Even though I grew-up on a beef cattle farm in Central Illinois, I have always had a strong appreciation for the dairy industry. I am excited to be back in the Northeast again where the dairy industry is extremely prominent. New York, for example, is ranked third in the United States for dairy production and the industry contributes more than half of the state’s income generated from agriculture.
One of the great things about social media is that it allows you to “step in the shoes” into other people and to better understand the issues that affect them. Below are a list of dairy farmers that have blogs that I recommend following:
1. A Dairyman’s Blog – Dino Giacomazzi (@dairydino on Twitter) is a dairyman from California who blogs about proposed bills affecting the dairy industry and gives his own “action alerts” encouraging other farmers to contact legislators on various issues.
2. Northview Dairy – An interesting blog discussing life on a diary farm in upstate New York.
3. Orange Patch Dairy – This blog highlights life on a Minnesota dairy operation and policy concerns that affect their lives.
4. Ray-Lin Dairy– Ray Prock is another Californian dairy man gone social media guru who enjoys blogging and tweeting (@RayLinDairy) about current events affecting dairy producers.
5. The Dairy Diary – Marilyn Hersey in a dairy producer in Pennsylvania who blogs about her life on the farm and involvement in the diary industry.
6. The Dairyman’s Blog – Will Gilmer (@gilmerdairy on Twitter) is an Alabama dairyman who blogs about his life managing a dairy operation and his activities to educate folks about the dairy business.
7. World Dairy Diary – An informative blog discussing current events, trends and policy concerns affecting the dairy industry. Podcasts are available on a variety of dairy topics including nutrition and labor issues.
These are just a handful of dairy bloggers that I recommend following. Not only do the above blogs give a nice peak into life on a dairy farm, but these blogs also serve as an informative source for agriculture news and policy from a dairy producer’s prospective.
It’s great that so many livestock producers are willing to blog about their day-to-day activities and concerns as a farmer or rancher. Amongst all the misinformation about the livestock industry from various activist groups, these blogs help tell the stories of the the folks who are growing our food. Therefore, from time-to-time I will try to list blogs written by farmers or ranchers here in various sectors of production agriculture.