Latest News From Jim Dickrell

These agreement typically run 15 to 20 years, providing $150,000 to $800,000 in total income.

Annual stockmanship training of employees is required for FARM certification. Here's help in meeting that requirement.

Help new hires succeed with this 30-day checklist.

Study will look if bacteria has antibiotic resistance and whether bacteria survive manure processing and storage. 

 Critically review all discretionary ingredients, but don't cut those that will result in less milk flow.

New Wisconsin program professionalizes treatment protocols.

Failure to establish and follow protocols make residues more likely.

New diet puts an end to milk fevers, DAs for these Wisconsin farmers.

Directive will have limited impact on dairy.

New research shows antibiotic treatments of hoof lesions can trigger milk residues.

Myths of immigration reform.

Low-energy, high-fiber diets can work well for dry cows.

Digested manure solids form biodegradable garden pots.

Research indicates the supplement does more than boost milk protein.

For every gallon of milk shipped from the front door of a dairy farm, around 2 gal. of liquid manure is produced and must be managed out the back door.

What if you could reclaim 75% of manure liquids back to potable water?

New guide offers ways to lower greenhouse gases

The net return from an integrated energy approach could be $50 to $200 per cow per year.

The driving force behind Farm Smart is to develop an easy-to-use tool that gives an accurate estimate of a farm’s carbon footprint.

Emergency rations can work, at least temporarily, until new crop feed can be harvested or purchased.

Net returns per cow averaged $293 in 2012, down from $524 in 2011.

Large dairy operations tend to have lower green house gas footprints because of more efficient feed conversion.

Clear, basic communication is required when managing labor that grew up in another culture and language.

Fair Oaks milk trucks no longer use diesel. Instead, they head to dairy manufacturing plants to fill up.

The gas is produced on farm through simple, but expensive, methane scrubbing technology.

Republicans and Democrats are under pressure to deliver meaningful immigration reform.

Producing food for an expected 9 billion people is a big problem, but how the message is framed and projected to the public is just as important.

The key is to hedge regularly, but distant months.

Herds with 300 or more cows will need 180 days of manure storage.

Holsum Dairies is one of four dairies recognized in the first-ever U.S. Dairy Sustainability Awards.

The “30x20” effort hopes to grow the state’s milk production to 30 billion pounds by 2020, a 15% increase over the next eight years and a doubling of the annual rate of growth.

The program has gained widespread support from key organizations, including Elanco, the U.S. Dairy Export Council, the Center for Advanced Energy Studies/Idaho National Laboratory, USDA, the World Wildlife Fund, MilkPEP and the Dairy Research Institute.

Effective July 1, herds larger than the trigger levels will be required to have 180 days of manure storage, up from the current 120-day limit.

This online tool weights the answers to assess level of risk, depending on how a dairy actually implements antibiotic treatments.

Milking rations as low as 14% crude protein still yield 90 to 100 lb. of milk/cow/day.

For a 1,450 lb. Holstein, that works out to about 26 lb. of forage dry matter.

Cuando se efectúan apropiadamente los elogios refuerzan la credibilidad.

If seasonally calved and housed outside year round, HoJos will produce 6% fewer greenhouse gases.

The High Plains Water District in the Texas panhandle is proposing to restrict water usage to 1.25 acre feet starting January 1, 2012.

FGD gypsum is a bona fide replacement for mined gypsum that is used to provide sulfur and calcium.

A flush-flume sand settling system simplifies sand removal at 3-D Dairy.

8,000-cow manure processing center in Wisconsin has it all.

A methane digester and solar panels power Brubaker Farms, 2011 Innovative Dairy Farm of the Year.

It was below freezing as an “AgDay” photographer and I toured Brubaker Farms in early December. But we quickly warmed to the Brubakers—patriarch Luke, sons Mike and Tony—this year’s Innovative Dairy Farmers of the Year (see “Power and Profit,” page 8).

Can labor savings cash-flow robotic milkers?

Recent work by Dairyland Labs in the Upper Midwest shows that nearly 30% of the corn silage samples coming through for analysis are inadequately processed.

New report shows the worldwide dairy industry’s contribution to global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions is just 2.7%

Bonus content: FAO report

Minnesota dairy farm linked to E. coli outbreak from raw milk.