T-minus two weeks and all the political calls, signs, ads promising free bread and circuses will be done.

When we first started farming here years ago, I didn’t have many tools. Since I was very short on money, I ended up buying tools through a mail-order catalog. They were the cheapest tools I could find, and yes, they were made in China. The saying “You get what you pay for” was most certainly true in that case.

Halloween is almost here again. New Years, Valentines, St. Patrick’s Day, Fourth of July and here it is, just that fast.

Sometimes, while trying to hold a milker on a heifer intent on kicking it off or struggling to get a difficult dry cow into a trailer, I wondered – in all the sweat and anger and cussing – how we got to this moment. 

Every pregnancy has the purpose of generating revenue. Today, let’s dive into the concept of increasing the profitability of each pregnancy by deploying the right genetics on the right portion of the herd. The semen you choose on breeding day determines the path of that pregnancy: an investment for future profitability or a positive cash flow calf check.

As you may have read already, I have been leisurely making my way through a variety of professional and personal development books. Most recently, I’ve been reading and sharing my thoughts from The Best Yes by Lysa TerKeurst as I work my way through the book.

Milk quality is an ongoing battle for many dairy farms. Just when you think you’re on top of your somatic cell counts, the next bulk tank report arrives saying it went up again. And since many cooperatives provide premiums based on milk quality, this is a problem that is costing you money.