In today’s unpredictable dairy economy, farmers have looked for ways to diversify their income streams. This isn’t a new way of thinking, though organizations have realized offering a place for brainstorming and sharing of best practices to occur is a way to help those searching for ideas.

“What is unique about you and your farm that you can build into your brand?” asked Tera Johnson, director of the Food Finance Institute (FFI) and founder of teraswhey, in her keynote presentation at the Resilient Farms Conference, held earlier this year in Wisconsin Dells.

“An LLC, corporation or cooperative is a good thing,” said Rachel Armstrong, founder and executive director of Farm Commons, which offers legal education and support to farmers, seeking to encourage them and implement best legal practices.

Dr. Ben Shelton (Rocky Creek Veterinary Services) moved his dairy from Apex to Olin, North Carolina, in 1992 with 400 cows on 450 acres. Today, the farm has 1,400 cows with 2,200 acres, where Shelton also owns and operates Rocky Creek Vet Service on the farm.

In August 2018, six new health traits – milk fever, displaced abomasum, ketosis, mastitis, metritis and retained placenta – were introduced to the Net Merit index (NM$), adding to a growing list of low heritability traits available in the last few years.

Through the art of lace-making, Dagmar Beckel Machyckova is encouraging an unfamiliar audience to find the common thread between modern calf housing and urban human housing with her hand-spun masterpiece.

When Brett Beavers’ dad, Bob, was still in high school, the family farm in Carleton, Nebraska, transitioned from stanchions to a single-five herringbone parlor for the family’s 90 cows.

Hurricanes Harvey and Irma devastated areas of Texas and the East Coast, while wildfires scorched more than 8.8 million acres this past year alone.