Dairy Markets Week in Review

News EditorDairyline, Markets

DairylineDairy Markets Week in Review
The cash dairy markets showed little reaction to the milk production data which appeared bullish; but concern over the October Cold Storage report, may have kept the markets from moving much, though block cheese gained almost 2 cents Friday morning and the barrels jumped 5 3/4 cents.

Block cheese closed the third Friday of November at $1.60 per pound, up 2 1/2-cents on the week, but still 17 cents below a year ago. Barrel closed at $1.50, up 5 3/4-cents on the week, 24 cents below a year ago, and a dime below the blocks. Seven cars of block traded hands on the week and three of barrel. The NASS-surveyed U.S. average block price hit $1.5044 per pound, up 3 cents. Barrel averaged $1.5113, up 0.8 cent.

Butter closed the week unchanged at $1.5250, but 6 1/2-cents below a year ago. Thirteen cars were sold on the week. NASS butter averaged $1.4004, up 8.6 cents.

Both cash Grade A and Extra Grade nonfat dry milk closed Friday at $1.40 per pound, up 2 cents on the week for the Grade A. NASS powder averaged $1.1115, down 0.7 cent, and dry whey averaged 34.68 cents, up 0.3 cent.

Provided courtesy of Dairyline.

CWT Releases Results of Independent Study

News Editorcwt

cwtlogoCooperatives Working Together (CWT) has reported the results of an independent study showing that the program has generated a return on investment of $1.54 per hundredweight so far in 2009.

That evaluation was released by Dr. Scott Brown of the University of Missouri, a nationally-known farm policy expert who is regularly called on by the U.S. Congress to assess agricultural economic issues. Brown evaluated the impact of CWT’s two completed herd retirements in 2009, along with the lingering effect of the two conducted in 2008, as well as the herd retirement in 2007. He also noted positive contributions to price because of the bred heifer option that CWT has offered in recent years, along with CWT’s Export Assistance program, which while dormant this year, was active in 2007 and 2008.

Brown’s analysis showed that the combined effect of CWT’s cow-removal programs, as well as its export assistance program, helped raise farm-level milk prices by $1.54 per hundredweight this year, and added $2.4 billion to farm-level milk receipts in a year when dairy income is expected to shrink by more than $10 billion because of the global recession.

The program has produced an average return of $0.67/cwt. since 2004, Brown reported. CWT has been funded by a 10 cents/cwt. membership fee since 2007; prior to that, membership was 5 cents/cwt.

Brown noted that his estimate of the 2009 CWT impact will likely change again, since CWT is in the middle of executing its third herd retirement of 2009. This current round is in the middle of removing an additional 26,000 cows, but the final results of that effort have yet to be tallied. Brown said that each herd retirement has an impact that lasts several years, and that the two herd retirements of 2008, and the three this year, will continue to produce significant gains for farmers into 2010.

Source: Cooperatives Working Together (CWT)

Measuring and Managing Silage Heat

Cindy ZimmermanAudio, Feed, Forage, Forage Forum, Pioneer Forage Day, Pioneer Hi-Bred, Podcast, Silage

Have you ever wondered where the heat comes from in silage?

pioneerThis really cool infrared camera can read the temperature of a silage bunker and provide a color picture of the variations in heat levels on the face. The camera has gotten cheaper since it first came out a couple of years ago, but it still retails for several thousand dollars.

pioneerA great way to measure silage heat, but not practical for most producers, so Pioneer ruminant microbiologist Scott Dennis suggests using a thermometer to quickly and easily determine whether heat is physiological or microbial.

Pioneer Hi-Bred Forage Forum PodcastDennis explains more about this topic along with management techniques to reduce heating in this edition of Forage Forum, recorded at the Pioneer Forage Media day held in September at the Livestock Nutrition Center in Johnston, IA.

Listen to the podcast here:

[audio:http://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3?http://zimmcomm.biz/pioneer/pioneer-podcast-66-wdd.mp3] Scott Dennis on Silage Heat (5:00 min MP3)

To see all archived Pioneer Forage Forum podcasts, click here.

Give Thanks for Farmers

Cindy ZimmermanAudio, Beef Checkoff, Promotion

As we prepare for the holiday season, the Beef Checkoff is reminding people to give thanks for our abundant food supply.

In giving thanks, you may also receive. Leaving a message of thanks for our farmers and ranchers on the Pasture to Plate website enters you into a drawing for an Omaha Steaks Ideal Gift Collection of steaks and burgers valued at $135.

beef food fightAt the National Association of Farm Broadcasting meeting last week, Massachusetts dairy farmer and Cattlemen’s Beef Board chairman Lucinda Williams talked about giving thanks and the simultaneous campaign to get producers to be active in telling the real story about food production in this country by engaging in the “Food Fight” effort.

She says they are encouraging producers to get out an tell that story on Facebook and Twitter and email, (as well as traditional methods like actual face to face communication!) and encouraging everyone to give thanks for the safe and abundant food supply we enjoy in this country. Lucinda has just started on Twitter and you can follow here here @mcwillclan.

Listen to an interview with Lucinda from NAFB here:

Seventh Annual Northeast Regional Dairy Challenge

News EditorCompetition, Education

Northeast2009-smallCongratulations to all of the students involved in this very valuable educational program!

More than 120 students from 11 northeast colleges and two Canadian universities participated in the seventh annual Northeast Regional Dairy Challenge in Glens Falls, New York. Host coordinator, Dayton Maxwell, and colleagues from the State University of New York at Cobleskill welcomed students from Alfred State College, Cornell University, Delaware Valley College, Morrisville State College, The Pennsylvania State University, SUNY Cobleskill, University of Maine, University of Maryland, University of New Hampshire, University of Vermont, Vermont Technical College, University of Guelph from Ontario, Canada, and McGill University from Quebec, Canada.

The Northeast Regional Dairy Challenge is an innovative three-day event designed by a team of industry and university professionals to promote a vibrant future for the dairy industry. Working in mixed-university teams of four or five students, contestants assessed all aspects of a working dairy farm and presented recommendations for improvement to a panel of judges and participating farm families.

Alfred State University will host the 2010 Northeast Regional Dairy Challenge.

Source: North American Intercollegiate Dairy Challenge (NAIDC)

Groups Urge Regulation of Raw Facilities

News EditorGovernment, Health, Industry News

NMPFlogoA joint press release from National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF) and International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA) addresses the need for the regulation of raw milk production facilities.

Although unpasteurized, or raw, milk products pose a significant food safety hazard, facilities producing these products are not covered by any of the food safety regulations proposed so far this year by Congress. These facilities also remain exempt from existing regulations enforced by all states, which are know as the Pasteurized Milk Ordinance (PMO), that set the standard for maintaining the safety of the nation’s milk and milk product supply. Cheeses made from unpasteurized milk that have been aged to eliminate the risk of food borne illnesses are not considered raw milk products.

IDFA and NMPF have asked senators planning to mark up key food safety legislation next week to rectify this omission. In a letter to Senators Tom Harkin (D-IA), chair of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, and Michael Enzi (R-WY), the committee’s ranking member, the dairy groups called for requiring all facilities producing raw or unpasteurized milk products for direct human consumption to register with FDA and adhere to the tried-and-true food safety requirements that are followed by all other facilities producing milk products.

IDFA and NMPF support the proposed “FDA Food Safety Modernization Act” and urge the senators to expand the regulations to include facilities producing raw milk products for direct human consumption. In addition, the dairy groups would like the bill to recognize that state inspections of dairy facilities under the PMO already meets necessary food safety requirements and no duplicate functions are warranted.

Source: National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF)

Connecticut's Couture Cows

News EditorIndustry News

300champsfallsceneLast spring, Yankee Magazine writer Linda Hedman Beyus, reported on Arethusa Farm, the well-known registered Holstein and Jersey dairy farm in Connecticut. For those who haven’t heard, Arethusa is owned by George Malkemus and Tony Yurgaitis, the co-owners of Manolo Blahnik USA (you know, those fabulous high-heeled shoes!) Recently, Leanne Gendreau of NBC Connecticut also wrote a piece on Arethusa. Couture Cows for sure!

From Beyus’ Yankee Magazine piece:
In 1999, when the farm across the road from their home of 30 years was for sale and threatened by developers, Malkemus and Yurgaitis jumped in. Arethusa launched as a modest dairy operation, but, guided by cow-breeding guru Ernie Kueffner and farm manager Terri Packard, it has blossomed into one of the first-caliber dairy breeding farms in North America.

Despite what some observers may assume, Arethusa Farm isn’t just some kind of investment. “To me, it begins with the love of animals and [a desire] to bring the farm back to what it was 100 years ago,” Malkemus says. “What we’ve tried to do, through the grace of God, is to support the industry and bring it back to Connecticut. Hopefully, we’ve accomplished something.”

Photo courtesy of Arethusa Farm

Dairy Farmers Deliver Hot Pizzas to Veterans

News EditorCheese, Dairy Checkoff, Industry News

headerAmerica’s dairy farmers delivered a hot and cheesy “thank you” to veterans in five U.S. cities this past Veteran’s Day! Patients in Veterans Administration hospitals in Washington; Chicago; Dallas; San Antonio, Texas and Green Bay, Wis. all received special care packages of pizza and milk courtesy of America’s dairy farmers in partnership with Pizzas 4 Patriots, a non-profit organization that aims to deliver “a slice of home” to U.S. service men and women both domestically and abroad.

What a great idea! If you agree, you can donate to Pizzas 4 Patriots here.

“Dairy farmers have a long-standing tradition of supporting our local communities, so we are pleased and honored to join the nation in celebrating the service and sacrifice of America’s Veterans,” said Ken Miller, a Sulphur Springs, Texas-based dairy producer and U.S. Veteran who will be among those serving milk and some 800 slices of Domino’s pizza to Veterans at the Dallas VA Medical Center. “We are proud to show admiration and appreciation for Veterans in a way that is closely connected to what we do as dairy farmers – producing great milk and milk products.”

The idea for Pizzas 4 Patriots was sparked in the summer of 2008, when 15-year-old Kent Evans of Elk Grove Village, Ill., asked his father, retired Air Force Master Sergeant Mark Evans, if they could send pizzas to U.S. soldiers serving in Iraq. His wish became a reality when service men and women at Camp Victory in Baghdad enjoyed a Fourth of July pizza party that brought back fond memories of home and made the troops feel remembered and appreciated.

Pizzas 4 Patriots is now in its second year of showing support for the troops. “Support from others, such as America’s dairy farmers, allows us to achieve our mission,” Evans said. “We’re able to make a positive difference in the lives of our service men and women – those presently serving as well as our wounded Veterans.”

Source: Dairy Management Inc.(TM) (DMI)

Dairy Markets Week in Review

News EditorDairyline, Markets

DairylineDairy Markets Week in Review
The cash cheese market sent some mixed signals the second week of November. The blocks inched a penny higher on Monday and stayed there until Friday when they gained another half cent, to close at $1.5750 per pound, but that’s 14 1/4-cents below a year ago. Barrels lost 9 cents during the week but regained three quarters on Friday, to close at $1.4425, 25 1/4-cents below a year ago and 13 1/4 below the blocks. Twenty five cars of block traded hands on the week and 12 of barrel. The NASS U.S. average block price inched 0.7 cent higher, to $1.4756. Barrel averaged $1.5029, up 2.9 cents.

Butter started the week with a 2 1/2-cent jump, to $1.5250, and that was all she wrote. That’s 11 cents below a year ago. Twenty nine cars traded hands on the week. NASS-surveyed butter averaged $1.3140, up 1.9 cents.

Cash powder was pretty quiet all week though Grade A gained a penny, to close at $1.38, while Extra Grade held at $1.40. NASS powder averaged $1.1215, up 10.2 cents. Dry whey averaged 34.39 cents, up 0.4 cent.

There were no price support purchases on the week nor were there any Dairy Export Incentive program bid acceptances.

Provided courtesy of Dairyline.

Raise Your Hand for Chocolate Milk!

News EditorDairy Checkoff, Education, got milk?, Industry News, Milk

Who loves chocolate milk? Raise your hands!

Did you know that chocolate milk is a healthy and delicious drink filled with nine essential nutrients, including calcium? Did you also know that lowfat chocolate milk is the most popular milk choice in schools? This power drink needs you to stand up and sign the “Raise Your Hand For Chocolate Milk” petition to help ensure it stays on school menus nationwide! (Just enter your state on the widget to the right and click “Sign the Petition”)

You can also help spread the message with social networking tools available on the campaign’s website – get those hands in the air and help save chocolate milk!

In attempts to improve the nutritional quality of school meals, some schools and lunch advocates are calling for a change that many health professionals agree could cause more harm than good when it comes to children’s health: removing lowfat chocolate milk from the lunch line.

The nation’s leading health and nutrition organizations recognize the valuable role that milk, including lowfat flavored milk, can play in meeting daily nutrient needs. The nation’s milk processors (through the Milk Processor Education Program) and dairy farmers (through the National Dairy Council) have teamed up to provide the latest facts and science on Chocolate Milk’s role in children’s diets.

Source: Raise Your Hand for Chocolate Milk!