BoviNews

Regardless of how big their operation, dairy farmers are passionate about their dairies, their cows, and their families. That's certainly true with Ken McCarty and McCarty Family Farms. Growing from a small Pennsylvania dairy to multiple dairies stretched over three states, the story of McCarty Family Farms is a dairy success story.

It used to be that dairy producers only had registered cattle to be able to compete in the show ring. Today that couldn’t be farther from the truth. From genetics to identification to milk marketing, registered Holsteins are more prominent in commercial dairy operations than ever before.

Dairy producers are being hit by tighter margins with a stagnant milk price and high feed costs. While feed costs may be here to stay for awhile, a better milk price may be on the horizon as we look toward 2022.

In a recent Bovinews podcast, Mike North with ever.ag talked about our current dairy economic situation and offers advice to producers on what they can do from a risk management perspective to help with the tighter margin situation.

Feed costs are the number one expense on a dairy and these costs have been rising since the beginning of the year, so high feed costs have a significant impact on margins and profitability.

Three times each year new proofs are generated that provide new information on service sires that producers can use to make mating decisions. 

In this episode of BoviNews Podcast we’re going to talk to Lloyd Holterman of Rosy-Lane Holsteins to find out how he views new proof information and how he uses it to make informative mating decisions. 

There are many issues confronting the dairy industry, from trade policy to immigration to labeling and many more. The National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF) is dairy's voice in Washington to help advocate on behalf of dairy producers.

Leading the organization is Jim Mulhern, and he joined us on our most recent Bovinews podcast. During our conversation, Jim brings us up to speed on the latest issues facing dairy producers and what NMPF is doing to protect our industry.

Before long heifers will be coming off of pasture and cattlemen will have to make decisions about which heifers to retain as replacements. In this podcast, Dr. Jordan Thomas, who is an assistant professor and state beef reproduction specialist at the University of Missouri, provides insights into effective replacement heifer selection strategies, including low-input strategies that can support greater profitability.

Sustainability is one of the top of mind topics for consumers. When it comes to food decisions, consumers prefer to purchase food products that were produced in a sustainable way and from companies that value sustainable practices.

Recently we spoke with Mary-Thomas Hart, the environmental counsel for the National Cattlemen's Beef Association, about a recent report showing the sustainability of U.S. beef. Mary-Thomas talks about the importance of sustainable practices and how beef producers work to accomplish sustainable goals.

The COVID-19 pandemic changed everything in 2020, cancelling major events we've all become accustomed to attending. One of those events was World Dairy Expo.

Recently we talked with Scott Bentley, World Dairy Expo general manager, about what his team has in store for this fall. Scott talks about how the staff and board navigated last year's decisions, and also a few changes planned that will improve the experience for people attending the show.

Summer will be here before you know it and with it comes county fairs and all of the cattle shows that young people get involved in every year. While the actual activity of showing an animal teaches many things, the actual practice of getting an animal ready for show teaches so much more life lessons.

Take a moment to hear from Katie Coyne, a foremost showmanship experts, who shares tips and insights into how to get animals ready to look their best, regardless if it's at the local county fair or on the colored shavings.