Posted: October 31, 2009 at 4:01 pm
By Chuck
If you’re looking for a Christmas present for your kids then how about one that showcases the dairy industry?
Rebecca Long Chaney is proud to announce the release of her daughters’ second children’s book, “Mini Milk Maids on the Mooove.” This book is the second book in a children’s agricultural education book series by five-year-old twin sisters Rianna and Sheridan Chaney and focuses on the dairy industry.
The book highlights the twins personal experiences in the dairy industry including time with their grandfather, a retired dairy farmer; learning about what happens at a dairy farm from birth to milk production; participating in the Pee Wee division of the pretty cow contest at the county fair; joining the 4-H Cloverbuds club; and helping to make ice cream at South Mountain Creamery.
Posted: October 30, 2009 at 4:22 pm
By News Editor
A class action, antitrust lawsuit has been filed on behalf of Northeast dairy farmers against the Dairy Farmers of America (DFA) and Dean Foods Company in U.S. District Court in Burlington, Vt.
The suit charges DFA and Dean each with monopolizing a level of distribution of fluid milk in the Northeast and forcing dairy farmers to join DFA or its marketing affiliate Dairy Marketing Services (DMS) to survive. DMS and milk processor HP Hood also were named in the suit for aiding DFA’s and Dean’s monopolization and, in the case of DMS for price-fixing with DFA.
Northeast dairy farmers blame DFA, the nation’s largest cooperative, and Dean, the nation’s largest processor, for lowering the price they receive for fluid milk by making DFA and its affiliates the exclusive suppliers of milk to Dean and Hood. Together the two processors bottle about 90 percent of the fluid milk in the Northeast.
“Monopolization and price-fixing have contributed to the milk-pricing crisis dairy farmers — especially small, family-owned dairies in the Northeast — face today,” says Brown. “Many dairy farmers have been forced to choose between joining DFA or DMS or going out of business. If they join, they have to pay to market to their own customers at prices fixed by DFA, DMS and other cooperatives. Meanwhile, major milk processors Dean and Hood, which is part-owned by DFA, enjoy the economic benefits.”
The DFA, DMS, Dean and Hood domination of the milk distribution system resulted from an unlawful series of contracts, agreements and understandings that defied restrictions that the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and various state attorneys general offices imposed, says Brown.
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Posted: October 30, 2009 at 11:41 am
By Chuck
Dairy Markets Week in Review
Cash cheese prices saw little change the last week of October as the temporary increased government purchases prices were likely returned to their previous levels on Halloween Day. The block cheese price closed Friday at $1.51 per pound, up a penny on the week but 9 3/4-cents below a year ago when they plunged 13 cents, to $1.6075. Barrel closed Friday at $1.4875, down a half-cent on the week and 19 3/4-cents below a year ago. Eleven cars of block traded hands this week and one of barrel. The NASS-surveyed U.S. average block price hit $1.4523, up 3.2 cents. Barrel averaged $1.4592, up 3 cents.
Butter closed at $1.41, up 6 cents on the week, but 27 1/2-cents below a year ago. Fourteen cars were sold. NASS butter averaged $1.2473, up 2.6 cents.
Cash Grade A nonfat dry milk gained a penny this week, closing at $1.3350, while Extra Grade remained at $1.27. NASS nonfat powder averaged $1.0345, down 1.2 cents, and dry whey averaged 32.64 cents per pound, up 0.6 cent.
There were no price support purchases on the week, leaving the cumulative total on nonfat dry milk at 132,276 pounds. That compares to 24 million pounds that week a year ago. Dairy Export Incentive Program bid acceptances included 462,966 pounds of anhydrous milk fat and 123,458 pounds of Cheddar cheese.
Provided courtesy of Dairyline.
Posted: October 29, 2009 at 9:15 pm
By News Editor
Dairy producers, through their checkoff investment, awarded 20 scholarships to students throughout the nation who are majoring in degrees with a dairy emphasis and who have shown potential to become future dairy leaders.
The National Dairy Promotion and Research Board (NDB), through DMI, annually awards up to 19 $1,500 scholarships to eligible undergraduate students enrolled in programs that emphasize dairy. The majors can include journalism, communications/public relations, marketing, business, economics, nutrition, food science, or ag education. In addition, NDB awards the $2,500 James H. Loper Jr. Memorial Scholarship to one outstanding scholarship recipient.
“When selecting scholarship winners, the committee looks for academic achievement, an interest in the field of dairy and demonstrated leadership, initiative and integrity,” said Kimberly Clauss, California dairy producer and NDB chair. “These students represent some of the brightest and most dedicated members of our industry’s future, and it gives us great pleasure to recognize their academic achievements and assist them with their college educations.”
The 2009-2010 $2,500 James H. Loper Jr. Memorial Scholarship was awarded to Kaci Probst, who is a student at Eastern Illinois University.
The $1,500 scholarship winners are:
Rachael A. Becker, South Dakota State University
Paula J. Craun, Virginia Polytechnic Institute
Leslie German, Oklahoma State University
April Johnson, South Dakota State University
Londa Johnson, University of Wisconsin – River Falls
Heather Jons, South Dakota State University
Ashley Julka, University of Wisconsin – River Falls
Melissa Lax, South Dakota State University
Rosemary R. Liskey, Virginia Polytechnic Institute
Brittany Moorse, South Dakota State University
Kathryn Norling, South Dakota State University
Aaron Palmer, Iowa State University
Rachel Patrick, South Dakota State University
Ana Schweer, South Dakota State University
Nicole Marie Stevens, South Dakota State University
Anna Troester, University of Wisconsin – Platteville
Michelle Vander Linden, South Dakota State University
Samantha Wahls, South Dakota State University
Abbie Wirt, South Dakota State University
Posted: October 29, 2009 at 8:48 pm
By News Editor
Intervet/Schering-Plough Animal Health announces the launch of its new Guardian® vaccine Web site, which provides the latest information to help producers and veterinarians prevent and manage neonatal diarrhea, commonly known as scours, in their cattle herds.
“Neonatal diarrhea is the No. 1 killer of beef and dairy calves less than 60 days old, costing producers an estimated $100 million in annual losses each year,” says Kevin Hill, Technical Services veterinarian for Intervet/Schering-Plough Animal Health1. “The economic impact is even greater when one considers the effect this disease complex has on infected calves that survive, causing increased treatment costs, increased labor and care for sick calves, decreased performance, and the potential for a lifetime of production losses.”
Beef and dairy producers, as well as veterinarians, can direct their Web browsers to www.guardianvaccine.com for comprehensive information on the cause of calf scours, how best to manage the problem, and the economic benefits of vaccinating cows and heifers with Guardian prior to calving. Visitors to the Web site can utilize the online calculator to determine the cost savings that can be achieved by vaccinating with Guardian each year. The interactive tool, which includes beef and dairy adaptations, allows users to apply specific herd information to determine the return on investment Guardian vaccine can provide.
Visitors to the Web site also can submit questions to animal-health specialists about calf-scours management. In addition, they can watch video clips from recent RFD-TV LIVE episodes and learn about preventing and managing neonatal diarrhea.
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Posted: October 29, 2009 at 3:44 pm
By Cindy Zimmerman
Dr. Bill Mahanna, nutritional sciences manager for Pioneer, discusses ideal moisture percentages for high moisture corn. Mahanna says high moisture corn and snaplage benefit digestion. He also comments on corn particle sizes and inoculants for high moisture corn.
This edition of Forage Forum was recorded at the Pioneer Forage Media day held in September at the Livestock Nutrition Center in Johnston, IA.
Listen to the podcast here:
pioneer-podcast-65-wdd.mp3
Bill Mahanna (4:45 min MP3)
To see all archived Pioneer Forage Forum podcasts, click here.
Posted: October 29, 2009 at 12:11 pm
By Cindy Zimmerman
Senate Agriculture Committee members this week heard directly from dairy producers, industry groups and processors about what can be done to address the current economic crisis in the dairy industry. Proposed short and long term solutions ranged from the government buying more cheese to complete restructuring of U.S. dairy policy.
Eric Ooms, a producer from New York, told the panel that while there is industry support for a national pricing solution, producers in his area are against eliminating differentials. “ANY plans that recommend eliminating or lowering the Class 1 differentials should be viewed very skeptically, if not outrightly opposed,” Ooms said emphatically. “With growing emphasis on the importance of regional food systems and local foods, it seems obvious to me that to steer federal policy away from Class 1 differentials is counterproductive.”
Producer Paul Toft from Wisconsin, testifying on behalf of the Associated Milk Producers Inc. (AMPI), noted the importance of maintaining the Milk Income Loss Contract (MILC) and the Dairy Product Price Support Program. “Unfortunately, the MILC program by itself is not sufficient,” Toft said. “The price dairy farmers are receiving for their milk is still below the cost of production. They have been losing thousands of dollars a month, even with the MILC program assistance.” He says that AMPI is supporting the concept of dairy price
stabilization.
Ray Souza of California, president of Western United Dairymen, said the situation for family dairy farmers in his state is dire. For the short term, Souza says WUD recommends USDA buy more cheese to donate to food banks. “I come from an area where some counties have 15% to 16% unemployment. The food banks there sure could use that cheese,” he said. Long term, he says WUD endorses the supply management proposal known as the Holstein Association Dairy Price Stabilization Plan.
Doug Nuttelman, a dairy farmer from Nebraska, says the the current economic situation has “redefined dairying.” As a member of the National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF) board of directors, Nuttleman presented a plan that would involve a new approach to dairy policy, including revamping of the federal Milk Marketing Order program and discontinuing the Dairy Product Price Support Program, as well as instituting a dairy insurance program. “As a farmer, I participate in my crop insurance program,” he told the panel. “I’d like to see some type of margin-type program for my dairy.”
Read the testimony of all the panelists at this week’s hearing and watch a video of the proceedings here on the Senate Ag Committee website.
Posted: October 28, 2009 at 7:45 pm
By News Editor
California’s cow’s milk cheesemakers were honored with 15 awards at the 2009 World Cheese Awards, a prestigious international cheesemaking competition hosted October 1-3 in Las Palmas, Gran Canaria.
The annual competition, hosted by the Guild of Fine Foods, boasted more than 2,000 entries from 34 different countries, including Mexico, South Africa, Australia and Japan. The submissions were evaluated by a panel of judges drawn from 24 nations across the globe. California cheesemakers clearly demonstrated the quality and heritage of California dairy: improving upon last year’s remarkable achievement of 10 awards, seven California cheesemakers were awarded two gold, three silver, and 10 bronze awards at this year’s competition.
California winners in the 2009 World Cheese Awards competition included:
Marin French Cheese Company, Petaluma, received 1st place (Gold) for Le Petit Déjeuner in the “Fresh/cream cheese cows’ milk plain” category; 2nd place (Silver) for Le Petit Crème and 3rd place (Bronze) for Le Petit Camembert in the “Mould ripened, soft or unpressed cows’ milk cheese – plain” category; 3rd place (Bronze) for Wildberry Quark in the “Quark plain or with additives” category; 3rd place (Bronze) for Traditional Brie in the “Brie made from pasteurized milk” category; and 3rd place (Bronze) for Marin French Blue in the “Blue vein cheese any variety, uncut, natural rind” category.Joseph Gallo Farms, Atwater, received 1st place (Gold) for “Provolone Cheese in the Provolone – mild” category; and 3rd place (Bronze) for Mild Cheddar Cheese in the “Mild Cheddar made after 05/31/09″ category.Belfiore Cheese Co., Berkeley, received 2nd place (Silver) for Smoked Mozzarella in the “Other smoked cheese – soft/semi soft” category; and 3rd place (Bronze) for Burrata round mozzarella with cream filling in the “All other new cheeses, open to any new cheese first marketed after 10/01/2008″ category.Bellwether Farms, Petaluma, received 2nd place (Silver) for Carmody in the “Semi-hard cheese not in any other class” category.Fiscalini Cheese Company, Modesto, received 3rd place (Bronze) for Horsefeathers in the “Processed cheese or Processed cheese spread with additives” category; and 3rd place (Bronze) for Bandage Wrap Cheddar in the “Extra Mature traditional Cheddar made after 05/31/08″ category.Cantaré Foods Inc., San Diego, received 3rd place (Bronze) for Fresh Mozzarella Ovolini size in the “Mozzarella, fresh, cows’ milk in ball (large or small)” category.Bravo Farms Handmade Cheese, Traver, received 3rd place (Bronze) for Tulare Cannonball in the “Gouda – made after 09/01/2008″ category.
Overall, 37 U.S. artisan cheesemakers were awarded a record 79 medals at this year’s World Cheese Awards. This was the best showing for U.S. cheesemakers in the history of the World Cheese Awards competition.
Posted: October 28, 2009 at 6:44 am
By Amanda Nolz
Fresh Market Editor Matthew Enis with Supermarket News dives into the pros and cons of labeling dairy products in grocery stores. He offers up some interesting insights, and this is your opportunity to share your opinions, as well. Link here to read the entire column and voice your opinion in the comments section.
Earlier this month, U.S. Sens. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, Russ Feingold, D-Wis., and Al Franken, D-Minn., introduced a bill that would extend mandatory country-of-origin labeling to all dairy products. All three senators have said that a new COOL law would help American dairy farmers compete more effectively in U.S. supermarkets and would help them weather the current economic crisis facing the dairy industry.
In a press release, Sen. Feingold added that “with the discovery last year of widespread use of melamine in Chinese dairy products, consumers deserve to know whether the milk used to produce the dairy products they buy meets the high safety standards used in the U.S.”
Passage of this bill might make some great campaign ads, but it will do very little to help U.S. dairy farmers, and it won’t make the U.S. food supply any safer. According to data from the International Dairy Foods Association, the U.S. did import more than $1.2 billion of dairy products during the first six months of 2009. Fluid milk accounted for $3 million of that total. Yogurt, butter, ice cream, dry milk and condensed milk combined for about $70 million more. To put this in perspective, according to recent IRI data, annual U.S. sales of these products total more than $20 billion. In the U.S., the vast majority of these products are already produced domestically.
Posted: October 27, 2009 at 8:30 pm
By News Editor
Great and interesting story about a farm in Vermont that is making their cheddar their own, and offering a dairy farming experience to others.
Shelburne Farms, 1,400 acres of pasture, gardens and woodland, designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, along the shore of Vermont’s Lake Champlain. Besides offering $450-a-night accommodations in a 24-room inn, the farm employs 200 shepherds, dairymen, cheesemakers, woodsmen and gardeners, all of them dedicated to living and passing along what the farm calls a “pasture to palate” ethic. Guests can milk doe-eyed Brown Swiss cows beside a milkmaid who knows the Bessies so well she identifies them by their udders. “It’s about teaching people to become part of the story of their food,” says Peter Bullock, who runs summer camps for kids on the farm. “We tell people, ‘Try this! Doesn’t this feel good? Isn’t this fun?’”
Cheese is a relatively recent part of Shelburne’s history. In 1886 William Seward Webb (a physician turned Wall Street financier) and his wife, Eliza (Lila) Osgood Vanderbilt, commissioned Olmsted and architect Robert Henderson Robertson to construct a working farm that could double as a holiday retreat for high-society friends from New York City. It encompassed 3,800 acres with 400 acres of woodland, a breeding barn for carriage horses, a five-story farm barn, a dairy, a carriage barn and a 110-room Queen Anne Revival-style mansion. Olmsted, already distinguished for designing Manhattan’s Central Park, used islands of hardwoods and slopes of clover to make the place a haven of sustainable land management. But the farm fell into disrepair in the 1930s, eventually risking foreclosure until the Webbs’ great-grandchildren–Alexander and Marshall Webb, who, along with their four siblings, stood to inherit the estate–created a nonprofit educational entity on the farm in 1972. As such, the farm could accept donations and apply for federal grants to rebuild and maintain the estate; it also allowed for tax breaks associated with owning a conservation easement. (Papa Webb willed the barns and the land to the nonprofit in 1984.)
Today Shelburne is an unusual blend of nonprofit and for-profit operations that brought in $8.1 million in revenue last year. Of that, $4.1 million came from for-profit businesses: the inn and restaurant ($2.4 million); cheddar sales ($900,000, most of it mail order); gift shop items ($570,000); and special events like weddings and a Mozart festival ($240,000). The rest comes from various not-for-profit sources: the dairy; contributions, gifts and grants (Vermonters are big givers); summer camps; and adult classes on cheesemaking. The farm’s $4 million endowment, invested mostly in money market funds and U.S. Treasurys, kicked in $160,000 or so last year. Whole Foods has recently ponied up a $100,000 order.
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Posted: October 27, 2009 at 7:19 pm
By Amanda Nolz
Packworld.com recently released this information about a new plant packaging for butter products using robots. This is pretty cool. For more information, download the white paper on this topic here.
California Dairies’ Turlock, Calif., plant produces more than 170 different SKUs of butter in case sizes ranging from 8 to 55 pounds. This Motoman case history describes the plant’s transition from manual to robotic palletizing.
“The robot system has improved our ability to run in a consistent manner,” says Eric Snoke, Vice President of Operations. “We calculated that the payback for the system would be two years or less, based on direct labor savings alone, and that does not take into account the reduction in workmen compensation claims.”
Posted: October 27, 2009 at 4:00 pm
By News Editor
Cooperatives Working Together (CWT) announced that it has tentatively accepted 154 bids in the fourth herd retirement it has conducted in the last 12 months. The 26,412 cows and 517 million pounds of milk accepted in this round, combined with CWT’s three previous herd retirements since December 2008, equal a total reduction of milk production capacity of five billion pounds.
“Coming into 2009, CWT’s economists estimated that we would need to remove between five and six billion pounds of milk, the production of approximately 250,000 cows, through herd retirements,” said Jerry Kozak, President and CEO of the National Milk Producers Federation, which administers CWT. “We are pleased that the participation in this third herd retirement of 2009 has brought us to our goal of aligning supply with demand, and hastening the recovery of farm-level milk prices that plunged because of the global recession.”
CWT member farmers in 33 states submitted a total of 168 herd retirement bids during the two-week bidding period which ended October 15th. This is the ninth herd retirement in the past six years of CWT’s existence, and featured a maximum acceptable bid threshold of $5.25 per cwt., the same price ceiling as in the retirement conducted in August.
“We felt it was important to help milk prices continue to strengthen by conducting another herd retirement as soon as we completed farms audits for the previous round one in the summer,” noted Kozak. He said in addition to the 26,000 cows, 465 bred heifers were also accepted this week.
As with the two most recent herd retirements in 2009, producers whose bids are accepted in this herd retirement will be paid in two installments: 90% of the amount bid times the producer’s 12 months of milk production when it is verified that that all cows have gone to slaughter, and the remaining 10% plus interest at the end of 12 months following the farm audit, provided both the producer and his dairy facility – whether owned or leased – do not become involved in the commercial production and marketing of milk during that period.
Cooperatives Working Together is being funded by dairy cooperatives and individual dairy farmers, who are contributing 10 cents per hundredweight assessment on their milk production through December 2010.
Posted: October 27, 2009 at 12:17 pm
By Amanda Nolz
E.B. Solomont with the Mother Nature Network recently published an article titled, Dairy Farmers Launch Organic Brand, in The Olympian in Washington state. This is an exciting new brand of organic milk products featured by several dairy farmers in the state of Maine. Check it out!
In the annals of rural farming, 10 organic dairy farmers in Maine are showing entrepreneurial spirit in trying economic times: After their contracts with a major milk processor were abruptly canceled, the farmers will distribute and sell their own cows’ milk locally under the name MOOMilk, short for Maine’s Own Organic Milk Co. MOOMilk is set to hit stores in Maine and Massachusetts by early November, just 18 months after the farmers faced far bleaker prospects, according to the Bangor Daily News.
It all started when H.P. Hood Inc. axed the dairy farms from its organic line for economic reasons. Furious, the farmers urged the milk processor to reconsider, particularly since many converted to organic at Hood’s urging. Hood refused, but rather than fall prey to a ravaged economy, the farmers banded together to form a cooperative with investors, the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association, the Maine Farm Bureau and the Maine Department of Agriculture. With a price tag of $3.99 per half-gallon, the milk will be sold at standard organic prices and will take roughly 96 hours to get from the cow to the shelf.
Posted: October 27, 2009 at 10:24 am
By Cindy Zimmerman
Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica Inc. (BIVI) has closed a deal with Pfizer to acquire a significant portion of the Fort Dodge Animal Health business. The acquisition, which includes products in the U.S., Australia, Canada and South Africa, as well as two manufacturing and research facilities located in Fort Dodge, Iowa, significantly increases the size of Boehringer Ingelheim’s companion animal and cattle portfolios and strengthens the company’s position as a leading vaccine supplier.
“We’ll be expanding our business significantly, in fact, doubling our sales in the United States,” said BIVI president George Heidgerken. “The product assets we’ve acquired from Fort Dodge are a broad range of strong brands in the cattle vaccine business. This is part of our long term strategy to improve our product offerings and our capabilities for the U.S. cattle producers and the U.S. cattle market.”
The cattle vaccines included in the acquisition include the Triangle®, Pyramid®, and Presponse® vaccine lines. Pharmaceutical products being acquired include Cydectin® (moxidectin) for cattle and sheep as well as Polyflex® (ampicillin sodium). The dairy portfolio includes the key brands Today® and Tomorrow®.
Listen to or download an interview with George Heidgerken here:
Podcast: Play in new window
| Download
Posted: October 27, 2009 at 6:11 am
By Amanda Nolz
ABC Rural recently posted a report on live dairy cattle export numbers, and like many areas in the agriculture industry, it’s not looking positive. (Photo courtesy of Allyson Horn) Here is the most recent news…
Live dairy cattle exports are 10,000 head below expectations so far this year. Cameron Hall, from LiveCorp, says it’s likely that just 40,000 dairy heifers will be exported from Australia this year. It’s a long way short of the 58,000 that were exported to more than 15 countries last year.
“Now that’s been an impact of the global financial crisis without doubt,” he says. “You know, we’ve seen an increase in the second half of the year on Australian currency rates, we’re seeing an increase on oil prices, all of which go into increasing the cost to supply Australian dairy cattle.”
Posted: October 26, 2009 at 7:07 pm
By Amanda Nolz
Kim Souza at the Morning Business News recently reported on the dairy stimulus that will soon be assisting local farmers. Last week, President Barack Obama signed a stimulus packaged for emergency funding, and the dairy producers will get a share of this stimulus package to aid in struggling times. Read on for more information…
Local dairy farms will soon share in the $350 million emergency funding stimulus signed into law by President Barack Obama on Wednesday. The stipend may not be enough for some struggling farms to hang on given the broad economic plight in the industry, according to dairy insiders. Dairy farmers hit rock bottom this past year, battered by price deflation and volatile grain costs, said Wayne Kellogg, dairy expert from the University of Arkansas.
Base milk prices paid to Northwest Arkansas dairies plummeted an average of 40 percent in the months of February to August, compared to a year ago, Kellogg said. The dire economic conditions have forced adjustments in the dairy sector. Many of the local farms are hanging on in anticipation of government assistance during this crisis, Kellogg said.
Local farms likely will receive a direct payment ranging from 15 cents per 100 pounds of milk production to $1.80 per hundredweight, said Jackie Klippenstein, vice president of industrial and legislative affairs for Dairy Farmers of America. (Hundredweight is the standard unit of measure for milk, it is equal to 100 pounds.) There are any number of ways for the government to calculate payments.
Posted: October 26, 2009 at 5:15 pm
By News Editor
The Wisconsin Dairy Council has introduced a new website and promotion called “iRock with Milk”, an exciting opportunity for local Wisconsin school districts to learn more about including milk in a healthy diet.
The Council is working with Wisconsin school foodservice to coordinate a statewide in-school milk promotion to remind all students that drinking milk with meals really “rocks.” The “iRock with Milk” promotion features 2nd Thought Band, a classic rock group of high school students from Whitefish Bay, Wis. 
A special contest for middle schools throughout Wisconsin will award seven schools with a concert by the band and the opportunity to celebrate milk as a healthy beverage choice. Over 1,200 cafeteria promotion kits will be distributed for this school year to Wisconsin schools.
As part of the promotion, students can visit the newly created website to download 2nd Thought songs, make music videos and enter to win prizes. On the site, visitors can make their own “moo-sic” video with the “Keys to Healthy Living” video creator. And they can enter for a chance to win an iPod nano®, an iPod shuffle® or an iTunes® gift card.
Posted: October 26, 2009 at 4:00 pm
By Amanda Nolz
Tom Lutey at the Billings Gazette recently published a very interesting, thought-provoking read titled, Dairy farm utilizes alternative income sources on the next environmental step for cattle producers. It’s all about utilizing the methane for cattle and converting into reusable energy. This is a great example of just that, and from the comments about the article, I would say the general public supports this production practice, as well. (Photo courtesy Billings Gazette) Here is a piece of the article…
A farmer in tough times has to squeeze every penny from his operation, but Huls Dairy is squeezing in places few farmers have. Dairy cows at the Corvallis farm produce 6 million gallons of manure a year, which this fourth-generation farm in Northwest Montana’s Bitterroot Valley taps for methane fuel and a bagged, organic lawn-and-garden fertilizer sold as Afterburner Boost. The methane generates enough energy to power Huls’ 350-cow dairy operation, plus one home.
“Our farm has tried to utilize our cows, to market whatever we have,” said Tim Huls, who is facing the lowest payments in nearly three decades for his farm’s milk. “It wouldn’t be enough to offset the dairy crisis, in terms of taking you from being in the red, but at this point it’s paid its own way, particularly in fertilizer. Afterburner Boost does very well in the marketplace.”
Finding small ways to save or make a buck has become crucial for Montana farmers struggling with feast-or-famine market prices. Huls likens the erratic price behavior of his commodity to a seismograph reading for Yellowstone National Park. After receiving a record high price for his milk two years ago, Huls would now need dairy payouts to increase a third just to break even. For Huls Dairy, the decision to go into the methane energy business was as much about squeezing a dollar as bracing for environmental change. Methane from livestock is increasingly being viewed as a liability for farmers, one they might be penalized for producing possible federal legislation to curb global warming.
Posted: October 26, 2009 at 11:52 am
By Amanda Nolz
This is positive news for school kids and dairy producers alike. Reuters recently published an article about the praise International Dairy Foods Association has been giving President Obama and USDA Secretary Vilsack for their push for more dairy products in school lunch and breakfast programs. Kudos to these government officials for understanding the importance of dairy in growing children! Here is an excerpt from that article…
“Kids are eating far too few low fat dairy products,” said Vilsack. This is particularly important because the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s school meal programs are often the only source of dairy products in many children’s
diet.”
USDA data shows that per capita milk consumption has been falling for decades, and that this decline corresponds to the dramatic increase in per capita consumption of competing beverages among school children. The USDA also reports that the vast majority of children do not get the recommended amount of calcium. Only 5 percent of girls and 25 percent of boys aged 9 to 13 get the calcium they need.
Posted: October 26, 2009 at 5:00 am
By News Editor
Visit Charm Sciences at Worldwide Food Expo in Chicago, October 28-31, Booth S5445 to learn more about their new Charm®Chloramphenicol Test, a Rapid One Step Assay (ROSA) test that detects chloramphenicol in raw milk.
Charm Chloramphenicol Test has been made to meet regulatory requirements around the world. With a limit of detection of 0.1 ppb, it meets the Minimum Required Performance Level (MRLP) for chloramphenicol set by the EU. It can also be used to uphold recent law by the Russian Milk Federation which specifies all milk imports be free of chloramphenicol (Federal law No. 88-FL), as well as similar regulations such as those in the US and other countries that ban the use of chloramphenicol. In addition, the Charm Chloramphenicol Test complements the US FDA-approved Charm II Test for chloramphenicol (M-I-92-11).
Charm Chloramphenicol Test uses patented ROSA technology – combining fast, accurate detection with ease of use. It follows the same simple procedure and uses the same equipment as other ROSA milk tests – add milk to the test strip, incubate for 8 minutes and read on the ROSA Reader. The Pearl Reader stores results electronically for record keeping and analysis.
Chloramphenicol is a member of the amphenicol family of antibiotic drugs. While highly effective, chloramphenicol’s toxicity is well documented. In most countries, chloramphenicol has been banned for use in food-producing animals because it is linked to aplastic anemia, which can be fatal to humans.
Charm Chloramphenicol Test joins the Charm family of ROSA milk tests – the leading residue diagnostic tests employed by the dairy industry worldwide. Other ROSA milk tests include beta-lactam tests for the North American dairy market, MRL beta-lactam tests for international markets, as well as tests for tetracyclines, enrofloxicin, sulfa drugs and aflatoxin M1. Combination beta-lactam/tetracycline kits are also available. All ROSA tests follow a similar test procedure and can use the same equipment, providing efficiency and cost savings.
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