Every farming family knows that the farm is hands-down the best place to raise children. The list of benefits is endless – from learning compassion, empathy and responsibility at a tender age to the health benefits of an active lifestyle and a stronger immune system.

On our farm, we have an excellent team, many of whom have been here for more than 10 years; however, as we are starting to plan the next stage of our farm, updating our now 25-year-old parlor and freestall barn, we need to think long term about our team.

These days, it seems everyone loves the little red barn. That includes Craig Culver, former CEO and founder of Culver’s restaurants.

Recently, I re-read the gospels and marveled at the wonderful miracles Jesus performed in His ministry on the earth. I also marveled at the blindness of the scribes and Pharisees, who took no notice of His great miracles but chose to focus on His indifference to their laws and tried to trap Him into what we would call a “gotcha” question.

It wasn’t long after we left Wells and set out into the lifeless gravel that I realized I underestimated the amount of water I should have carried. Even before I ran out, I became faint. Not wanting to validate the danger of the situation, I let Paul go ahead of me while I dug out a few energy bars.

Last year, I found myself in a frustrating situation at my off-farm job as a structural engineer. I had multiple projects with overlapping schedules and similar scopes, and I could barely keep them straight. OK, sometimes I couldn’t keep them straight.

It has been brought to my attention that dating among farmers has taken a new approach. There are now websites just for single farmers to meet other single farmers. Long gone are the days of being introduced to a potential suitor by a family member.

A few months ago, farmers across the state of Wisconsin witnessed much of their Latino workforce walk off their farms to participate in a protest in the state capitol to raise awareness of immigration policy reform. Farmers faced the reality of a future without the immigrant workforce, which currently composes over half of the dairy industry’s labor force.

Feeding calves is a serious business to me. It takes up a huge chunk of my day to get them fed, but the end results are worth the effort. When a healthy calf leaves her hutch to join her mates in the barn, I am satisfied with my work. In my eyes for our operation, if our calves haven't more than doubled their weight by weaning, I did something wrong.

Progressive Dairyman has received more comments and feedback about tail docking than any other issue since the debate about supply management and margin projection in the 2014 Farm Bill. It’s one of those issues dairy producers have strong opinions about one way or the other.