by Tamara Scully

Dairy farms are getting bigger. As the number of dairy farms decreases, along with the number of cows being milked nationwide, the total amount of milk being produced, increases. Not only are cows producing more milk each day, they are doing so on larger and larger farms.

According to the article “Milk Production Continues Shifting to Large-Scale Farms,” by James MacDonald and Doris Newton, published in the December 2014 issue of Amber Waves, the USDA’s Economic Research Service’s magazine focusing on ERS research, analysis and policy issues related to agriculture, food, the environment, and rural America, dairy farming consolidation has been pronounced since 1992. In an industry where the number of dairy farms has decreased by 60 percent in the past two decades, this market reduction makes the possibility of starting small and mid-sized farming operations more difficult. [Read more…]

by Sally Colby

Throughout the hot summer months, those who care for dairy calves concern themselves with issues such as flies, excess heat, ventilation and fluid intake. Now that winter weather has arrived, calf care requires a somewhat different set of standards. While some calf care parameters are the same, cold weather care starts with ensuring that calves are warm and dry.

Every animal has a thermo neutral zone, or TNZ. Technically speaking, TNZ is the range of ambient temperature without regulatory changes in metabolic heat production or evaporative heat loss. More simply, it’s the environment in which the calf doesn’t lose energy trying to stay warm or cool. [Read more…]

Mr. Mark W. Lee , 52, of Cunningham Road, Canajoharie, NY, passed away at the Mountain Valley Hospice House in Gloversville, NY, early Monday morning, Dec. 8, 2014, surrounded by his family.

Mark was born on July 7, 1962, in Cooperstown, NY, he was the son of Frederick W. Lee, Jr., and the late Carole A. Lee. He attended Canajoharie High School and was a lifelong area resident. [Read more…]