Glacier FarmMedia – Federal Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau made a brief stop at Dairy Farmers of Canada annual meeting in Saskatoon recently, where she spoke with Canadian dairy producers and announced an $11.4 million federal contribution to the Canadian dairy research cluster. However, she failed to deliver the information that Canadian dairy farmers have been […] Read more
Tag Archives Dairy farming
Canada’s dairy sector still waiting for compensation details
Feds had promised to say by end of June how they would compensate supply managed farmers for loss of market
Farm-sitter finds a summer job giving farmers a break
Young farm entrepreneur Meaghan Herrington starts a business taking care of farm chores
Almost any agricultural professional knows that a day off (or two or three) can be an impossible dream. But those living near Brighton, Ont., can turn to Meaghan Herrington and her summer business Early Morning Relief Milking and Farm Services. The East Northumberland Secondary School student offers such services as cow clipping, barn cleaning, relief […] Read more
Cows enter world’s first floating farm
The project aims to reuse organic waste streams as cattle feed while showing how floating farms could work
Thirty-two cows are now living on the world’s first floating dairy farm based in the port at Rotterdam in The Netherlands. Years of development and construction have finally come to the last hurdle when the Montbelliarde cows can find their sea legs and get accustomed to their new home. And what a luxury home it […] Read more
U.S. dairy farm branches out to make ends meet
Smaller U.S. dairy farms have to diversity in order to stay in business during the long-term price slump
Eddie Gibson is unsure how many generations of his family have farmed at Walton, Kentucky, but he fears he may be the last. He and his wife, Marcy, own Ed-Mar Dairy where they milk fewer than 60 cows on 130 acres of land. Even with diversification into cheese making and agri-tourism small farms like theirs […] Read more
The DON year and dairy feed
Dairy farmers have had to manage higher mycotoxin levels in feed after last harvest. Here’s how they did it
Dairy farmers faced challenges dealing with mould in corn in 2018, as crop farmers dealt with the widespread DON outbreak. Dairy animals can manage mould levels in small doses but once levels reach a certain point, the feed becomes toxic. Why it matters: Mouldy feeds can typically cause performance losses of five to 10 per […] Read more
Domestic demand drives Brazilian dairy expansion
Brazil, an exporting power in other agriculture commodities, consumes 98 per cent of dairy production inside the country
Optimism is the name of the game in the Brazilian dairy industry as the sector continues to boost production in South America’s largest country. According to a recent survey of Brazil’s top 100 dairy producers by independent research firm MilkPoint, 90 per cent of respondents plan on expanding their operations in the next three years. […] Read more
Milk price, higher production push farmers to look at different feeding options
Decisions rest on systems that farmers already have and their long-term production goals
Dairy farmers milking in robot systems are increasingly looking at alternatives to one traditional higher energy pellet to feed in the robot, a trend driven by decreasing milk price and increasing milk yield. Why it matters: Robot milking systems have been operating in Ontario for 20 years, with a growing diversity of feeding management styles […] Read more
Calves benefit from mother’s post-colostrum milk
University of Guelph study identifies ‘bio-actives’ in days two to four of lactation
Taking newborn calves completely off colostrum after one or two feedings may contribute to future health challenges, according to as-yet-unpublished research by the University of Guelph’s Department of Animal Physiology. Instead, explained Associate Professor Dr. Michael Steele in the annual webinar series of the US-based Dairy Cattle Welfare Council (DCWC), it might be advisable to […] Read more
Editorial: U.S. ponders its dairy future
You can tell every five to 10 years that the American milk situation is getting particularly dire, when they start having more discussions about supply management. American dairy farms are in their fifth year of chronically low milk prices, which declined quickly in late 2014 from about $25 per hundredweight of milk to a range […] Read more
Dairy farmers find opportunity in organic
At the 2019 South Western Ontario Dairy Symposium two farmers shared why they decided to transition to organic dairy
John Brunsveld and Justin Bell found opportunities in the Ontario organic milk market, and they talked about it at the recent South Western Ontario Dairy Symposium. Brunsveld produces organic milk on his farm, milking 125 cows. Bell farms in Chatham-Kent and was accepted into the Organic New Entrant Quota Assistance Program and hopes to be […] Read more
