Dairy Farm Makes a Difference

Amanda NolzGeneral

Last week, I attended the Great Lakes Regional Dairy Conference in Grand Rapids, Mich.  My new friend, Annie Link, spoke at the Partners Program about her agri-tourism business.  Annie is part of a multi-generational dairy operation called SwissLane Dairy Farms that is dedicated to their cows, the community and the environment.  The dairy operation consists of 2,500 cows and 23 family members living within a two mile radius, working hard together every day to produce a high quality dairy product for consumers. 

dcp_062720mediumRecently, Annie and her family established the Dairy Discovery Tour, an agri-tourism venture that opens up their farm for tours.  Schools, churches, foreign travelers and the media have come to tour the farm and learn more about food production.  Recently, the Oesch family even hosted a neighbor night, with over 600 attendants at the farm.  The event included a meal, a guest speaker and guided tours.  The tour is so popular that during the summer months, Annie and her family welcomed over 75 groups and 3,000 visitors to their operation.  These are true advocates for agriculture, and they are doing a great job of incorporating a new marketing approach to their thriving business.

wjamisonInterestingly, Dr. Wes Jamison, a professor of animal welfare at the University of Florida, thinks that farms shouldn’t clean up before visitors arrive to the farm.  Jamison spoke last night, and his topic was titled, “Animal Producers from Mars, Animal Lovers from Venus: Directing Agriculture through the curves of ethics, attitudes and expectations.”  Dr. Jamison’s speech entered us into the minds of our opponents to better understand the reasons for this movement that is progressively changing the face of food production.  Although Jamison gives props to operations like the Oesch family’s, he thinks the industry needs more transparency and openness to survive the animal rights movement and gain the trust of consumers, once again.

“Don’t just show them the pretty side of the farm,” said Jamison in his keynote speech. “Show them death; show them dirt; show them the rough side of food production.  If we try to hide these things, the animal rights activists will expose and exploit these things for us.  We need to be open and honest and tell our own story.”

So, what do you think?  Should I start posting dehorning, castrating, vaccinating, weaning and calving videos on YouTube?  Will this transparency backfire, or is it the secret to ending this movement before it’s too late?  Curious minds want to know…

WDD's "Bookmarkable Blog"

News EditorGeneral

With so many interesting blogs online, we at World Dairy Diary thought it would be helpful to feature a dairy-focused blog every few weeks as our “Bookmarkable Blog.” Be sure to bookmark our suggestions and check back in with our aggie bloggers!

dakota-and-christina-iiHere’s a great blog by another well-versed; agriculturally-minded young lady. Christine’s “Stories from a Country Girl” focuses on dairy and ag issues. Check it out!

I am a country girl from a dairy farm, who has BIG dreams and aspirations. I LOVE my cows and the country side. Family is everything, friends are an necessity and life is pretty interesting when you get to see it through my eyes… I am currently studying Agricultural Business at the University of Guelph and are excited to see where it takes me in my future career path…

Midwest Dairy Intership Apps Due

News EditorDairy Checkoff, Education

Midwest Dairy Association‘s deadline for the 2009 Illinois summer internship is February 11. The position is designed to assist Midwest Dairy Association staff with marketing communication objectives on behalf of the dairy checkoff.

Duties include news release development and involvement with activities conducted by the organization in conjunction with the Illinois State Fair and June Dairy Month.

To be eligible, applicants must be at least 18 years of age and be a student in Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Kansas, Oklahoma or Arkansas, or be a permanent resident of those states. The candidate need not be from a dairy farm, but those with knowledge of the dairy industry are preferred. Students possessing strong communication and organizational skills are preferred.

The position, which is salaried, requires the intern to locate within commuting distance of Springfield, where a bulk of the duties will be based. Applicants must submit a resume, a list of three references, and a two-page written essay describing how Midwest Dairy Association would benefit from their skills. Applications are due February 11, 2009.

The Seven Facts

News EditorEducation, Industry News

cowFellow agriculture blogger Amanda Noltz over at the Beef Daily website, posted this very informative article today. It’s very easy for people to get the Human Society of the U.S. (HSUS) confused with their local animal shelters. To learn more about HSUS, its activities and its fundraising, visit Activist Cash. Thanks Amanda for the great post!

It’s no secret that the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) isn’t the organization it pretends to be. Instead of using its money to save pets and care for animals, HSUS utilizes their monetary gifts in their work as a lobbying giant. Their main goal is to eliminate animal agriculture in this country, and they are finding success by passing legislation that makes food production more costly than ever before. I was sent this Center for Consumer Freedom article titled, “7 Things You Didn’t Know About HSUS,” and I thought I would share it with all of you. Undoubtedly, it will be some good coffee talk at the local elevator or cafe this weekend.

“7 Things You Didn’t Know About HSUS”

1) The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) is a “humane society” in name only, since it doesn’t operate a single pet shelter or pet adoption facility anywhere in the United States. During 2006, HSUS contributed only 4.2 percent of its budget to organizations that operate hands-on dog and cat shelters. In reality, HSUS is a wealthy animal-rights lobbying organization (the largest and richest on earth) that agitates for the same goals as PETA and other radical groups.

2) Beginning on the day of NFL quarterback Michael Vick’s 2007 dogfighting indictment, HSUS raised money online with the false promise that it would “care for the dogs seized in the Michael Vick case.” The New York Times later reported that HSUS wasn’t caring for Vick’s dogs at all. And HSUS president Wayne Pacelle told the Times that his group recommended that government officials “put down” (that is, kill) the dogs rather than adopt them out to suitable homes. HSUS later quietly altered its Internet fundraising pitch.

3) HSUS’s senior management includes a former spokesman for the Animal Liberation Front (ALF), a criminal group designated as “terrorists” by the FBI. HSUS president Wayne Pacelle hired John “J.P.” Goodwin in 1997, the same year Goodwin described himself as “spokesperson for the ALF” while he fielded media calls in the wake of an ALF arson attack at a California veal processing plant. In 1997, when asked by reporters for a reaction to an ALF arson fire at a farmer’s feed co-op in Utah (which nearly killed a family sleeping on the premises), Goodwin replied, “We’re ecstatic.” That same year, Goodwin was arrested at a UC Davis protest celebrating the 10-year anniversary of an ALF arson at the university that caused $5 million in damage. And in 1998, Goodwin described himself publicly as a “former member of ALF.”

4) According to a 2008 Los Angeles Times investigation, less than 12 percent of money raised for HSUS by California telemarketers actually ends up in HSUS’s bank account. The rest is kept by professional fundraisers. And if you exclude two campaigns run for HSUS by the “Build-a-Bear Workshop” retail chain, which consisted of the sale of surplus stuffed animals (not really “fundraising”), HSUS’s yield number shrinks to just 3 percent. Sadly, this appears typical. In 2004, HSUS ran a telemarketing campaign in Connecticut with fundraisers who promised to return a minimum of zero percent of the proceeds. The campaign raised over $1.4 million. Not only did absolutely none of that money go to HSUS, but the group paid $175,000 for the telemarketing work.

5) Research shows that HSUS’s heavily promoted U.S. “boycott” of Canadian seafood—announced in 2005 as a protest against Canada’s annual seal hunt—is a phony exercise in media manipulation. A 2006 investigation found that 78 percent of the restaurants and seafood distributors described by HSUS as “boycotters” weren’t participating at all. Nearly two-thirds of them told surveyors they were completely unaware HSUS was using their names in connection with an international boycott campaign. Canada’s federal government is on record about this deception, saying: “Some animal rights groups have been misleading the public for years … it’s no surprise at all that the richest of them would mislead the public with a phony seafood boycott.”

6) HSUS raised a reported $34 million in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, supposedly to help reunite lost pets with their owners. But comparatively little of that money was spent for its intended purpose. Louisiana’s Attorney General shuttered his 18-month-long investigation into where most of these millions went, shortly after HSUS announced its plan to contribute $600,000 toward the construction of an animal shelter on the grounds of a state prison. Public disclosures of the disposition of the $34 million in Katrina-related donations add up to less than $7 million.

7) After gathering undercover video footage of improper animal handling at a Chino, CA slaughterhouse during November of 2007, HSUS sat on its video evidence for three months, even refusing to share it with the U.S. Department of Agriculture. HSUS’s Dr. Michael Greger testified before Congress that the San Bernardino County (CA) District Attorney’s office asked the group “to hold on to the information while they completed their investigation.” But the District Attorney’s office quickly denied that account, even declaring that HSUS refused to make its undercover spy available to investigators if the USDA were present at those meetings. Ultimately, HSUS chose to release its video footage at a more politically opportune time, as it prepared to launch a livestock-related ballot campaign in California. Meanwhile, meat from the slaughterhouse continued to flow into the U.S. food supply for months.

Vilsack to Help Dairy?

News EditorGovernment, Industry News, Markets

vilsack_tom_ag_secretary_crop-300x0Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack signaled Wednesday that he may take measures to put more dairy products in federal nutrition programs, possibly easing the blow of falling milk prices on dairy farmers.

But he was less enthusiastic about boosting exports, which could lead to complaints from U.S. trade partners.

In a press conference, Mr. Vilsack said he would not comment about specific ideas he is contemplating, but that the recent fall in milk prices is one of his top concerns and can be addressed by reducing an oversupply of milk, particularly in the West.

“One of the keys is to look at the supply, the oversupply we have today,” Mr. Vilsack said.

Mr. Vilsack’s comments may satisfy some of the demands from lawmakers, including Rep. John M. McHugh, R-Pierrepont Manor, and Sens. Charles E. Schumer and Kirsten E. Gillibrand, D-N.Y., who have urged more dairy products for food programs.

But they also have urged more exports, especially through a little-used federal subsidy called the Dairy Export Incentive Program. The government has narrowed that program considerably; it often raises free-trade complaints from other countries.

Mr. Vilsack’s emphasis on an oversupply of milk, while mirroring what many economists say, runs afoul of farm groups that say the real issue in the dairy industry is manipulation of the small wholesale market that helps determine minimum federal milk prices around the country.

Mr. Vilsack cited “tremendous demand” in federal food programs and at food banks around the country, suggesting that supplying those programs with more dairy products could soften the blow for farmers.

Attacking deep price declines by addressing an oversupply can work “if we’re cautious about it,” Mr. Vilsack said.

The National Family Farm Coalition has called on the government to stop using the Chicago Mercantile Exchange as a benchmark for the minimum prices plants must pay farmers. The market is vulnerable to manipulation, the U.S. Government Accountability Office has reported, and last year the nation’s biggest dairy farmer bargaining cooperative, Dairy Farmers of America, agreed to pay a $12 million penalty to settle charges that three executives used the market to manipulate milk prices.

The coalition has been pressing lawmakers to question whether the nation really faces an oversupply, or a flawed system for setting and reporting milk prices.

One idea that appears to be going nowhere is to use the federal economic stimulus to help dairy farmers, perhaps by increasing the slaughter of dairy herds. Advocates for that idea discussed a federal loan guarantee program to boost a program run by dairy cooperatives that pays farmers to “retire” their herds.

The proposal was shot down by Rep. David R. Obey, D-Wis., chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, and never gained much steam in the Senate.

The USDA set the minimum base price for beverage-class milk at $10.72 per 100 pounds for February, a $5 drop in one month and nearly 50 percent lower than a year ago.

LOL Purina Offers Scholarship

News EditorCompany Announcement, Education

lolfeedLand O’Lakes Purina Feed LLC announced they will award five $1,000 scholarships to high school seniors who demonstrate scholastic achievement, leadership in agriculture, and a perceived ability to contribute to agriculture in the future. Applications are available online and must be postmarked by March 14, 2009

The Propel® Energy Nugget scholarship program is available to high school graduates pursuing a two- or four-year degree in dairy science or dairy nutrition and management. To qualify for the program, a student must:
• Be a high school senior, graduating in spring of 2009
• Demonstrate leadership abilities and academic performance
• Complete a scholarship application
• Write and submit essays describing why he or she is interested in a dairy science or dairy nutrition and management career

Propel® Energy Nugget is a new, highly-palatable, high-energy product-energy product specially formulated to be used as a nutritional supplement for lactating and post-fresh dairy cows. Proven in lactation cow research studies to be more palatable than calcium salts of fatty acids and prilled fat sources, Propel® Energy Nugget is preferred by cows, thus encouraging greater intake levels at the time when suppressed appetites are a common challenge. To produce this product Land O’Lakes Purina Feed developed a proprietary Macro-Encapsulation™ Technology.

Land O’Lakes Purina Feed LLC is a national organization serving producers through 4,700 local cooperatives and independent dealerships throughout the United States. The company, in combination with its wholly owned subsidiary Purina Mills, LLC, is North America’s leading feed company, providing producers, cooperatives and dealers with an extensive line of animal feed, ingredients and services.

Ag Programs in the Stimulus

News EditorGovernment, Industry News

A good wrap-up of the stimulus package for agriculture from Drovers.

U.S. economic issues are garnering all the attention in Washington, D.C. The House Democrats passed a stimulus package last week, and the Senate is considering it this week.

In the House version, agriculture programs, including nutrition assistance, rural development and conservation, would receive about $27 billion, or about 3.3 percent, of the House-approved $825 billion economic stimulus package. That’s according to an estimate from the Congressional Budget Office.

Republicans are criticizing the House stimulus bill because they argue it funds too many dubious programs and projects. Senate Republicans appear to be headed down that same path. President Obama wants a final bill on his desk by mid-month.

Among the agricultural programs in the package, nutrition-assistance programs account for $21 billion. Rural development programs would receive $5.1 billion, including $2.8 billion to deploy broadband technology in rural areas and $1.5 billion for rural water and waste disposal projects. USDA’s infrastructure would benefit from facilities maintenance and computer improvements totaling nearly $500 million. Conservation and watershed programs would receive $400 million.

Feed Efficiencies for Difficult Times

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

Pioneer Hi-Bred Forage Forum PodcastThe recent turn in dairy commodity prices have producers looking for tactics to boost their bottom lines. Jim Smith, Pioneer livestock information manager, discusses some management practices to maximize production and lower input costs. Smith says to group the herd according to production capabilities and feed those animals accordingly, focusing on the most profitable animals in an operation. Smith also recommends continuous evaluation of nutrients and ingredients being fed.

[audio:http://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3?http://zimmcomm.biz/pioneer/pioneer-podcast-47-wdd.mp3]

Jim Smith on Feed Efficiences (5:00 min MP3)

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

Agri-Mark to go rbST-free

News EditorIndustry News, Markets

agrimarklogoSpeaking of Agri-Mark, the cooperative announced a few weeks ago that they are asking their dairymen to go rbST-free by August 2009.

For all intents and purposes, the New England dairy industry will be “rbST-free” by the end of summer 2009. Facing the threat of losing markets for its highly successful Cabot brand of cheeses, cooperative owner Agri-Mark has told its member farmers that if they want to continue using bovine somatotropin to boost production their milk will have to go to a cheese plant in northern New York State at a cost to them of up to $2 per hundredweight to cover the trucking.

“Cabot sales were at risk, and we were going to lose markets if we continued to accept milk from rbST-treated cows at our Middlebury and Cabot (Vt.) cheese plants and our West Springfield (Mass.) butter and powder plant,” says Bob Wellington, senior vice president of Agri-Mark, the largest producer cooperative in New England.

The two primary marketers of farm milk in New England, Agri-Mark and Dairy Marketing Services/Dairy Farmers of America, have wrestled with assembling and marketing two separate streams of farm milk, one from farms using rbST and one from farms that shun the technology.

Agri-Mark’s board of directors has set Aug. 1 as the cutoff for any rbST milk coming into its system, a decision which essentially is the deadline for both its member farms and all the rest of the New England and eastern New York farms shipping into the New England market.

That’s because Agri-Mark operates the only major manufacturing plants that serve to balance the region’s milk supply, Cabot, Middlebury and West Springfield. Milk beyond the needs of fluid processors, ice cream plants and a handful of small cheese enterprises has to find a home somewhere, and Agri-Mark is the only entity that can economically handle it.

He adds that Agri-Mark waited as long as it could to close the door on rbST, but the pressures coming back from consumers and retailers forced the cooperative to protect its Cabot brand.