Posted: February 2, 2012 at 8:34 pm
By Cindy Zimmerman
Just prior to the opening general session of the Cattle Industry Convention this week, the U.S. Labor Department announced that a proposal which would have barred children from many on-farm tasks will be revised to allow broader exemptions for parents who own or run agricultural operations.
“I’ve got a news flash for all of you,” said National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) president Bill Donald as he took the stage and shared the news with some 6,000 cattle industry members from around the country who broke into applause. “That is big news. Your voices were heard – our voices were heard. This goes right to the very fiber of who we are in this country.”
Donald noted that HR departments love to hire farm kids to fill positions “because they have a work ethic. They don’t just sit on their butts and play video games. They do their chores before they catch their school bus and do them again when they get home.”
The proposed rules would have prevent children younger than 16 from using most power-driven equipment on farms and prohibit anyone under 19 from working in grain bins, stockyards and feedlots.
Posted: February 1, 2012 at 7:55 pm
By News Editor
Each year, the heads of state of the two football teams place a bet on the outcome of the Super Bowl. This year, New York’s Governor Andrew M. Cuomo has placed Greek yogurt as his bet.
When the Giants beat the Patriots, Gov. Deval Patrick of Massachusetts will be sending to a New York food bank several Centerville pies, some clam chowder and 46 cases of Food Should Taste Good chips.
But in the unlikely inconceivable event the Giants lose, Mr. Cuomo will be sending to New England 46 dozen Ess-a-Bagels, 46 Junior’s cheesecakes — and 46 cases of Greek yogurt, which the governor’s office characterized in a press release as New York’s “newest and hottest export.”
“Greek yogurt is the healthy choice for New York’s economy and a natural fit for a bet demonstrating the best our state has to offer,” Austin Shafran, a spokesman for the Empire State Development Corporation, said in a follow-up call. “New York is working hard to be a global leader in the manufacturing of Greek yogurt, which has shown it has the winning formula to create jobs and economic growth.”
Greek yogurt — ultra-rich yogurt with most of the water and whey strained out — is indeed a booming industry in New York, thanks in part to the large amount of milk produced in the state. In 2010, New York produced 368 million pounds of Greek yogurt, according to the state Department of Agriculture and Markets.
Posted: December 31, 2011 at 8:55 am
By Cindy Zimmerman
Overall, 2011 was a pretty upbeat year for the dairy industry.
Traffic on World Dairy Diary was up another 4%, surpassing 102,500 unique visitors and we now have almost 2000 followers on Twitter (@worlddairydiary).
We shared about 600 stories here on WDD, including over 65 audio interviews or podcasts. According to page views, the most popular stories of 2011 on World Dairy Diary were:
Posted: December 27, 2011 at 6:15 pm
By News Editor
The dairy checkoff’s strategic partnerships and strategy of working with and through the industry continued to drive sales in 2011, as evidenced by targeted partnerships with industry leaders and the work of the checkoff-led Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy®.
The dairy checkoff continued to leverage dairy producer investments in the checkoff with others to grow category sales. In fact, $800 million of non-checkoff funds and resources is helping sell more dairy. These efforts helped lead to an increase of 4.2 billion pounds of dairy sold for the 12 month period ending July 2011.
Much of the checkoff’s success is achieved through its business strategy of partnering with industry leaders, including McDonald’s® and Domino’s Pizza®.
“This year’s progress further validates that the checkoff business plan is on the right track,” said Paul Rovey, Arizona dairy producer and chair of Dairy Management Inc.™ (DMI), which manages the national checkoff program. “We’re working with industry leaders in a collaborative effort and leveraging our resources that lead to a win-win scenario for producers, and the entire industry.”
Posted: December 21, 2011 at 12:43 pm
By News Editor
A moving tribute to Doug Maddox, created by the Holstein Association USA. Maddox was the former president of the Association, and a life-long registered Holstein breeder.
Posted: December 19, 2011 at 7:18 pm
By News Editor
We at World Dairy Diary were very saddened to hear about the death of a dairy industry leader. Doug Maddox, of Ruann Dairy,will be deeply missed. Hoard’s Dairyman shares more about his amazing life.
One of the dairy industry’s best-known personalities, Doug Maddox, passed away this morning in his office after a massive heart attack. A vibrant person until his last day, Doug had a personality that simply caused people to gravitate to him. Doug was known around the globe as an outstanding businessman, a mentor to many young producers, and a person who had a deep respect for the Holstein cow. At last count, the family’s dairies are believed to be home to the largest 100 percent registered Holstein herd in the United States.
Farming has always been in the Maddox’s blood. The RuAnn prefix is a combination of his parents’ names: Rufus and Annie. For the past 54 years, he grew the family enterprise, and together RuAnn and Maddox Dairies have over 5,000 registered Holstein cows, with over 12,000 total animals. Over the years, Doug and his family exported dairy cattle and semen to over 40 countries. To this day, they still harvest between 3,000 and 4,000 embryos each year. A gifted entrepreneur, Maddox also farmed 10,000 acres. Of that total, 5,000 acres is vineyards and almonds, with the remainder used as cropland for the dairy herd.
Doug dedicated a great deal of time to the industry. Just this summer he committed time to travel to Washington, D.C., to discuss pending dairy legislation with Senators and Representatives. As a leader, Doug gave guidance to many organizations including: the Riverdale District School Board, National DHIA, the California Department of Food and Agriculture State Board, the California Milk Marketing Producer Review Board, and Holstein Association USA. He is past president of both California DHIA and Holstein Association USA.
Posted: December 13, 2011 at 2:19 pm
By Cindy Zimmerman
ZimmComm New Media is proud to announce the very first (that we know of) Ag Events Calendar.
This slick 10×15 wall calendar includes dates for all the major ag-related events in 2012, along with photos each month from the 2011 events that we covered. There’s photos from the American Farm Bureau Federation annual meeting, Commodity Classic, World Dairy Expo and lots more.
We ordered a limited number of the calendars to give to some of our clients for Christmas, but then discovered that there are lots of other folks out there who would like to get a copy, so we are ordering more and offering them for sale.
For just $20 each plus $2 shipping/handling, you can get your very own 2012 Ag Events calendar here:
Posted: December 10, 2011 at 10:52 am
By News Editor
The dairy checkoff’s strategy of working with food and dairy industry partners is helping to “navigate a new course” for dairy producers by directly contributing to more than 7 billion additional pounds of milk sales since January 2010.
The dairy checkoff provides producers a strong presence to help sell more dairy, according to Ryan Anglin, Arkansas dairy producer and NDB chair. “We do this by establishing relationships and building partnerships that strengthen dairy farmer voices in the marketplace,” Anglin said.
Anglin pointed to targeted partnerships with industry leaders, including McDonald’s® and Domino’s Pizza®. “These partnerships work because they bring together the checkoff’s dairy knowledge and expertise to food industry leaders that make a difference in the marketplace – not only through their efforts, but by capturing the attention and interest of industry competitors,” he added.
McDonald’s is a perfect example, according to Anglin. Working with the checkoff to create more dairy-friendly items, the chain grew additional milk sales by more than 1 billion pounds and is becoming a “dairy destination” for more than 27 million customers who visit McDonald’s restaurants each day.
Beyond foodservice, partnerships extend to efforts to improve the health and nutrition of our nation’s schoolchildren. At its core, the partnership between national and local organizations form UDIA, a federation of 19 state and regional dairy promotion organizations that collaborate to develop and implement strategies that will grow sales, according to Bill Siebenborn, Missouri dairy producer and UDIA chair.
This includes the development and implementation of the in-school Fuel Up to Play 60 (FUTP60) program. FUTP 60, now in more than 70,000 schools across the country, encourages students to consume nutrient-rich foods, including low-fat and fat-free dairy, and to have 60 minutes of physical activity every day. FUTP 60 also helps build lifelong dairy values among our next generation of consumers
The program extends beyond national and local checkoff programs. The National Football League® (NFL) is a Fuel Up to Play 60 partner, bringing “star power” by engaging all 32 NFL teams and its players to lead physical fitness and guide healthy eating components that include dairy. The U.S. Department of Agriculture also provides partnership support to the program.
Through the Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy, producers are helping develop strategies that will grow short- and long-term sales by addressing core producer priorities, including health and wellness, research and insights, sustainability, consumer confidence, globalization, and food safety.
As a result, today more than 800 people, representing 200 dairy industry and other partner companies, work across the industry on producer goals. This time commitment alone – more than 60,000 hours – is valued at more than $7 million.
Rovey pointed to other examples where producers bring the power of partnerships to the table to leverage dairy checkoff investments:
· Through the Dairy Research Institute, producers are working to build a $100 million dairy nutrition, product and sustainability research plan by 2013. So far, the plan totals $58 million, including $45 million in spending from non-checkoff sources.
· To advance health and wellness goals, dairy processors and manufacturers have invested more than $40 million in non-checkoff, branded marketing to promote the nutrient-rich benefits of dairy.
· To help meet consumer needs for reduced-sodium products, the industry has invested more than $300,000 in industry funding and in-kind contributions to help reduce sodium levels in cheese.
Posted: November 17, 2011 at 9:42 pm
By News Editor
The Dairy Calf & Heifer Association Conference Committee has scheduled another great lineup of speakers and presenters, for the 2012 Dairy Calf & Heifer Conference, March 20-21, in Visalia, Calif. Online registration will open Jan. 9, 2012.
Presenters include Gary Sipiorski, Dairy Development Manager, VITA PLUS Corp., Kerry Scott, H2A Program Manager, Mid-Atlantic Solutions Inc., and Gary Conklin, Conklin Farms.
The breakout sessions, some of which will be available in Spanish, will cover topics such as:
• Low stress animal handling
• Economics of accelerated growth
• Estrus synchronization for heifers
• Preventing lameness
• Motivating employees
• Reducing feed shrink
There will be wet lab demonstrations by highly-respected veterinarians and discussions by experts on how you can implement DCHA’s Gold Standards III, animal welfare standards for rearing dairy calves and heifers, into your operation.
Posted: November 1, 2011 at 6:44 pm
By News Editor
Do you give it your all in your sport and then reach for lowfat chocolate milk to help you rehydrate, replenish and rebuild your muscles? You can apply to become part of Team Refuel and have the got milk? Campaign’s Team Refuel sponsor you!
The elite athletes, coaches and trainers of Team Refuel know lowfat chocolate milk is nature’s recovery drink – a delicious and effective way to refuel your body after a hard workout. Now, we’re sponsoring athletes from across the country who are passionate about their sport and recovering with lowfat chocolate milk.
Why do you want to join Team Refuel, and how would a $250 Individual Athlete Refuel Grant or a $500 Athletic Group Refuel Grant help you reach your athletic goals? We’re awarding 10 grants each month to the individuals and groups who rally the most friends, family and fans to vote for them.
Posted: November 1, 2011 at 6:38 pm
By News Editor
Winfield Solutions, LLC is offering 20 scholarships worth $1,000 each. The scholarships will be awarded to 10 high school seniors and 10 first or second-year college students who demonstrate scholastic achievement, leadership in agriculture and a perceived ability to contribute to agriculture in the future.
The Careers in Agriculture Scholarship Program is available to high school graduating seniors and first or second year college students pursuing two- or four-year degrees in agronomy, crop production, or closely related fields.
To qualify for the program, a student must:
Be a high school senior, graduating in spring of 2012; or
Be a college freshman or sophomore;
Demonstrate leadership abilities and academic performance;
Complete an application including one character reference and one reference letter; and
Write essays describing the importance of farmer cooperatives, and why he or she is interested in an agricultural career.
Since its formation 22 years ago, the Careers in Agriculture Scholarship Program has awarded more than half million dollars to young adults who share the same commitment to agronomy, excellence and the cooperative system.
All applications must be postmarked by Feb. 1, 2012. Winners will be notified by mail in April 2012.
Posted: October 31, 2011 at 5:01 pm
By News Editor
A new low impact pasteurizer (LIP) is now available from Bob-White Systems The LIP is an advanced and affordable system specifically designed to give small-scale dairies the option of offering pasteurized farm fresh milk directly to their customers. The Low Impact Pasteurizer was designed from the ground up to give small-scale dairies maximum benefits. The LIP system completely automates most of the pasteurization process, a huge labor and time-saving advantage for farmers. User interaction with the simple, intuitive interface is minimal, and it incorporates self-cleaning technology that virtually eliminates time-consuming clean up, freeing farmers to do more important things.
According to Steve Judge, President of Bob-White Systems, “Our goal was to develop high- temperature short-time (HTST) technology that’s scaled to four-to-ten cows. The Low Impact Pasteurizer is the result of many thousands of hours of research, development and onsite testing under actual micro dairy conditions. We’ve put six years and over a million dollars into developing an affordable system that eliminates the price barrier to entry and gives small dairy operations the choice of offering pasteurized milk to their local communities.”
The Low Impact Pasteurizer system does not homogenize, separate or standardize milk the way commercial units do. And just as important, the system preserves the texture resulting in a product that is ideal for selling directly to consumers or for use in making the highest-quality cheeses, yogurts or other value-added dairy products.
The contest offered colleges around the country the opportunity to showcase what their school and dairy club have to offer.
The videos will be judged according to the following criteria:
Quality of footage: 1-10 points
Following the rules of content: 1-10 points
Interest level: 1-10 points
Entertainment level: 1-10 points
Presentation of cattle: 1-10 points
50%: Poll feature on www.holsteinworldproductions.com
The winning video will be selected to play on the homepage of HolsteinWorld’s website during the month of December!
Select Sires took their Select Detect activity monitoring system to a new level this year when they introduced the mobile optimized version at World Dairy Expo. I spoke with King Smith to learn more about it. In the photo he’s showing the new mobile app on an iPad.
This new mobile application allows dairy producers to access cow records from the barn, from the field or when they are on the go.
The mobile Select Detect application is optimized for iPhone®, iPod touch®, iPad® and Android™-based phones. It allows for a quick remote review of cows on the high activity list, low activity list and heat expectancy list. Both daily and hourly activity charts can be viewed to determine if and when A.I. should be performed. This removes the need for dairy producers to be in the office to review the software and allows for a quick snapshot of activity that is updated every hour.
Posted: October 13, 2011 at 7:33 pm
By News Editor
Hoard’s Dairyman has published its annual list of the top 50 dairy cooperatives in the country.
In 2010 just under 79 percent of the nation’s 192.8 billion pounds of milk was marketed through those 50 cooperatives, down from 79.6 percent in 2009 and the lowest market share those co-ops have had since 2007.
Dairy Farmers of America continues to be the biggest dairy co-op in the country with 37.8 billion pounds of milk, more than double any other co-op and 19.6 percent of the total milk produced in the country last year. California Dairies is second with 16.9 billion pounds of milk; Land O’Lakes is third with 12.87 billion pounds; Northwest Dairy Association of Seattle is the fourth largest handling 7.3 billion pounds of milk followed by New York’s Dairylea Co-op with 6.25 billion. Those top five cooperatives handled 42 percent of total U.S. production in 2010, down from 45 percent in 2009.
AMPI, Family Dairies USA, Foremost Farms USA, Manitowoc Milk Producers and Select Milk Producers of New Mexico round-out the top 10. The nation’s largest organic cooperative, Organic Valley/CROPP is number 26 with 1.15 billion pounds of milk.
Posted: October 11, 2011 at 2:49 pm
By News Editor
Happy birthday to W.D. Hoard, who would have been 175 years old on Monday. Residents of Fort Atkinson, Wis. gathered this weekend to celebrate his birthday and remember the dairying legacy the late governor left behind.
The Hoard Historical Museum in Fort Atkinson hosted a program in conjunction with Governor William Dempster Hoard Day, which was being observed as an official state holiday today.
“As you may know, Governor Hoard’s birthday is Monday, Oct. 10. He was born in 1836 in upstate New York, and he wended his way here to Wisconsin, and, as we like to say around here, the rest of that story is history,” museum director Kori Oberle said in welcoming attendees.
Birthday cake, ice cream and milk punch were served during a reception that was followed by a 2:30 program. The keynote speaker was Ed Janus, author of “Creating Dairyland,” who discussed Hoard’s pivotal role in changing Wisconsin from a wheat-based agricultural state to one supported by dairying.
Pastor Clinton Bush, founder of City Kidz Ice Cream Cafe in Jacksonville, FL was presented a special award for his organization’s Philly Vanilla ice cream entry in the contest, which won second place in its division. “Normally we don’t give special recognition to second and third place winners during the awards reception,” said Brad Legried of the Wisconsin Dairy Products Association, which sponsors the competition. “But Pastor Bush and the young people of City Kidz Ice Cream Cafe deserve the notice.”
Bush founded City Kidz Ice Cream in 2006 to foster financial literacy in inner-city communities and the group provides young people the opportunity to work in a dairy manufacturing plant and learn how to pursue career paths. The group received a special award from the competition and the 15 young people who helped manufacture their “Philly Vanilla” ice cream entry will all received special merit certificates.
“I think we all have a moral obligation to make sure we preserve our food industry, especially our dairy industry, because America has always been the global leader in food science,” Pastor Bush said, noting that the ice cream the students created is heading for supermarket shelves in the near future.
Speaking of the future, a $2000 scholarship was also awarded at the event Tuesday evening. UW-Madison student Susan Hodgson received the sizable check to pursue her dairy-related studies.
The Championship Dairy Product Contest had over 700 entries this year. It’s the only contest of it’s kind in North America because it includes all dairy products. This year there were 74 classes for ice cream, cheese, yogurt, fluid milk, cottage cheese, whey, sour cream, butter, etc.
Posted: September 30, 2011 at 8:32 pm
By News Editor
The 2010 Dairy Management Inc.™ annual report – featuring highlights of how the dairy checkoff helped impact sales of more than 6 billion additional pounds of milk is now available online.
The annual report provides an update of various dairy checkoff programs, including strategic partnerships with globally recognized companies such as McDonald’s® and Domino’s® Pizza.
The report also includes examples of industry collaboration through the checkoff-led Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy™, which works to protect and grow sales by working through the industry.
Other sections in the report include:
· Fuel Up to Play 60 – an in-school program that aims to encourage healthy eating, including dairy, and physical activity for our nation’s children
· Export marketing – includes those programs led by the U.S. Dairy Export Council® that work to develop and grow export markets for U.S.-produced dairy products and ingredients
· Health and wellness communications – designed to inform health professionals and other thought leaders about dairy’s science-based nutritional benefits
· Dairy Research Institute – created to strengthen the industry’s access to and investment in the technical research needed to drive innovation and grow sales.
· Dairy image – programs that help maintain and build consumer confidence in the U.S. dairy industry.
“The dairy checkoff continues to show how it is leading change throughout the industry,” said Paul Rovey, Arizona dairy producer and chair of Dairy Management Inc.™, which manages the national dairy checkoff. “Thanks to the checkoff’s efforts, the dairy industry experienced unprecedented collaboration and innovation in 2010 that set the table for future success.”
Posted: September 30, 2011 at 8:27 pm
By News Editor
The Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy®, in affiliation with the Dairy Research Institute™, has announced the U.S. Dairy Sustainability Awards, a new program that recognizes dairy farms, businesses and collaborative partnerships for efforts in delivering outstanding economic, environmental and/or social benefit, thus helping to advance sustainability of the dairy industry.
The awards are divided into three categories: dairy farm, dairy processing/manufacturing and energy conservation/generation. Nominations are being accepted through Dec. 1.
The winners will be announced in February and will share their stories and passion for sustainability on a national scale and will be featured online.
The awards are part of the U.S. Dairy Sustainability Commitment, an industry-wide effort to measure and improve the economic, environmental and social sustainability of the dairy industry. Launched in 2008 under the leadership of dairy producers, the Sustainability Commitment has the support and participation of hundreds of organizations across the industry and others from academic, government and nongovernmental organizations.
Just prior to the opening general session of the Cattle Industry Convention this week, the U.S. Labor Department announced that a proposal which would have barred children from many on-farm tasks will be revised to allow broader exemptions for parents who own or run agricultural operations. 
Traffic on World Dairy Diary was up another 4%, surpassing 102,500 unique visitors and we now have almost 2000 followers on Twitter (
ZimmComm New Media is proud to announce the very first (that we know of) Ag Events Calendar. 
The founder of an inner-city food science lab received special recognition in the 
“I think we all have a moral obligation to make sure we preserve our food industry, especially our dairy industry, because America has always been the global leader in food science,” Pastor Bush said, noting that the ice cream the students created is heading for supermarket shelves in the near future.