There’s no hiding it. In this issue, we’re showing others our true colors –our dairy colors.

We’ve introduced a new logo for our readers, one we think you’ll immediately connect with. I believe it stands for the No. 1 reason why many of you are part of this industry. You’re proud to dairy.

What does that mean? We’d like to hear it straight from you. Stop by our booth at World Dairy Expo (Arena Building 441-442) and tell us why you are proud to dairy. For your time and enthusiasm, we’ll give you a free Proud to Dairy hat. And we wouldn’t ask you to do anything we haven’t already done. See what we think it means to be proud to dairy on page 35 of this issue.

Also, read more about producers who are proudly displaying the logo, such as the Cunningham and Schechinger families. When I first showed the logo to the Cunningham family, they wanted to put it on the four milk tankers that run between the dairy they operate in Atlantic, Iowa, and their processor in Des Moines. As Christy Cunningham told me, she wants consumers to know that she’s proud of her work, the product it produces and the type of producer she is – a progressive one. Thousands have seen that message over the past few months. My question to you is: Where would you like to display the logo?

Enough questions from me. By the time you get here, you’ll want more answers than questions. And my answer is Student 2.

In my opinion, that student is most likely to succeed long-term in the dairy industry. I agree with some who have written our industry today is becoming more and more business-orientated (read more here), so the next generation of successful producers must learn how dairy science and business intersect and be able to continuously relearn on their own when those two fields of study advance, as they inevitably will.

Yet I think the other critical piece that may be possessed by any of the students and is essential for long-term success is a passion for the dairy industry, its values and its profit potential. Those students who possess it will be the ones who will earn a degree, have an on-farm internship and participate on the school’s judging team, while excelling at all of them.

That task, like day-to-day dairy management, is not easy, but it’s worth it. And when done well, it’s worth being proud of. PD

Walt Cooley
Editor
walt@progressivedairy.com
(800) 320-1424