One year ago, the difference between the value of milk and the cost of feed was much different than it is today. In this issue, we debut a new graphic that will follow the proposed national dairy margin, which is included in dairy reforms in the Farm Bill currently being considered by Congress. (Click here to view) This graphic will begin appearing in every issue as long as it continues to be proposed or until it becomes law.

If the Dairy Security Act, as included in the Federal Agriculture Reform and Risk Management Act of 2012, or Farm Bill, were to pass Congress before the end of its current session in December, it would implement the act’s provisions to begin tracking an “actual dairy producer margin.” That margin would be defined as the difference between the U.S. all-milk price and the average feed cost.

Editor’s note: This is the second in a three-part series on developing middle managers. The first article in this series looked at determining the right ingredients and personality types for middle management roles. Once selected, those middle managers need to be groomed to be able to fill the owner’s or previous manager’s shoes. “You need to teach people to do what you would do if you could be there all the time,” said Mary Kraft, noting it was a favorite quote from Tom Fuhrmann’s Dairy Works seminar.

In March, President Obama appointed Dr. Sonny Ramaswamy as director of the USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA). Ramaswamy, an entomologist, grew up in India at a time when food was scarce. However, he also experienced firsthand how research – especially agricultural research – can transform a country for the better. Throughout his career, Ramaswamy served in administrative and educational and research capacities at multiple land-grant universities across the country. Prior to joining NIFA, Ramaswamy was dean at Oregon State University’s College of Agricultural Sciences. Progressive Dairyman Editor Dario Martinez followed up with Ramaswamy to discuss NIFA’s current research endeavors, including those connected to the dairy industry.

I learned about computers during a time when punch cards, FORTRAN and COBOL were trendy terms. I’m not going to say that I remained stuck in the computerized era of the 1970s and ’80s. After all, I found my way around the Web and I could always email with the best of them. But this Facebook and Twitter stuff seemed to be for a generation of people I simply didn’t feel I needed to – or could – connect with.

There is something new coming to World Dairy Expo this year that you won’t want to miss. Actually, at 26,000 square feet, the New Holland Trade Center will be just plain hard to miss. “I’m really excited about this,” exclaims John Rozum, World Dairy Expo sales manager. “It is the biggest new thing on the grounds since the Exhibition Hall was put up in 1995.” Over the past 17 years, demand for exhibit space at World Dairy Expo has risen steadily. “We’ve been working with a sell-out trade show and extensive wait list for a number of years,” Rozum says. “Plus, there are always existing exhibitors at the show looking to expand their space.”

Progressive Dairyman asked several companies exhibiting at World Dairy Expo to highlight a few of the new products that will be on display at the show. Heifer genomics guide With the introduction of its heifer genomics guide, Raleigh-based Dairy Records Management Systems (Booth MC 37, 38) claims to be the first dairy records processing center to offer a DHI report that provides producers who are genomic-testing their herds with a way to evaluate those results.

The act of storing solid and liquid manure does alter the composition of manure from its raw state and could be consider a form of treatment on the manure. However, as dairy farms have altered the way they handle manure from simply storing it, soil scientists are looking into how those newer methods are affecting nitrogen and phosphorus in the end product. Speaking at the North American Manure Expo in Prairie du Sac, Wisconsin, last month, Chris Baxter, associate professor of soil & crop science, University of Wisconsin – Platteville, explained the three types of manure treatment systems that were considered include liquid/solid separation, anaerobic digestion and composting.

Penn State Department of Animal Science Senior Project Associate Rebecca White talks with Progressive Dairyman about the DairyCents mobile app. Find out what makes the app unique. PD