The drive to make more milk has had an unsavory side effect: Cows have become more genetically similar and less fertile. Scientists are trying to recover valuable genetic variation that was lost.
Dairy farmers on the U.S. side say they're getting paid less than what it costs to produce the milk. The Canadian system balances milk supply with consumer demand through production quotas.
A businessman will charter some 60 Qatar Airlines flights for the bovines. He aims to jump-start a dairy industry in Qatar, which risks food shortages amid a blockade from its Gulf Arab neighbors.
Advocates of grass-grazing cattle say it's better for the environment and the animals. But there's another upside: Grass-fed meat and dairy fetch a premium that can help small farms stay viable.
For one of the biggest and most successful dairymen in America, success was based in part on crossing cultural boundaries. Now, he has returned home to continue building his empire of milk.
Some members of Congress are calling on the government to crack down on food labels like soy milk or hemp milk. They say the "milk" label is legally reserved for only one beverage source: cows.
The dairy industry runs 24/7, but federal law excludes its workers from overtime pay. A new class-action lawsuit in Washington state is the latest challenge to that law.
Milk is like oil - it's refined into products that are traded globally. So global events can mean profits or losses for dairy farmers. This year, they're seeing losses, and asking Congress for help.
A Florida dairy farmer has had to dump hundreds of gallons of skim milk from her creamery because she doesn't add vitamins back in. Legally, that makes it an "imitation milk product."
Cows are being bred to be larger, hungrier, and more productive. But this drive to raise ever-larger, hulking Holsteins has some prominent livestock advocates ringing alarm bells.
Most U.S. dairy cows are born with horns, but most farms remove them. Animal welfare groups say dehorning is cruel. Instead, they want ranchers to breed more hornless cattle into their herds.
Cottage cheese was the yogurt of the mid-20th century: a dairy product for the health-conscious. But it has fallen out of favor, while marketing of — and demand for — yogurt has soared.
Thousands of spectators gather every April to see ecstatic cows return to fields on organic farms around Denmark. The organic industry says the event has helped fuel demand for organic foods.
Random tests of milk reveal that a few farmers are treating dairy cows with antibiotics that aren't supposed to be used on them. The FDA is now considering tighter controls to prevent such practices.
