Posted: October 17, 2009 at 11:44 am
By Amanda Nolz
Recently printed in the San Luis Obispo Tribune, an article titled, “Mad ‘cows’ protest plan to cull Cal Poly dairy herd,” written by David Sneed describes how students dressed in cattle costumes to support dairy program, which could lose 120 of its animals. In an effort to save money, Cal Poly is planning on reducing their cow herd, leaving many students upset about the loss of a good program. Read more to learn all about it…
Some Cal Poly students Friday protested plans to reduce the university’s dairy cow herd by 80 percent. Dairy students — some dressed in cow costumes — protested in the morning outside the Embassy Suites Hotel in San Luis Obispo, where Cal Poly’s dairy science advisory committee was meeting. Protests continued in the afternoon at the school’s dairy unit. In a letter sent Sept. 30, Dairy Science Department Head Bruce Golden said that plummeting milk prices and state budget cutbacks were forcing the university to reduce the milking herd to 30 animals from 150. He promised to restore the herd once finances improve.
However, students are concerned that the cuts may be permanent and 106 years of building good genetics into the Holstein milking herd will be lost, said Theresa Machado, president of the Los Lecheros Dairy Club. The Dairy Science Department has 130 students, 48 of them freshmen, Machado said. They operate the only dairy in the county, and Cal Poly is one of only two schools in the nation to offer degrees in dairy science. According to the program’s Web site, it is the only university on the West Coast to offer a specific dairy science major, and Cal Poly has the country’s largest dairy science program.
World Dairy Diary coverage of World Dairy Expo is sponsored by:
This edition of the Milking Parlor podcast focuses on the Dairy Price Stabilization Program proposed by Holstein Association USA as a way to address the current dairy industry economic situation and minimize milk price volatility for the long term.
I spoke with John Meyer, executive secretary and CEO of Holstein Association USA, about the plan during an interview at World Dairy Expo. “One of the beauties of this program is that nothing has to be affected,” Meyer says. “The Dairy Price Stabilization Program does not require the Farm Bill to be opened, nor does it affect any of the current dairy programs. It’s a very simple thing to be implemented and it can be done very quickly.”
Meyer says they are getting good industry support for the plan and hope to get a bill written and considered by Congress, possibly as early as the end of this year.
Posted: August 27, 2009 at 9:37 am
By Cindy Zimmerman
This edition of the Milking Parlor podcast focuses on what is being done on the national level to address the current dairy industry crisis. From congressional actions to USDA to the dairy industry itself, we hear from Congressman John Boccieri, Sen. Bernie Sanders, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, University of Wisconsin Ag Economist Dr. Bruce Jones and National Milk Producers Federation president Jerry Kozak.
Thanks to Fort Dodge Animal Health for sponsorship of this regular monthly podcast for dairy industry professionals. We encourage your feedback, comments and questions to provide input for future editions of the program.
Dr. Gary Neubauer, Pfizer Animal Health, attended World Dairy Expo to meet dairy producers and he had a lot of them to meet with! I stopped to ask him about all the activity which included what looked like a lot of political campaign buttons. He says it’s called their Industry Pflair program.
“What Pfizer is trying to do is have a concerted effort in the dairy industry to simply show our pride for the dairy industry, allow producers, veterinarians, industry people to come to the booth and they find lanyards, buttons . . . ” Basically he says that producers can take and wear these items so that people will stop them and ask about it. This provides them with an opportunity then to help educate people about the industry and dispel some of the myths out there. He says people need to realize that a dairy producer is one of the hardest workers you’re going to find.
You can listen to my interview with Gary as part of our Milking Parlor Podcast:
To subscribe to the Milking Parlor podcast, here are some instructions.
Grant Kohler is a dairy farmer from Utah where he milks 300 cows with a family operation. He was attending World Dairy Expo to talk about the Childhood Nutrition Fitness Initiative that’s a joint project of the National Dairy Council and the National Football League.
He says, “It brings a package not just to the cafeteria of the school but a package that can engage the principals and teachers.” The NFL teams are on board to provide their players as spokespersons when and where needed. He says the program includes a full nutritional plan that of course includes dairy. He’s proud to say that over 40,000 schools have already signed on. Here’s some excerpts from a recent release on the project.
To poise the multi-year program for success, the NDC will spend $100 million over five years to support this initiative, including school grants. The NDC will spend an additional $150 million on other efforts aimed at improving child health and wellness.
“We are taking a leadership role to help kids win the battle for good health,” said NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell. “Our players know the importance of staying healthy, and it’s important that we help young fans understand the value of exercise.”
You can listen to my interview with Grant as part of our Milking Parlor Podcast:
To subscribe to the Milking Parlor podcast, here are some instructions.
Last week GEA Farm Technologies was announced as the new “brand” for WestfaliaSurge, Houle and Norbco. Before Expo was over I spoke with Linda Mrugacz, Director, Marketing & Communications. I wanted to find out what kind of feedback they had been receiving from producers attending the show.
According to Linda, “Actually, it’s going very well. There’s a lot of interest in general about the name, a lot of questions about it, “What does GEA stand for?” Well, it stands for Global Engineering Alliance. GEA Farm Technologies is part of a global alliance of 250 companies according to Linda. She says this means that producers will get the benefit of a “total offering” from the “family of GEA Farm Technology companies.”
You can listen to my interview with Linda as part of our Milking Parlor Podcast:
To subscribe to the Milking Parlor podcast, here are some instructions.
After the virtual farm tour that BASF Plant Science sponsored at World Dairy Expo, I spoke again with Jerry Weigel, Global Nutrition Manager, about their Nutridense silage product.
He says there’s a real distinction between what they’re doing and what other companies are doing. “We are focused in two different directions. We are focused on a grain direction and a silage direction.” He says that other companies develop a hybrid for grain and if it doesn’t make it that way they just plug it into the silage market. He says BASF Plant Science stays focused on each market separately.
Jerry wants producers to know that they’re developing corn silage that’s all about fiber digestibility. He says that’s what they’re going to continue to focus on and that in the future they’re going to have to look at bringing gmo technology into play but that would be years down the road.
You can listen to my interview with Jerry as part of our Milking Parlor Podcast:
To subscribe to the Milking Parlor podcast, here are some instructions.
The 2008-2009 Alice in Dairyland is Ashley Huibregtse. She serves June to June and promotes agriculture all over the state.
I met her at this year’s World Dairy Expo. She says she’s “an ambassador for everything from the dairy industry which we have here at World Dairy Expo, to cranberries, cherries and ginseng.”
Her travels take her to media interviews, school visits and events like Expo. She hopes to get a job in communications that allows her to continue to promote agriculture.
You can listen to my interview with Ashley as part of our Milking Parlor Podcast:
To subscribe to the Milking Parlor podcast, here are some instructions.
The main presenter at the SUNY Cobleskill virtual farm tour was Tom Poltynski, farm coordinator. He talked about the school’s facility and says it’s unique because they’re very far north for using a flush system. He says they have good student involvement as evidenced by the fact that more students apply for jobs than are available.
One of the things he spoke about was their feeding trials. The tour was sponsored by BASF Plant Science and he said they planted half their corn in 2006-2007 with Nutridense and half with traditional hybrids. They saw very good results and plan to plant all their corn next year with Nutridense.
The advantage of Nutridense that he saw was, “With Nutridense corn, the #1 thing I see is the higher percentage of protein. With high grain prices I could back out a pound of grain and increase corn silage, my forage ration, and not lose anything on the nutrient profile of the diet.” He said they were able to save 19-25 cents/cow/day as a result.
You can listen to my interview with Tom as part of our Milking Parlor Podcast:
To subscribe to the Milking Parlor podcast, here are some instructions.
She says they were there to remind dairy producers that they’re also beef producers. I got there just in time to sample some of their flat iron steaks they were serving. In fact, I’m making one for supper tonight!
You can listen to my interview with Lucinda as part of our Milking Parlor Podcast:
To subscribe to the Milking Parlor podcast, here are some instructions.
One of the features of World Dairy Expo is the virtual farm tours. BASF Plant Science sponsored one by State University of New York – Cobleskill.
Jerry Weigel, Global Nutrition Manager, says these tours allow producers to look at some of the top dairies in the country and they also allow those same dairies to showcase their innovative ideas. He says that the SUNY utilized their Nutridense silage.
If you haven’t been to one of these tours and wonder how they work, basically the presenter utilizes a computer and projector to show slides and/or video of their operation to demonstrate various elements of their dairy like equipment, cows and milk and feed regimes.
You can listen to my interview with Jerry as part of our Milking Parlor Podcast:
To subscribe to the Milking Parlor podcast, here are some instructions.
This year’s World Dairy Expo Dairy Woman of the Year is Marion Barlass. She has a family farm where they milk about 400 Jerseys. I got to meet her during the Talk Session. She’s seen here getting interviewed by another reporter after the session.
Marion says she’s very honored to have been chosen. “I feel like I’m a representative of all the women in the dairy industry here and I know that women have not gotten maybe the recognition that they’ve deserved over the years.” She says that she’s able to balance work and family since all the family members are passionate about the dairy industry and are willing to help each other out.
You can listen to my interview with Marion Barlass as part of our Milking Parlor Podcast:
To subscribe to the Milking Parlor podcast, here are some instructions.
When the GEA Farm Technologies brand was launched this week we had Dr. Armin Tietjen on hand. He’s the Head of Corporate Marketing and works in the home office. One of the things he’s responsible for is looking at acquisition opportunities for the company and it sounds like we may see some new activity in this regard in the future.
Armin says that with this new company strategy producers will see a lot of new benefits since the company is becoming a broader supplier and supporter of the whole dairy business. He says the company is now offering a lot more than just support of the milking parlor.
You can listen to my interview with Armin Tietjen as part of our Milking Parlor Podcast:
To subscribe to the Milking Parlor podcast, here are some instructions.
The first two people I got to know at World Dairy Expo were John Rozum and Lisa Behnke. In fact, World Dairy Diary grew out of an idea that John had several years ago now.
I spoke to them this morning and the main message is “larger,” meaning more people and more exhibitors. Some of the numbers they mention include 717 exhibitors this year and 216 media representatives. Wow. Opening day attendance was up according to Lisa.
You can listen to my interview with John and Lisa as part of our Milking Parlor Podcast:
To subscribe to the Milking Parlor podcast, here are some instructions.
The first news I found here at Expo came from our sponsor, GEA Farm Technologies. I know we’ve been promoting WestfaliaSurge but the company is re-launching their brand and this post and interviews will help explain it. Basically, WestfaliaSurge is now a part of the new GEA Farm Technologies.
The CEO and President of GEA Farm Technologies is Vern Foster. He gave us a comprehensive presentation this morning (media and dealers) to explain the reasons behind the change and what that means for the company and its customers.
He says, “It’s to pull all of the organizations that are part of GEA Farm Technologies, Houle, Norbco, WestfaliaSurge, pull it under a common brand so it makes sense for the marketplace, makes sense for our investors, makes sense for our customers and our dealer distribution.” The GEA stands for Global Engineering Alliance, a 5.3 billion Euro company that operates in 50 countries. Vern says, “It helps us really re-focus under one umbrella as we continue to grow and create additional organizations and innovate into the field of agriculture.”
Since Houle, Norbco and WestfaliaSurge have separate sales forces he says they’ve been in discussion together to “offer a more total solutions package to a producer.”
He says you’ll start seeing the new GEA Farm Technologies brand at trade show and in their advertising. In fact, his business cards already show the new logo!
You can listen to Vern’s full presentation here:
You can also download the full presentation using this link (mp3 file).
You can also listen to an interview I did with Vern afterward as part of our Milking Parlor Podcast:
To subscribe to the Milking Parlor podcast, here are some instructions.
The World Ag Expo is right around the corner and to learn more about it I interviewed Shelley Kahl, 2008 Chairman. The Expo is “Where the World of Agriculture Means Business.” For many people who will be participating and attending that means the dairy business. I’ve never been to the show and hope to find a way to do so this year. It sounds like they’ve got a huge area devoted to the dairy business including a new pavilion this year.
You can listen to Shelley talk about this year’s show in the latest edition of our Milking Parlor Podcast. You can listen right now here:
Posted: November 1, 2007 at 6:52 pm
By Cindy Zimmerman
The agriculture commissioners from four states were on hand and hands-on at the Sunbelt Ag Expo in Moultrie, Georgia last month for the second Commissioner’s Milking Contest – which was a whole lot of fun.
The very friendly competition included Tommy Irvin of Georgia, Charlie Bronson of Florida, Ron Sparks of Alabama, and Ken Givens of Tennessee. When it was all over, the winner as you can see by the photo was Tennessee’s Ken Givens, whose background of being raised on a dairy farm was obvious. It took two measuring tubes for Givens milking effort, while Sparks came in 2nd, Irvin 3rd, and Bronson 4th in an event to promote the dairy industry.
Givens is now the champion for two years running in the competition.
Just before they got started with the contest, the guys were milking it for all it was worth in an interview with Randall Weiseman of Southeast Agnet. I made that great little piece of audio into a Milking Parlor podcast, which you can listen to here:
Posted: October 12, 2007 at 2:19 pm
By Cindy Zimmerman
A California dairy producer testified last week before the House Agriculture Committee during a hearing called to review the labor needs of American agriculture.
Randy Mouw was one of 12 people who testified at the Committee’s hearing on Oct. 4 in Washington DC. He spoke on behalf of Western United Dairymen, Dairy Farmers of America, and National Milk Producers Federation.
“Immigration reform is a must for U.S. agriculture because I can tell you from my own experience that not one person who has walked on my dairy looking for work in the past five years is a person who was born in this country,” Mouw told the committee.
He outlined three key principles that must be included in a legislative solution for dairy producers.
1) an affordable and efficient guest worker program that ensures the continued availability of immigrant labor for all of agriculture, including dairies;
2) a provision that allows those currently employed or with recent employment history in the U.S. to earn the right to work here legally, regardless of their current legal status; and
3) a provision that specifies the responsibility for ultimate verification of the legal status of a worker lies with the government, not with employers.
Posted: October 12, 2007 at 1:46 pm
By Cindy Zimmerman
You only thought we were done with stuff from World Dairy Expo.
I did an interview at expo with John Deere Hay and Forage Specialist Jim Buchs on how dairy producers can get added value for forage at harvest with Harvest Lab.
“We put a unit on our forage harvester that can measure the moisture as its going through the machine,” Buchs said. “With that information, we can calculate the true tonnage that we are harvesting.”
That information can be used to adjust the harvesting rate to the receiving rate at the bunker silo so you can adjust packing tractors or other required applications.
Listen to our “Milking Parlor” podcast with Jim here:
When I saw a booth that posed the question, “How is a cow like an ethanol production plant?” I had to stop for a visit.
Manning the booth is Nick Baker, U. S. Dairy Forage Research Center. Nick says that basically the cow’s rumen uses microbes to break down forage and feed into the energy it needs much like an ethanol plant which then converts the sugars produced into alcohol. ‘Nuff said.
I asked him his take on the whole food vs. fuel debate and he believes as I do that there’s plenty of biomass available to not only meet food production needs but energy as well. He’s working on a project to utilize switchgrass in the production of ethanol and says the technology is available now to do so.
Recently printed in the San Luis Obispo Tribune, an article titled, “Mad ‘cows’ protest plan to cull Cal Poly dairy herd,” written by David Sneed describes how students dressed in cattle costumes to support dairy program, which could lose 120 of its animals. In an effort to save money, Cal Poly is planning on reducing their cow herd, leaving many students upset about the loss of a good program. Read more to learn all about it…
This edition of the Milking Parlor podcast focuses on the 
This edition of the Milking Parlor podcast focuses on what is being done on the national level to address the current dairy industry crisis. From congressional actions to USDA to the dairy industry itself, we hear from Congressman John Boccieri, Sen. Bernie Sanders, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, University of Wisconsin Ag Economist Dr. Bruce Jones and National Milk Producers Federation president Jerry Kozak.
Dr. Gary Neubauer, 
will stop them and ask about it. This provides them with an opportunity then to help educate people about the industry and dispel some of the myths out there. He says people need to realize that a dairy producer is one of the hardest workers you’re going to find.
Grant Kohler is a dairy farmer from Utah where he milks 300 cows with a family operation. He was attending World Dairy Expo to talk about the 
Last week 
After the virtual farm tour that BASF Plant Science sponsored at World Dairy Expo, I spoke again with Jerry Weigel, Global Nutrition Manager, about their 
The 2008-2009 
The main presenter at the 
The 
One of the features of World Dairy Expo is the 
This year’s World Dairy Expo Dairy Woman of the Year is Marion Barlass. She has a family farm where they milk about 400 Jerseys. I got to meet her during the Talk Session. She’s seen here getting interviewed by another reporter after the session.
The first two people I got to know at World Dairy Expo were John Rozum and Lisa Behnke. In fact, World Dairy Diary grew out of an idea that John had several years ago now.
The first news I found here at Expo came from our sponsor, 
Since Houle, Norbco and WestfaliaSurge have separate sales forces he says they’ve been in discussion together to “offer a more total solutions package to a producer.” 
The 
The agriculture commissioners from four states were on hand and hands-on at the Sunbelt Ag Expo in Moultrie, Georgia last month for the second Commissioner’s Milking Contest – which was a whole lot of fun. 
Givens is now the champion for two years running in the competition. 
You only thought we were done with stuff from World Dairy Expo.
When I saw a booth that posed the question, “How is a cow like an ethanol production plant?” I had to stop for a visit.