I’ve always admired barn cats for their savvy. At any one time, we’d have between 10 and 20 cats making a home of sorts in our old tiestall barn. We’d pour milk from a treated cow into a dish once a day, but otherwise, it was up to them to navigate the world. They had to keep themselves from cattle hooves, tractor tires and the attention of coyotes.

The glass on the table is half full of water, is still half full no matter how you look at it. Looking at the glass half full or half empty is a state of mind.

My grandfather, Paul K. Heck, farmed almost his whole life. He was one who enjoyed working with livestock and crops.

In early 2026, one of the bright spots in the U.S. dairy industry is the organic sector, where a nationwide shortage of organic milk has resulted in higher mailbox prices.

Columnist Ryan Dennis has been writing for Progressive Dairy for many years. In this episode, Walt Cooley talks with Dennis about father-son working relationships, the pressures of writing a monthly column on deadline, and the one story he deliberately left out of the book to not distract from his father's legacy.

Labor challenges, low milk prices and tighter financial margins on many dairy operations are top of mind for producers heading into 2026, as well as growing concerns about labor availability, labor policy and staying competitive with surrounding non-agriculture industries.