Who better to share that story than the hard-working men and women that remain involved in the business of farming?
Click here to read, Dairy Farmers of Canada shares how it is launching a national campaign to build consumer confidence using videos of dairy farmers discussing healthy cows, safety standards, accountability, strict regulations, consistent quality and innovation.
At the same time, the organization, Dairy Farmers of Canada, asks dairy producers across the country to take a moment to evaluate their operations and be ready to participate in conversations about their farming practices, particularly in regards to animal care.
One way to open the door to these conversations is through the use of social media. Peter Barhydt provides examples of how dairy producers are engaging this platform to move the conversation about dairy click here to read.
Educating the masses through tweets and status updates isn’t the only benefit dairy producers can gain from social media. Click here to read, Jennifer Bradley shares how two dairy producers have found Twitter and Facebook to be tremendous sources of information that benefit their businesses and help them connect with colleagues around the world.
Another social media website you might want to consider joining is Progressive Dairyman’s own Proud to Dairy network. Proud to Dairy is a Ning network, so members sign up for free and then can post photos, blogs and videos.
This is a dairy-friendly community where members of the site encourage one another. Eventually, newcomers feel more comfortable with posting dairy information and branch out to utilize other social media accounts.
For those of you who want to focus your conversations closer to home, within your own farm team for instance, this issue also has articles on hoof health, managing transition cows and heat stress to prepare your herd for the warmer days ahead.
Get tips on how to make trim day easier on your farm from Dan Leer click here to read. Discover claw lesion data recently published in the Journal of Dairy Science, click here to read. This information can be used to benchmark the amount of lesions in your herd.
A few different approaches to feeding dry and transition cows are outlined in the Feed & Nutrition catagory (first 5 articles). I encourage you to read through and determine which method is right for your farm.
Nutrition isn’t the only area to focus on in this group of cattle. Both Shane St. Cyr (click here to read) and Katy Proudfoot and Julie Huzzey (click here to read) explain how important it is to monitor cows’ behaviour during the transition period.
Now is the time to finish up your strategy for combating heat stress this summer. Whether through the use of fans, misters or ration changes, cows need to be kept cool to keep you from losing money in the hot days ahead. See the Herd Health catagory (first 5 articles) for some of the latest information in regards to managing heat stress.
Lastly, as hay and alfalfa fields are greening up and growing again, take a moment to read factors to consider when baling high-moisture alfalfa, click here to read and figure out the best way to determine forage cutting height click here to read. PD 
Karen Lee
Editor
Progressive Dairyman magazine
