By now, most folks have heard about Chobani’s investment in a new dairy facility located in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Over the next five years, the plant will become capable of processing 3 billion pounds of milk a year, opening a new market for dairy farm families across Pennsylvania and the Mid-Atlantic region. With the plant gearing…
In every family, we have our traditions. When I was little, I remember going swimming on a Sunday evening at the pool of one of my dad’s dairy farmer friends and then getting ice cream at Distelfink on the way home. We didn’t do it every Sunday, especially when things got in the way on…
July can bring a little calm in the summer chaos, with the spring forages harvested, the corn in the ground, and any straw now baled and put away. The warmer weather often provides an opportunity for painting barns, tending to the wear and tear on facilities, and trimming back overgrown hedge rows. It can also be…
Each year in June, the Center celebrates Dairy Month by offering posters, information cards, and other materials promoting dairy to dairy farm families to share within their local community. Our theme this year centers around America’s 250th anniversary and how many of our dairy farms are generational businesses that have been around a century or…
As I write this, I can hear the crunching of roof and tin being pulled away from our old dry cow barn on our dairy farm. The barn has been here for longer than I have. Shortly after we purchased our own herd, the barn became a dry pen. So, for the past 21 years,…
On our farm, the milking parlor is a flat parlor in our bank barn with six Zimmerman walk-through stalls. Cows come in from the holding pen on the left side, turn to find their stall, get milked, exit the stall, and turn to the left to go out the exit alley. At the right side…
Those of us on the dairy farm right now are feeling the pinch of milk prices that have fallen significantly in the past six months, with February’s Class III price announced at $14.94 per hundredweight, up 35 cents from January but still well below the 2025 average Class III price of $18.01 per hundredweight. The…
The Dairy Margin Coverage (DMC) enrollment period for the 2026 Program Year will close next week on February 26th. Those farms that enroll could potentially receive payments on milk produced in at least January and February, based on current margin projections on the USDA Decision Tool. As of February 16, the January margin under the…
The beginning of January to the beginning of February is the busiest time for me at the Center. We start the new year out at Keystone Farm Show and helping with the Calving Corner at Pennsylvania Farm Show. As soon as the Farm Shows end, we become fully immersed in preparing for the Pennsylvania Dairy…
Winter is my least favorite season, especially on the farm. Every morning you break the ice out of the calf water buckets, and making sure lines are emptied and doors are shut tight is an every-evening routine so that nothing freezes up in the barn. Double checking all the animals becomes even more important, as…
