You’re busy – milking cows, managing employees and preparing year-end financials. With that in mind, Progressive Dairymanlooks at issues in the news impacting you and your dairy business.

Paying taxes is painful. We all hate to write a check to the IRS; however, sometimes paying taxes is more important for operational health and long-term wealth generation than spending profits to avoid them.

All too often it seems spouses may pay more attention to crop production than they do to their marriage partnerships, and the cracks can really show.

As a principal in the Agri-Food Management Excellence program and owner of his own consulting business, Larry Martin has worked with a lot of farmers across Canada to analyze and improve their businesses.

The Dairy Revenue Protection (Dairy-RP) insurance program has been in place for nearly two months. Some farmers have written endorsements, some are hoping there will be milk price increases before stepping in, while still others are in the learning mode trying to understand the program to determine if it’s worth getting involved.

Recently, a friend sat down beside me at dinner and asked, “What do you do when someone calls you and asks about this crisis we are going through? What do you say when one of your neighbors calls you and tells you it’s over – they’re selling out? How do you help someone else when you’re unsure yourself?”

April 15, 2018, is a day brothers Chad and Darren Van Camp say they will never forget. Not because it was the annual income tax deadline but because it marked the most severe winter snowstorm either men had seen in their lifetimes.

Dave Bohnhoff’s frustration still surfaces when he recalls the dates of April 14-15, 2018. On those days, a heavy spring snowfall resulted in the collapse of numerous dairy barns in Wisconsin.

When buying equipment for a freestall barn, all owners want equipment that will stand the test of time, bringing them the most value for the money spent.