I want to thank the ADSA Board of Directors (https://www.adsa.org/About-ADSA/Leadership), ADSA Executive Director Jerry Bowman, and the ADSA staff for their work in 2024 and 2025. It was a privilege to work with this dedicated group.

Invited review: A systematic review of the effects of pair housing on dairy calf welfare and productivity. By Bučková et al., page 12878. Individual housing of young dairy calves is still prevalent in Europe as well as North America, but the adoption of social housing is gaining traction. In this review, we summarize research findings on the welfare and productivity of pair-housed calves compared with individually housed calves. The advantages of pair housing include better behavioral reactions to stressful husbandry procedures and improved social behavior.

The list of standard abbreviations for JDS is available at adsa.org/jds-abbreviations-24. Nonstandard abbreviations are available in the Notes.

The recently published retrospective observational study by Overton and Eicker (2025) is well conducted, revealing many associations between previous days open and days dry and their association with replacement risk and milk production in early subsequent lactation. However, the conclusions are unjustifiably bold considering that this is a retrospective observational study where the reason for the delay in days open is unknown and that controlled studies drawing different conclusions do exist.

“Diligence. I looked it up, in your dictionary. Constant and earnest effort to accomplish what is undertaken. Persistence. Application. But also, toil. And pain.” (Quote courtesy of Definition Delaware LLC, with permission.) These were the words spoken by the character Ada Murray in defending her husband in the movie, The Professor and the Madman. As I reflect on the past 6 yr in service to the Journal of Dairy Science (JDS), there is no doubt in my mind that each monthly issue is a display of the diligent efforts of our authors, reviewers, and editors.