Dairyline Markets In Review

Chuck ZimmermanDairyline, Markets

The blocks closed the first Friday in August at $1.6025 per pound, unchanged on the week but 29 1/4 cents above a year ago. Barrel closed at $1.5675, up a penny on the week, and 27 3/4 cents above a year ago. No cars of block traded hands on the week and six of barrel. The NASS-surveyed U.S. average block price hit $1.5409, up 4.7 cents. Barrel averaged $1.5552, up 4.4 cents.

Butter closed at $1.8500, up 3 1/2 cents on the week, and 62 cents above a year ago. Six cars were sold. NASS butter averaged $1.7701, down 0.1 cent.

Cash Grade A nonfat dry milk closed Friday at $1.2100, unchanged on the week, and Extra Grade closed at $1.2250. NASS powder averaged $1.1751, down 1.1 cents, and dry whey averaged 36.48 cents, up 0.4 cents.

Provided courtesy of Dairyline.

Discover Dairy Introduces Free Middle School Lessons

News EditorEducation

Discovery Dairy, a free, interactive educational program has introduced four new middle school lessons. Check out this wonderful resource today!

Four new comprehensive lessons, complete with video, reading guides and lab-based instruction, teach middle school students about where milk comes from and how dairy farms contribute to our world, while applying science concepts to real-life situations.

Discover Dairy meets state educational standards and anchors for math, science and reading. Funded by the Dairy Checkoff program, it was produced as a joint initiative of the Pennsylvania Dairy Promotion Program, Center for Dairy Excellence and Mid-Atlantic Dairy Association.

“Introducing these middle school-level lessons is a way to connect students with the dairy farms that produce the milk and dairy foods they eat,” said Jayne Sebright, communications director of the Center for Dairy Excellence. “We ask local dairy farm families to encourage more school districts across the Mid-Atlantic region to offer the lessons.”

The new lessons build on existing Discover Dairy lessons designed for upper elementary level students, launched in 2008. Since then the series has been used in more than 300 Pennsylvania classrooms and more than 15 states. The www.discoverdairy.com website, which also includes interactive games for kids and farm tour resources for farmers, typically draws about 1,000 visitors each month.

“The new middle school lessons take science concepts, like selective breeding and renewable resources, and apply them to real-life situations on the dairy farm,” Sebright said. “The lessons help students, many of whom have never seen a farm, better understand the dairy industry’s key role in feeding the world.”

Developed with input from science teachers, each lesson includes a four-minute video motivator with footage from Pennsylvania dairy farms, a guided reading selection that includes relevant vocabulary and lab-based instruction to provide hands-on exercises related to the lessons.

“In each lesson, middle school students have the opportunity to experience some aspect of dairy farming,” Sebright said. “For example, the lessons have students balancing a feed ration for cows, making cheese, creating energy to do work, and moving money through a community.”

Source: The Center for Dairy Excellence, Mid-Atlantic Dairy Association and Pennsylvania Dairy Promotion Program

Swiss Valley Acquires Faribault Dairy

News EditorCompany Announcement

Swiss Valley Farms Cooperative has acquired Faribault Dairy Co., Inc., located in Faribault, Minn. The sale includes the ownership of Faribault’s Blue cheese manufacturing facility as well as Faribault’s line of branded cheeses, the most popular of which is Amablu, along with its premium version, Amablu St. Pete’s Select, which is a cave-aged Blue cheese.

“This acquisition marks a significant step in our efforts to grow in the Blue cheese category,” said Don Boelens, chief executive officer of Davenport, Iowa-based Swiss Valley Farms.

The opportunity will provide Swiss Valley with yet another safe and secure market for its members’ milk supply while simultaneously increasing Blue cheese manufacturing capacity, Boelens says.The Faribault facility will allow for an immediate increase in production and serve as an excellent companion operation to Swiss Valley’s other Blue cheese plant in Mindoro, Wis.

The sale brings together the history, talent and resources of two of America’s most experienced blue cheesemakers.

“It promises to be a good marriage,” said Jeff Jirik, one of the owners of Faribault Dairy Co. Jirik, who will take on his new role as vice president, Blue cheese division, believes becoming part of the Swiss Valley Farms family is the best way to continue the legacy of the Amablu brand, known as America’s First Blue Cheese.

“This is great for the Faribault community, our employees and our long-term stability,” said Jirik, noting all former employees will be retained.

Source: Dairy Foods

Tauzel Wins Rumler Award

News EditorHolstein Association

Congratulations to John R. Tauzel, Schenevus, N.Y., for being named the recipient of the 2010 Robert H. Rumler MBA Scholarship, administered by Holstein Association USA. The $3,000 scholarship is awarded annually to an individual pursuing their Master’s degree of Business Administration. Tauzel will begin working towards his degree at the S.C. Johnson School of Management at Cornell University in August.

Tauzel has been involved his entire life with his family’s dairy operation, J&J Tauzel Farms, in Worcester, N.Y., and was named a Holstein Association USA Distinguished Junior Member in 2000. He received his degree in Animal Science from Cornell University in May 2003. While in college he was involved with the Dairy Science Club, Cornell Lightweight Crew Team, and was both a Dairy Management Fellow and Farm Credit Fellow. While not employed at his family’s farm full-time, John is still involved on a frequent basis, assisting with management decisions and lending his expertise to the operation.

For the past seven years, John has worked with New York Farm Bureau, Inc., most recently as a Senior Associate Director of Public Policy. In his capacity there, he severed as a member of the lobbying team, testifying before the U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee regarding water policy approaches related to agriculture, represented New York dairy farms in CAFO permit negotiations, and advocated for property tax changes.

The Robert H. Rumler MBA Scholarship program was established to honor the former Holstein Association USA Executive Secretary at the time of his retirement after 36 years of service. Rumler believed that U.S. agribusiness, including production agriculture, needed and deserved the best trained, most highly qualified leader that the nation’s educational system and practical experience could provide.

Source: Holstein Association USA

Dairy Industry Leaders Honored by World Dairy Expo

News EditorCompetition, World Dairy Expo

An awe-inspiring line-up of dairy industry leaders have just been crowned the 2010 World Dairy Expo Recognition Award Winners. Each will be honored at the World Dairy Expo’s Dinner with the Stars, Wednesday evening, September 29, in Madison, Wisconsin at the Alliant Energy Center. Congratulations to all the honorees!

Dairy Woman of the Year, Liz Doornink of Jon-De Farms, Baldwin, Wisconsin, sets the standard for intelligence and commitment to the dairy industry. And she exhibits leadership you can take to the bank. Doornink holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Wisconsin-River Falls and has raised three daughters on their 2,400 acre farm. The family milks 1,550 cows and employees 52 staff members at their three-times-a-day milking operation. She is actively involved as personnel manager and oversees all financial records. In addition, she designed and implemented an Environmental Management System for the operation gaining the Environmental Excellence Award from the State of Wisconsin.

The 2010 World Dairy Expo Dairy Woman of the Year award is sponsored by: Vita Plus Corporation, Select Sires, Inc., Micro Dairy Logic and Dairy Business Association.

The 2010 World Dairy Expo International Person of the Year is Mr. Tadanaga Komori, from Obihiro, Hokkaido, Japan. After graduating from the Obihiro University of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine, Komori was content to return to the home farm. But the drive to improve the dairy industry of a nation led our honoree to take every golden opportunity to innovate and lead. A trip to the U.S. for training and tours began a love affair with quality cattle genetics. He began by importing just five cows and proceeded to establish All Japan Breeders Service in 1976. Komori took on the Japanese government to overturn the state-controlled artificial insemination importation laws. Once the private sector was open to import frozen semen, Komori created a livestock products import company, Japan Livestock Trading Corp., in 1984. The exclusive marketing agreement with American Breeders Service improved genetic merit for the dairy industry in Japan. Komori has since increased semen imports from 1,200 units in 1986 to over 260,000 units in the fiscal year of 2009 (April 2008-March 2009).

The 2010 World Dairy Expo International Person of the Year recognition is sponsored by Merrick Animal Nutrition and ABS Global.

2010 World Dairy Expo Dairyman of the Year is Don Bennink, of North Florida Holsteins in Bell, Florida. Though there was no farm in the family while Bennink was growing up in western New York, he worked for others and began building a herd of his own while a youth. After obtaining a degree from Cornell, he rented a farm with a 35 tie-stall barn in his home county. Supported by a small Farmers Home Administration loan and the cattle already owned, he accumulated, during the next seventeen years, the capital base to move the herd to Florida in 1980. Today, the successful dairy breeder and his partners boast a herd of 4,000 milking age Registered Holsteins, the single largest dairy in the state and one of the largest Registered Holstein herds in the country. Bennink has led the innovation of dairy cattle comfort with tunnel ventilation to enhance production and herd health.

The 2010 Dairyman of the Year award is sponsored by: Animart, Dairy Herd Management., Intervet/Schering Plough Animal Health and Southest Milk, Inc.

The 2010 World Dairy Expo Industry Person of the Year is Horace Backus of Mexico, New York. While famous as a dairy cattle “pedigree man,” Backus started out as part of the successful Butterfly Farms. As a youth and young man, he began a love affair with breeding the best animals for the dairy industry. The family business of Backus Pedigree Company made its name compiling sale catalogues. Overtime, R. Austin Backus, Inc. was formed and excelled. This year’s honoree has transformed his cattle expertise into a valuable historical asset as an author of dairy breeding and dairy family history. Backus has written eight books that allow cattle breeders and those interested in the legacy of the dairy industry to learn from accomplished breeders. The histories have allowed others to make cattle breeding a passion.

The Industry Person of the Year Award is sponsored by: Accelerated Genetics, Dairy Herd Management, Merrick Animal Nutrition, and Intervet/Schering Plough Animal Health.

Source: World Dairy Expo

News Release from NMPF

News EditorNational Milk

As part of its continuing effort to prompt the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to crack down on improperly labeled imitation dairy products, the National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF) submitted comments asking the FDA to scrutinize whether the packaging of such foods is giving consumers accurate information.

The FDA is in the process of accepting public comments on what types of point-of-purchase nutrition information, including the product labels on the packages, as well as store shelf tags, should be conveyed to shoppers. In its comments to FDA, NMPF stressed that the actual name of the food on the package – one of the most basic pieces of information that appears on every packaged food – does impact consumers’ food purchasing decisions, and conveys crucial nutritional information about the product.

“Consumers expect dairy products, like milk and yogurt, to contain specific nutrients,” said Jerry Kozak, President and CEO of NMPF. “And, by extension, when they see a plant-based product with ‘milk’ or ‘yogurt’ in its name, they expect those products to contain protein, vitamins, and minerals that are equivalent to their dairy counterparts,” he said.

However, plant-based foods and beverages naturally do not contain the same nutrients as dairy foods, and must be fortified. A survey of commercial products by NMPF revealed that, even with fortification, there was significant variability among the nutrient profiles of the plant-based products, and all were inferior to the dairy foods they were trying to imitate.

In its letter, NMPF reported that the average consumer spends less than 15 seconds looking at food packages before making a purchasing decision. Instead of making detailed comparisons of Nutrition Facts panels, many consumers rely on images, visual cues, and text on the front of the package, including the name of the food, to evaluate the nutrient content of the product. NMPF emphasized this type of consumer behavior is important to consider, especially when the product is a non-dairy alternative inappropriately using dairy terminology in its name, like “soy milk” or “rice yogurt.”

Today’s letter to FDA on package labeling is NMPF’s latest effort to draw attention to the lack of compliance of misbranded plant-based imitation dairy products. Back in April, NMPF sent a lengthy letter to the FDA to protest the misbranding of imitation dairy products.

According to NMPF, consumers “don’t understand the regulations surrounding standards of identity, but they recognize the health benefits of dairy foods” Kozak said.

These nutritionally inferior, formulated plant-based imitators “are trying to use the dairy halo of good health by incorporating dairy terminology into the names of their foods. But they are defrauding the consumer by misrepresenting the true nutrient content of these imitation products,” NMPF wrote.

Source: The National Milk Producers Federation

Midwest Dairy Awards Scholarships

News EditorEducation

Congratulations to Laura Kohake and Casey George, the recipients of a scholarship from the Kansas City Division of Midwest Dairy Association.

The scholarships are part of the 2010 Educational Program. The program helps dairy farm families with college expenses. Two students from Missouri also received scholarships.

“Being able to help dairy families with the expense of their children’s college education is very important to us,” says Byron Lehman, chairman of the Kansas City Division board. “We have to continue supporting our future of agriculture, no matter what. Plus, this is a great way to demonstrate our support of the farms that contribute funds to our association through the dairy checkoff program.”

Laura Kohake, daughter of John and Mary Beth Kohake of Centralia. Kohake is a student at Kansas State University where she is majoring in veterinary medicine with a master’s degree program in clinical sciences.

Casey George, son of Walter and Laura George of Baldwin City. George is a graduate of Baldwin High School and plans to attend North Central Kansas Technical College to study heavy equipment.

Recipients of the scholarship were selected based on leadership, academic activities, reference letters, personal essays and their involvement in the dairy industry.

Source: Midwest Dairy Association

Dairy Producers on the Beef Board

Cindy ZimmermanBeef Checkoff

More than 30 new members of the Cattlemen’s Beef Board were sworn in at the Cattle Industry Summer meeting last week, along with all the continuing members of the board. Since at least 20 percent of the beef supply in the nation comes from dairy farms, many of those who help to decide how the $1 per head beef checkoff is spent on the national level are dairy producers.

cbb keslerOne of the new members on the board is J. Craig Kesler, South Carolina. Craig has a dairy farm of Jersey cattle and a cow/calf operation and is serving on the Advertising Committee for CBB. Kesler says what motivated him to get involved was that you “have to step forward as a farmer and make your voice heard” and he urges other producers, “Get involved.”

Listen to an interview with Craig Kesler from the summer meeting here: Craig Kesler Interview

cbb mbicAnother dairy producer new to the CBB is Kevin Frankenbach of Missouri. Kevin is a dairy producer from Hannibal who has been serving on the Missouri Beef Industry Council prior to be appointed to the national board and says his work on the state level helped prepare him for this position. He’s on the Culinary and New Product Development Committee of CBB.

Listen to an interview with Kevin here: Kevin Frankkenbach Interview

Coverage of the Cattlemen’s Beef Board meeting at the Cattle Industry Summer Convention can be found on mybeefcheckoffmeeting.com.

CWT Export Update

News Editorcwt

Cooperatives Working Together (CWT) accepted bids from four member organizations this week totaling 22.4 million pounds of cheese, butter, and anhydrous milk fat (AMF). Delivery will run from August through January.

CWT accepted one bid from Foremost Farms and three bids from Dairy Farmers of America for a total of 1,288 metric tons (2.84 million pounds) of Cheddar cheese to Europe, Africa, and South America. This product will be delivered in August through December 2010.

CWT also accepted one bid from Land O’Lakes, three bids from the Challenge Dairy Products subsidiary of California Dairies Inc., and six bids from Dairy Farmers of America for a total of 8,879 metric tons (19.6 million pounds) of butter and AMF to Europe, Central America, and the Middle East. Delivery will take place from August through January.

Since CWT reactivated the Export Assistance program in March 18, 2010, it has assisted members in making export sales of Cheddar, Monterey Jack, and Gouda cheese totaling 18,616 metric tons (41.0 million pounds) to 23 countries on four continents. In addition, sales of butter and AMF totaling 10,593 metric tons (23.4 million pounds) have been made to seven countries on three continents.

Assisting CWT members through the Export Assistance program positively impacts producer milk prices in the long-term by helping member cooperatives to gain and maintain market share thus expanding the demand for U.S. dairy products.

CWT will pay export bonuses to the bidders only when delivery of the product is verified by the submission of the required documentation.

Source: Cooperatives Working Together (CWT)

Dairyline Markets In Review

News EditorDairyline, Markets

Farm milk prices keep inching higher. The Agriculture Department announced the July Federal order Class III price at $13.74 per hundredweight, up 12 cents from June and $3.77 above July 2009. That pulls the 2010 average to $13.60, up from $10.16 a year ago, and compares to $18.25 in 2008. The Class IV price is $15.75, up 30 cents from June and $5.60 above a year ago.

The NASS-surveyed cheese price averaged $1.4567 per pound, up a penny from June. Butter averaged $1.7375, up 14.3 cents. Nonfat dry milk averaged $1.2277, down 3.5 cents, and dry whey averaged 36.41cents, down a half cent.

Cash dairy product prices remain strong however cheese may be showing a little weakness. The blocks closed the last week of July at $1.6025 per pound, unchanged following six weeks of gain, but 31 3/4-cents above a year ago. Barrel closed at $1.5575, down a quarter-cent on the week, but 29 3/4-cents above a year ago. Six cars of block traded hands on the week and eight of barrel. The lagging NASS-surveyed U.S. average block price gained 6.3 cents, hitting $1.4999. Barrel averaged $1.5110, up 3.4 cents.

Butter gained a penny and a half, closing Friday at $1.8150, up 57 cents from a year ago. Nine cars were sold. NASS butter averaged $1.7713, up 2.8 cents.NASS powder averaged $1.1865, down 4.7 cents, and dry whey averaged 36.21 cents, up 0.1 cent.

Provided courtesy of Dairyline.