World Dairy Diary

Dairyline Markets In Review

Dairy Markets Week in Review
Yoyos are fun to play with but they raise havoc in dairy markets. The cash market in the last week of September gave back the previous week’s gains and then some with the exception of nonfat dry milk, which shot up Friday. Block cheese closed Friday at $1.26, down seven cents on the week, and 33 1/2-cents below a year ago. Barrel closed at $1.30, down four cents on the week, and 13 3/4-cents below a year ago. 11 cars of block traded hands on the week and two of barrel. The NASS U.S. average block price at $1.2834, lost 0.6 cent. Barrel averaged $1.3488, down 1.8 cents.

Butter closed at $1.3050, down 1 1/2-cents on the week, and 34 1/4-cents below a year ago. Two cars were sold. NASS butter averaged $1.2851, down a penny. Grade A nonfat dry milk shot up 12 cents yesterday, settling at $1.02. Extra Grade went up 11 cents to $1.01.

Provided courtesy of Dairyline.

CWT Export Assistance Bids

Here’s the latest announcements from Cooperatives Working Together:

Regional Dairy Challenges

If you’re up to the challenge then some regional Dairy Challenge competitions are coming up.

Here’s part of the North American Intercollegiate Dairy Challenge mission statement: “To create an intercollegiate dairy management competition based on the examination of all aspects of a dairy business.”

Memory Lane

I found this photo online and thought you might enjoy a trip down memory lane. According to the story, the photo was taken in Huntsville, Ontario in 1938.

Appearing left to right are: Clifford Snell, Jack Philpott, unknown, Harold Bray, Wilbert Bray, Bert Horton (in suit), William Horton Sr. and Francis Horton (in upper window). The dairy processed raw milk into pasteurized milk and cream. They also sold ice for iceboxes, and large blocks of ice were stored in a building on site, covered in sawdust to prevent melting. The ice was cut and transported by Mr. Emberson Farnsworth and a crew of men on Hunter’s Bay directly in front of the rail station.

29th Case of BSE Found in Japan

Here’s some big news from yesterday.

Japan’s Agriculture Ministry said Thursday it confirmed that a cow from northern Japan had the country’s 29th case of mad cow disease. Tests on the 6 1/4 year-old dairy cow performed at the National Institute of Animal Health confirmed that the cow, which died at a ranch on Japan’s northernmost island of Hokkaido, was infected with the fatal illness. Japan has now confirmed 29 animals infected with the fatal illness — known formally as bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or BSE — since the first case in Japan was defected in 2001. Since then, Tokyo has begun taking steps to check every cow that is slaughtered or dies at ranches before it enters the food supply.

Full Story.

A Million Unit BLITZ

BLITZ, as he is known, is shown here with his owners, Brian and Wendy Fust. He’s reached a milestone according to Select Sires.

Select Sires is proud to announce an outstanding milestone for 7HO5708 Fustead Emory BLITZ-ET as he recently sold his one millionth unit of semen. “BLITZ has strengthened his position as a truly elite sire because of this milestone,” said Blaine Crosser, vice president dairy sire product line and sales management for Select Sires. “For a bull to sell a million units of semen, he must be long-lived and a superior semen producer. Most importantly, he must transmit performance traits that are high in demand by dairy producers around the globe.”

Brian Fust has been extremely pleased with the success of BLITZ and the entire cow family. Fust also doesn’t mind the attention they receive because of BLITZ. “It’s very rewarding. It’s so fun talking to people about him; the whole experience has been very positive.”

CWT News Conference

Yesterday, Cooperatives Working Together held a call-in news conference with remarks from Jerry Kozak, President and Chief Executive Officer, National Milk Producers Federation and Dr. Scott Brown, Livestock and Dairy Program Director, Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute (FAPRI) at the University of Missouri.

Dr. Brown was asked to evaluate the CWT program and in this conference he presented his findings. He talks about higher milk prices due to the CWT program. He says that much of the results he talks about in his analysis are due to the herd reduction program and the effects on production. Additonally, the focus on improving exports has had an impact. You can listen to the first part of the news conference here: CWT News Conference (8 min MP3)

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Biggest Cheese Maker in England

Becoming England’s largest cheesemaker sounds like a big deal to me. That’s what this story in the Farmers Weekly talks about.

First Milk has confirmed it is set to buy the vast majority of Dairy Crest’s supermarket own-label cheese business.

If the co-op’s 3000 members approve the £62m deal, due to complete on 14 October, First Milk will move overnight from a milk broker into what it claims will be the UK’s largest cheesemaker.

New York Milk Price Move

According to a story in the New York Daily News, the price of milk is expected to jump about 25-cents/gallon in the big Apple.

Increased demand and decreased supply is the main reason New Yorkers will once again be shelling out more moo-lah for milk, with the price approaching $3, experts said.

“It’s ironic that we have seen gasoline prices retreat well below $3 a gallon, but the price of milk seems to be going in the other direction,” said Henry Beyer, president of Queens-based Beyer Farms/Tuscan Dairy, one of the city’s largest milk distributors.

Preserving The Champions

There’s lots of World Dairy Expo announcements coming out like this one from Trans Ova Genetics. They’re offering to provide a free genetic preservation of the Grand Champion female in each of the seven breed shows.

These champions will be named at the various breed-specific shows through-out the week of October 2, during the annual event in Madison, Wisconsin. This unique, progressive option will provide the owners of these champions an opportunity to store the DNA of their elite, show-winning cows, and allow them to propagate these cows’ genetics through the development of clones at any time in the future. “Every cattle breeder can relate to the untimely loss of a special cow or heifer, and the feeling of regret that follows,” explains Chris Sigurdson, sales and marketing director, Trans Ova Genetics. “A genetic preservation is an insurance for breeders and owners of valuable cattle, enabling them to further extend and develop a specific cow family.”

Cheese Heads Get Lucky

Sargento Cheese plant workers in Plymouth, WI finally got lucky and won a recent Powerball jackpot. They get to split up $208.6 million and apparently are going to keep on shredding cheese or whatever it is they do.

Entringer, 55, said workers on the second shift at the Sargento Cheese plant in Plymouth pooled their money for three years before they bought the winning ticket to the Aug. 5 drawing. The winners, who call themselves the “100 Miracles,” turned in their ticket Friday. They have hired a lawyer and plan to split the prize equally. They spoke Wednesday morning at Ma and Pa’s Grocery Express in Fond du Lac, where they bought the ticket.

Bid On Some Fine Dairy Products

If you’d like to bid on some fine cheese, buttter or yogurt then World Dairy Expo is the place to be next Tuesday.

The World Dairy Expo Championship Dairy Product Contest will hold an auction of all first place winners on Tuesday, October 3, 2006, 5:00 pm, Alliant Energy Center, 1919 Alliant Energy Center Way, Madison, WI.

The October 3 event will begin at 5:00 pm with a reception featuring a cheese fondue and special foods and pastries created by the MATC Culinary School utilizing the 2nd & 3rd place (cheese and butter classes) winners of the World Dairy Expo Championship Dairy Product Contest. Free beer and a cash bar will also be offered. At 6:00pm the auction will commence with Mr. Doug Wilson, Cooperative Resources International, serving as the featured auctioneer. All successful bidders will receive the product they bid on, plus a commemorative keepsake for their participation. A portion of the proceeds from the auction will be donated to the Professional Dairy Producers of WI (PDPW) to support their efforts to assist current and beginning producers achieve success in dairy farming. The proceeds will also be used to help defray contest expenses.

Private Label Organic Expands Operations

After a year-long transition, the Aurora Organic Dairy (AOD), the organization’s second organic dairy farm in Dublin, Texas is ready for production, tripling the company’s pastureland.

Aurora Organic Dairy the nation’s leading producer of private-label and store-brand organic milk and butter. Certified-organic pasture for the 3,300 organic milk cows at AOD’s farm in the Lone Star State will jump from 800 to 2,800 acres. This increase helps to fulfill AOD’s long-term pasture expansion for the Texas dairy, a plan initiated in the spring of 2004. The organic production company includes headquarters offices in Boulder, Colo., and. an organic dairy farm and on-farm organic dairy processing plant near Platteville, Colo. In July 2005, a second organic dairy farm near Dublin, Texas, completed its year-long transition to certified organic production. The company recently developed a third, state-of-the-art organic dairy farm — High Plains Organic Dairy — near Kersey, Colo., which began organic milk production in September 2006.

Full story

40-Cent Increase From CWT

In July, dairy producers began contributing 10 cents per hundredweight to the Cooperatives Working Together (CWT) program. Now an independent analysis reports that the affects of CWT has been at least 40 cents since it began in 2003.

An independent economic analysis of the impact of Cooperatives Working Together has found that the dairy self-help program has raised farmers’ prices by at least 40 cents per hundredweight since it began operations in 2003. The study was performed by Dr. Scott Brown of the University of Missouri, a nationally-known farm policy expert who is often called on by the U.S. Congress to assess agricultural economic issues.

The cumulative impact of CWT from the start of 2004 through the first half of 2006 is $1.97 billion in additional producer revenue, according to Brown’s evaluation. It showed that the milk price impact has grown with each herd retirement program. The normal attrition of cows in a herd was taken into consideration in determining the effect on milk production in the years following a herd removal.

Fresh Measurements of Your Next Feed Crop

Smooth transition to a new feed crop starts with analysis per back-to-basics guidelines. For example, separate the evaluations between the grass portion of your corn and the high- moisture grain. Open your mind, though, to new strategies, advises Dr. Bill Mahanna, coordinator of global nutritional sciences for Pioneer Hi-Bred. New testing methods are providing valuable information on degree of kernel damage, as well as starch and fiber digestibility. These refined tools can also account for variability due to hybrids and moisture content.

Dr. Bill Mahanna on transitioning to new crop feed (3 min MP3)

To see all archived Pioneer Forage Forum podcasts, click here.
Previous Forage Forum podcasts are also archived at the Pioneer GrowingPoint website. To access them, go to www.pioneer.com/growingpoint and click “Livestock Nutrition” and “Forage Blog.” Those not registered for Pioneer GrowingPoint website can call 800-233-7333 Monday-Friday 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. CT for assistance.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Hood Blimp Crash Lands

Hood Dairy got a bit more publicity than planned Tuesday when a promotional blimp that regularly flies above Boston’s Fenway Park crashed into a wooded area. The 90-foot-long blimp became stuck atop trees near an elementary school in Manchester-By-The-Sea about 25 miles north of Boston. It took two hours to rescue the pilot who was not injured.

The story has already received national coverage with pictures and video of the stranded blimp and quotes about it “moving up and down like a whale in the water,” before it crashed. According to the local CBS affiliate, a 12-man team from Beverly Airport is working to deflate the blimp so it can be removed from the area, which is near the airport and an elementary school. This process could take a few days.

The blimp, which was scheduled to make an appearance at Tuesday’s Red Sox game, was reportedly doing “exposure flying” when it crashed. Hood Dairy is certainly getting some exposure from the mishap.

Hood Dairy plants are located in Massachusettes, Connecticut, Vermont, New Hampshire, New York, Maine, and Virginia. Headquarters are in Chelsea, Mass.

European Milk Quotas May Be Phased Out

Europe’s system of milk production quotas may be phased out to help the dairy industry prepare for their planned abolition in 2014, EU Agriculture Commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel said on Sunday. Created in the mid-1980s to deal with the European Union’s notorious milk surpluses. “I think the milk quota system will be inadequate when we put constraints on the sector to develop and be competitive in future, if we do not give the possibilities for producers to increase production without having to invest (what is) in some member states a very high price to buy a milk quota,” she said. There are huge differences around the EU in the price of traded milk production quotas for farmers wishing to produce milk that qualifies for EU subsidies.
Read the full Reuters story datelined Finland.

Manure Roundtable

Manure may not be the most popular dinner table conversation, but it will be the subject of a roundtable discussion at this year’s World Dairy Expo.

Pro-Act Microbial is actually sponsoring a series of Manure Management Roundtables during the Expo, giving dairy farmers an opportunity to share experiences and to learn what is working for others.

On Wednesday, October 4th and Thursday, October 5th, the public is invited to these roundtables, both held at 10:30 a.m. in the Exhibition Hall, second floor, Waubesa room.

The panel will be moderated by Dale Butcher, sales manager for Pro-Act Microbial. Other panel members include Tom Wagner of Wagner Dairy in Middleton, Wisconsin, Dan Monson of Springrove Dairy in Brodhead, Wisconsin, and Dr. Chuzhao Lin and Bill Campion of Pro-Act Microbial.

Wide Load Ahead Finished

Here’s the final version of “Wide Load Ahead” that we reported on previously.

It’s an original oil painting by Denise Rich which will be on display throughout World Dairy Expo, October 3 to 7, in Madison, Wis., in the USJersey exhibit area.

Thanks to Denise for sending in the final version.

You can find out more about Denise “The Rich Artist” online.

Dairy Twine Outfit

Here’s an interesting story I think you’ll enjoy.The Elmore Field Days in New Zealand hosts an annual Ag Art Wear Competition. The young lady pictured, Leanne Cavallaro, made her entry completely of yellow and blue baling twine from her parent’s dairy farm!

The outfit features a hat, handbag, necklace, earrings, thongs, bikini top, skirt and under skirt. The pieces are made out of plaited blue and black twine and hessian that has been painted blue. She said it took her about two weeks working on and off to make. “I like the colours of the hay string – it’s bright,” Ms Cavallaro said. “I called it (the outfit) `Hay Time’.”