Dairy News & Insights for Progressive Farmers

Frazz Lionel Reads -3.1 DPR and +0.4 CCR. Both Are Right.
Every bull struck off a fertility shortlist before August 11 was judged on a model CDCB has now retired — and on a heritability half its current value […]
The National Heifer Number Fits Wisconsin and California. Almost Nobody Else.
Wisconsin sits at 40.3 replacements per 100 cows. California at 40.4. National is 41.9 — so a third of the herd is fine using it, and everyone else ha […]
Treasury Moved the 45Z Manure Math. One Undefined Word Decides US$105,100 on 2,000 Cows
Treasury moved the 45Z manure math on September 8. On 2,000 cows, "25% of the credit" pays US$187,800 or US$82,700 depending on one undefined word. Wh […]
ISO Caps a Dairy Cow at $2,000. Pennsylvania Replacements Averaged $3,230.
Thirty-five cows died on Blackburn Road in February. USDA prices the replacements at $3,230 a head. ISO's farm form pays $2,000 — and that's before de […]
Robert Chicoine, 1943–2026: The Man Who Taught the Industry to Trust the Number
Semex Alliance's architect and first general manager died Tuesday, fourteen days before World Dairy Expo was to hand him its International Person of t […]

37 Sales, 38 Years, One Last Tanbark: Tom and Sandy Morris Close the World Classic At 6:00 p.m. on Wednesday, September 30, the gavel falls in The Tanbark for the 37th and final time under the management of Tom and Sandy Morris. Seventy-two years earlier,…
Robert Chicoine, 1943–2026: The Man Who Taught the Industry to Trust the Number Semex Alliance's architect and first general manager died Tuesday, fourteen days before World Dairy Expo was to hand him its International Person of the Year award in Madison. Every index…
USDA Publishes Two Costs for the Same 200-Cow Herd. S.4906 Prices Milk Off One of Them. USDA reports two costs for a 200-cow herd: $27.21/cwt on full economic cost, $14.53 on operating costs alone. S.4906 would set price floors from production costs without specifying which —…
The 20% Trap: Weaker Repro Burns More Sexed Semen for a Third of the Beef-on-Dairy Return UW–Madison ran 30 strategies. At a 30% pregnancy rate, sexed semen on first-service heifers returns $6,215 a month. At 20%? Four layers deep to hold the pipeline — for a…
Ontario’s One Open 2028 Dairy Position Starts at C$480,000 in Quota One 2028 organic position is open in Ontario, closing September 30. Minimum buy-in: 20 kg of quota at C$480,000, plus roughly C$168,000 of your own equity at 65% LTV. The…

Three Feed Inputs Set the DMC Margin. Diesel Isn’t One, and It Rose 65%.
Eight primary documents, one modeled 500-cow herd, and a correction to our own March numbers. E655 Three Feed Inputs Set the […]
Iowa’s Manure Penalty Never Left $5,000. The Restitution Ran 6.7 Times Higher.
Four Iowa consent orders held the penalty between $5,000 and $8,000, whether the kill was zero fish or 126,469, on herds from […]
Waterloo Warned Us: How the World’s Greatest Dairy Show Died – and What Twelve Years of Expo’s Own Numbers Say Before the Gates Open
The National Dairy Cattle Congress owned October from 1910 to 1965. Then it dropped "Dairy" from its own name and bet the bui […]
USDA Raised Make Allowances Up to 42.6% on Self-Reported Processor Costs
7.15 cents a pound. That's what USDA added to the nonfat dry milk make allowance on cost data processors volunteered. On 500 […]
The $128,320 Additive Bill: Why the First Dairy Carbon Credit Wasn’t Bovaer
$128,320 a year on 1,000 cows, and 35 cents a cow a day you don't get back. The first U.S. dairy methane credit ever sold cam […]

Le Supreme Laitier – Holstein Show 2026 GOULDHAVEN ALLIGATOR EZROYAL is Grand Champion of Le Suprême Laitier 2026, exhibited by JM Valley Holstein, London Dairy Farms and Pat Conroy of Amqui. She won the Female 5-Year-Old class, took…
The Real Price of World Dairy Expo: $3,800 a Cow, Ten Days, and What Nobody Writes Down It's August. Entry deadline's next week, the good heifer's coming along nice — and you're doing the math you never write down. $3,800 a cow. Ten days gone. Only $280…
One Ring, Three Dynasties: The 1989 World Dairy Expo Class That Rewrote Holstein History At the 1989 World Dairy Expo, three Senior Two-Year-Olds came back into the Madison ring after milking. The ribbons settled one afternoon. The consequences are still turning up in pedigrees…
Le Supreme Laitier – Jersey Show 2026 Here's the number that should stop every Jersey breeder in Quebec: five of the six heifer classes were won by daughters of bulls bred at Ferme Dulet in Saint-Pascal. Dulet…
Waterloo Warned Us: How the World’s Greatest Dairy Show Died – and What Twelve Years of Expo’s Own Numbers Say Before the Gates Open The National Dairy Cattle Congress owned October from 1910 to 1965. Then it dropped "Dairy" from its own name and bet the building on a greyhound track. This month its…