Today I had a chance to interview Monte Reese who is the COO of the Cattlemen’s Beef Board. He talks about the Cattle Industry Convention that’s just getting started here in Denver.
You can listen to my interview with Monte here: 
Monte Reese Interview (3MB MP3 file)
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Today’s USDA radio newsline featured a story by Gary Crawford with audio from USDA Economist, Keith Collins. The story says that because of its tenative nature , the Milk Income Loss Contract Program may not play much of a role in determining 2006 milk production.
You can listen to the story here: USDA MILC Story
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Here’s my home for the week. Not a lot of activity here today. Lots of interviewing for new committee members. I did a little wandering around just to get my bearings. I probably won’t have much to offer until tomorrow afternoon though. I’m hoping to conduct some interviews midday and have some new content for you to listen to then.
It sounds like a great program is being prepared for attendees at the upcoming Pennsylvania Dairy Summit.
The Pennsylvania Dairy Stakeholders is co-hosting the 2006 Pennsylvania Dairy Summit with the Professional Dairy Managers of Pennsylvania. Supporting partners for the Summit are the Penn State Dairy Alliance, the Center for Dairy Excellence and the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture. The 2006 Dairy Summit will take place Wednesday and Thursday, February 1 & 2, 2006, at the Lancaster Host Resort in Lancaster, PA.
American Dairy, Inc., announced recently that it will be on tv in the Pittsburg, PA market on cable. Basically their release says that “PCNC Cable News Channel in Pittsburg, PA will spotlight the Company in a continuation of the previously announced “Investment Opportunities in China” series, produced by Platinum Television. American Dairy was one of a few Chinese companies invited to be featured on the show by Platinum Television Group’s advisory board, made up of MIT and Harvard business school graduates, as well as magazine editors of Fortune, Forbes and INC. Households in Pittsburgh will be able to watch the news segment on American Dairy, which is approximately seven minutes long and presents facts about the Chinese government’s promotion of milk products in China, as well as insight into the Company’s processing plants and premier powdered milk and soy products. Viewers will be able to watch clips of the Company’s processing plants, headquarters, core products and research & development team throughout the Company’s operations in China.”
There’s a link to their website to watch the video but all I saw were commercials in Chinese like this one.
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It’s time once again for the Cattle Industry Convention. I’ll be travelling to the convention tomorrow and posting news related to the dairy business as I find it. Any questions you want me to ask while I’m there?
I’ll also be posting to sister blog, AgWired. And, I’ll also be posting to the newly created Cattlemen’s Beef Board blog too. Lots of ways for you to get your agricultural blog fix this week.
More to come from Denver.
I’m sure it will be a wise expense of funds. The National Dairy Promotion and Research Board (NDB) has approved the authorization of $6 million on a one-time basis for the purpose of funding a three-year study on air emissions from U.S. dairy farms.
I’ve always been of the opinion that agricultural operations have a particular fragrance and it’s only to be expected. This past week I visited an agricultural advertising agency and as I got out of the car to go inside there was a very pungent smell from what had to be a livestock operation somewhere nearby. I complimented the staff since it seemed so appropriate for the type of business they cater to.
I’m curious about what the impact of having air emission standards for a dairy would be. What would they even be and how would you control or measure them? I guess that’s what they want to find out.
“Upon careful consideration and discussion, dairy producer directors of the NDB voted to fund this study, understanding that this research will be instrumental in developing the air emissions standards that could affect all dairy farms,” said Woody Bryant, an Arkansas dairy producer who is NDB chairman. Last fall Congress authorized the NDB to consider this measure, noting that the funds would need to be spent in 2006.
National Milk Producers Federation will work with the Agricultural Air Research Council (AARC), a non-profit organization formed to oversee research in air emissions from livestock operations, to ensure that the research achieves its stated goals related to dairy farm emissions. NDB will receive regular reports on the progress of the air emissions study.
“The allocation of these funds will not have a direct impact on 2006 dairy promotion programs,” Bryant said.
Proving once again that they are completely without brains or any moral compass, the folks at PETA have created a website to attack milk. I highly recommend you refrain from visiting but you ought to know what the wackos are up to. It would almost be funny if they weren’t so ignorant and just plain disgusting.
This Milk Gone Wild website is a crude takeoff on the even more filthy and perverted Girls Gone Wild trash videos. They have women exposing themselves but endowed with bovine mammary appendages. There’s just too much trash to even discuss. In fact, I saw an alert to it on Ad Jab and only visited long enough to get a sense of this crap that this group has once again put out.
I know some of our readers will probably be going to the Food Safety Summit (March 22-24, Las Vegas). It was just acquired by Stagnito Communications which is an Ascend Media Company. I personally think food safety sounds kind of boring but I know how important it is to people in today’s world and how much companies and organizations are investing in it. To get someone like me to attend they had to add an extra feature. That extra feature this year is having the Snack Foods Association hold SNAXPO at the same time and place. Now that would help I’ve got to believe. In fact, I want to know that my snacks are safe while we’re at it!
Have you ever wanted to become a cheese maker? Me, I just like to eat cheese. Any kind of cheese too. If you live in the northwest you can take a course at Washington State University.
There’s the 2nd Annual Farmstead/Artisan Cheesemaking Course, February 21-23, 2006, Portland, OR – “Designed for farmstead and small business operators interested in learning or improving cheesemaking procedures and processes.”
Or
There’s the 21st Annual Washington State University Cheesemaking Shortcourse, March 6-9, 2006, Pullman, WA – “Designed for experienced cheesemakers, supervisory, management, quality control and marketing personnel from commercial/industrial plants.”
You can see more information about the courses and how to register here.
It seems like we’re seeing more partnering of agricultural groups than ever before. I think this is a good thing and long overdue in most cases. This week the National Milk Producers Federation and the American Veal Association officially joined each other.
Because veal production is separate from, but linked to dairy farming, the two organizations decided that they should have a stronger relationship through membership in each other’s respective organizations. “Many of the animal health issues that we deal with regularly at NMPF are also issues of interest to the veal sector, ranging from animal identification to biosecurity,” said Jerry Kozak, President and CEO of NMPF. “It just makes sense that we need to have a more cooperative relationship with veal producers in the future.”
How often have you seen a city interested in locating a dairy inside the city limits? I don’t know of any. In fact, the most recently built dairies that I know of personally have had to almost take a stealth approach to locating in the outlying county they wanted to locate in. However, in Claremont, MN the city council members are studying the possibility of annexing land to have a modern dairy built within the city limits.
This may be a first for any city in the United States, and perhaps the world. The City of Claremont, MN council members in their January 25th meeting moved to take under study a move to promote economic development with the possible annexation of the land where the proposed Ripley Dairy is to be built. The council members will study the financial impacts for the City and citizens of Claremont, legal advice to determine if an annexation of this type could be successful and any changes that the City may have to make to its own code in order to allow an operation of this size.
“We appreciate the expressions of support that many have given to us and to this dairy. We know it is a dream shared by many,” explained Rowekamp. “We will continue to challenge elected officials and business owners to make the changes necessary to help dairy farmers improve their businesses in Minnesota while protecting everyone’s rights and the environment.
A former dairyman was selected as the top producer in the annual Top Producer magazine award.
TOP PRODUCER, the business magazine of agriculture, honored Chad Olsen, 37, a farmer and custom harvester from Hendricks, Minn., as the national winner of its annual Top Producer of the Year Awards at a banquet in Chicago on January 19th.
Olsen survived the devastation of a fire that consumed his 48-cow dairy herd and barn, leaving him $100,000 in debt at the age of 22. To recover from the loss, he worked odd jobs and then launched a custom harvest business in 1993. Today, Olsen Custom Farms harvests 79,000 acres from Texas to Canada, not including approximately 5,000 acres he farms at home in Minnesota, plus a trucking and cattle business.
When the Cattlemen’s Beef Board was looking into ways to better communicate with producers about the activities of the next week’s Cattle Industry Convention, especially their committee meetings, they turned to blogging and asked us to create and manage the site. There’s still some final pre-conference posting that will be done over the next couple days but the site is open and ready for activity. At the event next week, I’ll be blogging the CBB activities on Beef Board Meeting.com. One of the great things about this idea is that not only will information flow out to interested producers but each post and page of information has the comment feature enabled to allow them to provide their feedback. I have no doubt we’ll get some.
(Holts Summit, MO January 26, 2006 – AgNewsWire) Cattle producers who are unable to attend this year’s Cattle Industry Convention February 1-4 in Denver can still stay informed and take an active role in decisions that are made through the Beef Board Meeting.com (www.beefboardmeeting.com) web log, according to Cattlemen’s Beef Board Vice Chairman Jay O’Brien of Amarillo, Texas.
“We’re trying to get information out to the producers to let them know exactly what’s going on at the convention and even allow them to have input back in to the committees, so that all of the people who pay the checkoff will be part of the process.”
The web log will feature postings throughout the convention following the various committee meetings to inform producers about discussions that are taking place and decisions that are made on how their beef checkoff dollars will be spent. O’Brien says the Beef Board wants all producers to have the opportunity to participate in decision-making at the national level.
“We have 108 producer members of the Beef Board who serve on the committees, who work hard to decide the best way to spend the checkoff dollars. But, of course, we have a lot more producers out there then those 108. We want every producer to be informed about what is going on and to be able to have input as to where the checkoff dollars are spent.” (Full Release)
Accelerated Genetics announces some results of their 2005 Young Producer Fall Conference. Elections were held for the Young Producer Committee and re-elected producers were Brian Castleberg, Mondovi, WI and Jeff and Tammy Styczynski, Pulaski, WI. Newly elected to serve on the committee was David & Kelly Oberreich, Plymouth, WI.
The Young Producer Committee helps organize and coordinate the program’s yearly activities. Individuals and couples throughout Accelerated Genetics’ membership area (MN, WI, IA, IL) make up the committee. This dynamic group encourages young producer involvement, plans annual events and provides leadership to facilitate a prosperous program. Committee members can serve two, three-year terms.
Committee Members:
Brian Castleberg ~ Mondovi, WI
Jeff & Marie Ditzenberger ~ Monticello, WI
Mark Keller ~ Mt. Horeb, WI
David & Kelly Oberreich, Plymouth, WI
Joe & Donna Parrell ~ Cross Plains, WI
Jaramie & Lisa Rieck ~ Mondovi, WI
Blair & Kathy Sawall ~ Clintonville, WI
Jeff & Tammy Styczynski ~ Pulaski, WI
Mission Statement:
Accelerated Genetics’ Young Producer Program is designed to help producers develop friendships, build leadership qualities and strengthen communication skills through an educational, supportive network in a fun environment.
The Wisconsin Dairy Products Association has made several donations with the net proceeds of its 2005 World Dairy Expo Championship Dairy Product Contest and Auction.
A $2,000 donation was made to the Professional Dairy Producers of Wisconsin’s “I Believe” campaign, which was created to raise funds for PDPW’s Education Foundation.
According to WDPA Executive Director Brad Legreid, “This donation represents the support our processor members have for the dairy producers of this state. During the past 12 years, WDPA has devoted a portion of its annual conventions to producer issues and have heard presentations from various PDPW members. This donation acknowledges our past interaction with PDPW and our future support of their Education Foundation.” The PDPW Education Foundation was formed to provide education on key issues impacting the dairy industry, including youth and leadership development, environmental stewardship and biosecurity/food safety.
Pictured are PDPW Executive Director Shelly Mayer and WDPA Executive Director Brad Legreid.
In addition to this financial contribution, Wisconsin Dairy Products Assn. also made product donations to the Ronald McDonald House, Second Harvest Food Bank, MATC Culinary Arts School and the UW Food Science Dept.
I think Adrants describes these spots right with the word “quirky.” They’re the hispanic targeted Got Milk TV ads. You can see a couple of them here: Amazing Hair Goddesses and Contortionist.
The hispanic campaign has run for many years and this is a pretty significant change in approach. The ads were produced by Grupo Gallegos.
As we’ve been developing World Dairy Diary the news and story ideas are rolling in. In fact, I’ve got a number more to post but running out of time this evening. I hope you like the news and information we’re bringing you. We’re always interested in feedback so don’t hesitate to post comments or offer suggestions.
Blogging is a new communications mechanism in the agricultural world and we’ve been at it for over a year now. Just in the last 2 months we’ve created blog sites for 6 different ag groups or companies. If you want to learn more about it please feel free to contact me.
Lot’s more to come!
According to an announcement from the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board, looking at the latest information from the Wisconsin Agricultural Statistics Service, last year was a good year for the dairy industry.
Wisconsin’s dairy business recorded a record year on many fronts in 2005. Preliminary estimates show Wisconsin’s milk production grew to the 22.8 billion pound level. For the first time in seven years, Wisconsin’s milk production growth rate surpassed that of California. According to the USDA, Wisconsin marked a 3.5% increase, compared with California’s 3.0%. This substantial increase of 779 million pounds is the highest increase for Wisconsin in 20 years.
What’s more, Wisconsin ended 2005 with 3,000 more cows than were recorded in December 2004. Cow numbers in Wisconsin came in at 1.239 million head. According to the Wisconsin Ag Statistics Service, it has been 16 years since Wisconsin ended the year with more cows than the previous year.
Alto Dairy announces a new CFO. His name is Greg Pollesch and this is his first week on the job.
Pollesch brings with him a 25 year track record of finance leadership in manufacturing the last three of those in agriculture. He will be leaving his position as Corporate Controller of Utica Energy, LLC in Oshkosh, Wis. As Alto Dairy’s new CFO, he will be responsible for developing, implementing and maintaining all financial systems, providing analysis and recommendations on business opportunities and process improvements as well as play an integral part of the strategic planning for the cooperative.