk produced. Providing the opportunity for cows to consume a relatively large quantity of clean, fresh water is essential.