World Dairy Diary » Production

Fuel Up to Play 60 for the Super Bowl

Cindy Zimmerman — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 21:59:50 +0000

Whether you like the Patriots or the Giants – or neither one – Super Bowl time is a great opportunity to highlight the powerful partnership that dairy farmers, through their checkoff program, have forged with the National Football League. The “Fuel Up to Play 60″ program encourages young people to get 60 minutes of activity [...]

January Dairy Outlook

Cindy Zimmerman — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 01:18:19 +0000

USDA World Agricultural Outlook Board Chair Gerry Bange expects milk production to increase in 2012. Talking about the latest USDA Dairy Outlook in terms of production and price estimates, Bange says, “U.S. milk production in 2012 is expected to increase about 1.3%. We’re looking now at 198.5 billion pounds.” That’s unchanged from the last forecast, [...]

Rising Milk Production Boosts Corn Sales

Cindy Zimmerman — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 23:19:57 +0000

Milk production is on the rise according to the latest report from USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service. Milk production in the 23 major States during November totaled 14.7 billion pounds, up 2.2 percent from November 2010. October revised production at 15.2 billion pounds, was up 2.5 percent from October 2010. The report indicates that production [...]

Prices, Cows and Milk All Up From Last Year

Cindy Zimmerman — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 21:34:19 +0000

Despite rising feed prices and a hot summer, milk production continues to increase this year, with forecast milk output rising 1.5 percent in 2011 to 195.7 billion pounds, according to USDA. Cow numbers continue to increase more than expected and output per cow appears to have rebounded from the July and August heat. Cow numbers [...]

Milk May Do Grass Good

Cindy Zimmerman — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 23:51:35 +0000

The Associated Press picked up on a story out of Columbia, Missouri this past weekend about a Nebraska dairy farmer who found that spraying milk on his pastures improves the grass – and the cows love it. The original story from the Columbia Daily Tribune came out of a small conference that was held in [...]

Hawaiian Dairies Post Increased Milk Production

News Editor — Fri, 07 May 2010 23:12:57 +0000

Congratulations to Hawaiian dairy farmers! For the first time in 11 years, they posted an increase year-over-year in milk production! Hawaii milk production increased 15 percent in 2009, the first time in 11 years the state has seen a year-over-year production increase, according to a report released Wednesday by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Hawaii’s [...]

High Volume Dairy Implements Robotic Palletizing

Amanda Nolz — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 00:19:58 +0000

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 [...]

Dairy Producer Masters Social Media to Tell Story

Amanda Nolz — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 20:51:33 +0000

Here is a positive story about a dairy producer in California who is standing up and speaking out to tell the real story of production agriculture. Her name is Barbara Jackson, and her story was recently printed in the Modesto Beef in an article titled, “Ag Tries Twitter,” a feature by Robert Rodriguez that describes [...]

Building Knowledge On Transition Cow Management

Amanda Nolz — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 20:23:47 +0000

Farmers Weekly Interactive recently posted an article titled, “Building Knowledge On Transition Cow Management,” and it offers tips and trips for dairy cow management during the early stages, transition period and once the cow has calved. This is a solid piece that could be beneficial to many dairy producers. Check it out. The dry period [...]

New York Times on the State of the Dairy Industry

Amanda Nolz — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 10:35:01 +0000

New DeLaval Swinging Cow Brush Makes Cows Happier, More Productive

News Editor — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 22:29:01 +0000

A new study by Cornell University shows that dairy cows using the DeLaval Swinging Cow Brush (SCB) register higher milk production and lower clinical mastitis cases. The SCB is a grooming device that allows a cow to brush and scratch herself at her leisure! The study compared different groups of cows housed in pens using [...]

Animal Antibiotics, Resistance and Human Health

Amanda Nolz — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 23:58:05 +0000

Adam Anson, from TheDairySite, recently wrote an interesting article on use of antibiotics in animals, antibiotic resistance and how it relates to human health. This thorough report deals with both sides of the issue in an educational platform that reminds all of us just how far the agriculture industry has come. Antibiotics are a vital [...]

Export Incentives for Dairy Products

Amanda Nolz — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 20:06:33 +0000

Dairy producers should keep a watchful eye on the new provisions Secretary Vilsack is making on the Dairy Export Incentive Program, with allocations of 68,201 metric tons of nonfat dry milk; 21,097 metric tons of butterfat; 3,030 metric tons of various cheeses and 34 metric tons of other dairy products, as well as individual product [...]

Land O’Lakes to Close Wis. Butter Plant

News Editor — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 15:39:52 +0000

Land O’Lakes Inc. plans to close its butter manufacturing plant in Madison, Wis. and lay off 120 employees. The cooperative based in St. Paul, Minn., said Madison Dairy would close within 60 days because it no longer is economically feasible to operate. Spokeswoman Jeanne Forbis said other Land O’Lakes plants around the country would make [...]

Dean Foods to Close Meadow Gold Dairy

News Editor — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 15:35:40 +0000

Dean Foods announced that it will be closing its Meadow Gold dairy plant in Lincoln, Neb., causing about 100 people to lose their jobs. The plant produces milk and other dairy goods, bottled water and juices. Another 70 people working in sales and distribution will continue to work in Lincoln. Dean Foods spokeswoman Marguerite Copel [...]

AP reports dairy plans to engineer “cow of the future”

Amanda Nolz — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 20:35:05 +0000

The Associated Press released an article reporting the U.S. dairy industry plans to engineer the “cow of the future.” This “ideal” cow would pass less gas as part of its project aimed at cutting the industry’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 25 percent by 2020. The article lists several other GHG emission projects that will [...]

Elanco Purchases Posilac From Monsanto

Chuck — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 13:27:15 +0000

Here’s an interesting announcement. Elanco has signed an agreement to buy the worldwide rights to Posilac from Monsanto. The deal includes the product’s supporting operations. I hope they have good luck with it. There sure are a lot of activists against it. I don’t think they’ve got any scientific basis for their fears but sometimes [...]

Beef Quality Assurance Awards Announced

Chuck — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 22:34:52 +0000

The first ever winners of the BQA Award were announced today and one of them is a dairy producer. Quality. It’s not only a word written in an instruction manual but a responsible action – one must live it and then teach it. That was the underlying theme this week as two producers were honored [...]

S.D. Cheese Plant Renovation to be Completed

News Editor — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 14:23:49 +0000

Davisco Foods, headquartered in Le Sueur, Minn. has announced that a multi-phase, $8.22 million improvement project to the Lake Norden Cheese Co., S.D. is on track to complete in May 2008. When completed, Lake Norden will increase its whey processing capacity by 60 percent. The company is adding a new whey pasteurizer, additions to its [...]

Winn Dixie to Sell Two Plants

News Editor — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 22:36:20 +0000

Winn-Dixie Stores said it has agreed to sell its two dairy plants, located in Hammond, La., and Plant City, to Southeast Milk. Winn-Dixie said in a release that it is choosing to focus more on its retail operation. Once this sale is complete, its only remaining manufacturing operation will be the Chek Cola plant in [...]

Helping Keep Technology Alternatives on the Farm

Chuck — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 21:27:28 +0000

At this year’s World Ag Expo Dairyline’s Bill Baker interviewed Liz Dornick and Carol Campbell, dairy producers who were at one of the Dairy Profit Seminars. They talked about AFACT, American Farmers for the Advancement and Conservation of Technology. Liz is in Wisconsin and Carol is from Kansas. They’re both frustrated with the misinformation that [...]

Outstanding Dairy Industry Edcucator/Researcher

Chuck — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 21:18:03 +0000

One of the awards given by Western Dairy Business Magazine at World Ag Expo is the Outstanding Dairy Industry Edcucator/Researcher. This year that honor was presented to Dr. John Smith, Kansas State University. Dr. Smith was interviewed by Dairyline’s Bill Baker. He’s humbled by the award. He’s one of the presenters at the Dairy Profit [...]

Ohio Department of Agriculture Issues Emergency Rule on Dairy Labeling

Andy Vance — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 19:59:17 +0000

The Ohio Department of Agriculture has issued an Emergency Rule with the Joint Committee on Agency Rule Review (JCARR) that regulates on dairy labeling regarding recombinant bovine somatotropin (rBST), a supplement used for milk production. The issue of rBST labeling has become one of the hottest issues in Ohio agriculture, and Director of Agriculture Bob [...]

Idaho Closes in on No. 3 Spot

News Editor — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 20:11:55 +0000

Idaho is closing in on New York’s No. 3 spot in U.S. milk production, coming within 4 million pounds of out-producing the Empire State in September. In September, Idaho produced 979 million pounds of milk while New York produced 983 million pounds. That’s an astounding achievement, he added, considering that 10 years ago, Idaho was [...]

Australia Dairy Manufacturering Students Graduate

News Editor — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 23:54:23 +0000

Students in Australia have graduated from the first industry-endorsed dairy manufacturers course. The National Centre for Dairy Education – Australia (NCDEA) and Dairy Food Safety Victoria (DFSV) joined forces to offer the course which is held at a dairy manufacturer through two four-hour sessions. Since its inception, 44 trainees from around Victoria have completed the [...]

Italian Parmalat Sells Plant

News Editor — Sat, 17 Nov 2007 01:52:30 +0000

Italian dairy group Parmalat, has sold a milk processing plant to the Venezuelan government amid shortages of milk in the South American nation. Venezuelans have been scrambling for milk for several weeks and there have been inconsistent supplies this year of other basic food products, including meat, chicken and wheat flour. Venezuela this year has [...]

Production and Price Outlook From USDA

Chuck — Sat, 17 Mar 2007 22:39:09 +0000

U.S. milk production numbers are lowered and prices are stronger according to a report out at the end of the week from USDA. Brenda Curtis has the report with the Chair of USDA´s World Outlook Board, Gerald Bange. USDA Production Report (1 min MP3)

N.Y. Crowley Plant Closing

News Editor — Wed, 28 Feb 2007 22:54:19 +0000

HP Hood LLC is closing its Crowley Foods plant’s manufacturing, warehousing and customer-service divisions in Albany, N.Y. and laying off 80 people. The plant’s distribution and sales divisions will remain open. Martucci noted that Crowley recently lost an account to provide milk to the Price Chopper supermarket chain, and said workers were told the closure [...]

Select Sires Recieves USDA Grant for Sexed Semen

Andy Vance — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 11:07:10 +0000

Select Sires earned a $300,000 Rural Business Cooperative Value Added Producer Grant from USDA this month, supporting Select's efforts in commercializing Gender SELECTed sexed semen. Select will match the grant dollar for dollar in marketing and educational efforts promoting the product, highlighting the pros and cons of using sexed semen in production.

Robo-Milker Coming to Market

Andy Vance — Wed, 22 Nov 2006 16:58:58 +0000

This may not be the first robotic milker to hit the parlor, but nonetheless, AgriMarketing is reporting that a new model from Lely will have several new features.