Quick - What's the net present value of each cow in your herd?
     Say...what...?? 
  If you plan to keep a cow in your herd for three years, what's she worth today? How much would she be worth if you kept her for six years? What's she worth today if she's milking 20,000 pounds of milk and milk is selling for $16.50/cwt? What if you're getting $10.00/cwt? $15.47?
  Net present value is one way financial geeks set the worth of an annuity. Dr. David Galligan (we're not going to call him a geek here, but take a look at his website) is a veterinary economist at the University of Pennsylvania - he has both a veterinary degree and an MBA. He DOES think of a cow as an annuity, something that has an initial cost, operating expenses, and a residual value at the end of a given period of time. 
  Galligan has developed a fascinating website to help farmers answer questions like these, and he's posted it online where anybody can use it for free. I spent about 20 minutes with the site. I was, frankly, bewildered, but stumbled around enough to see that I could put a dollar value on a cow by taking into account a mind-numbing number of variables. I think it would take a week or two or more to become proficient at using what he calls the net present value of a dairy cow. That website is here: http://dgalligan.com/cownpvnew.html
  You might also want to check out Galligan's regular website here:  http://dgalligan.com/
  The Economist ran a story earlier this month, cleverly titled Ecownomics, on Galligan's work  which you can read here:  http://www.economist.com/business-education/displayStory.cfm?story_id=15207866

     The little winery that could took top honors - the Governor's Cup - with a 2008 gewurztraminer that bested 327 other entries in the 2010 Pennsylvania Farm Show wine competition. Tod and Jean Maspeaker own and operate Briar Valley Vineyards and Winery in Bedford, producing just 4,000 gallons of wine annually. Their winning entry had a spicy note, a touch of fruitiness and a good mouth feel. Lancaster Farming staff writer Chris Torres wrote a report on the winery, which you can read in our current edition, or you can check it out here: http://www.lancasterfarming.com/node/2743

  
     Dude...what if your prescription changes? http://www.bing.com/videos/watch/video/behold-the-permanently-bespectacled-man/1abjjzeb1