PDPW Holds Seminar

News EditorGeneral

pdpw-logoLocal elected officials and dairy producers are urged to attend an educational seminar focusing on “Agriculture’s Changing Face – Meeting Environmental and Community Needs.”

This valuable one-day forum will be held Thursday, February 19 at the Holiday Inn in Fond du Lac from 8:45 a.m.-3:30 p.m. This is the perfect opportunity to reach out and participate in constructive dialogue between dairy producers, elected officials and our local communities. Attendees will have the chance to sit shoulder-to-shoulder and learn about issues impacting agriculture and discuss options to create a positive future.

“Professional Dairy Producers of Wisconsin continues expanding its efforts to reach out and stimulate constructive dialogue between dairy producers and their local communities,” said Shelly Mayer, PDPW Executive Director. “The purpose of this seminar is to create productive discussions, dissolve barriers and build bridges between producers, our communities’ officials and units of state government.”

This seminar is the result of the Agriculture Community Engagement (ACE) program. ACE is a three-way partnership between PDPW, Wisconsin Towns Association (WTA) and Wisconsin Counties Association (WCA). The purpose of ACE is to educate, inform and open communications on issues that are important to our communities.

Attendees will hear from a variety of experts who will provide a wide array of valuable information and foster a great understanding of dairy’s impact in Wisconsin and the industry’s bright future. The day will kick off with an update on Wisconsin’s working lands from David Jelinski from Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection. Attendees will also learn from a session about growing in harmony with our land and water, presented by Dennis Frame, UW Discovery Farms Co-Director and Eric Cooley,
UW Discovery Outreach Specialist.

Pete Giacomini, AgSource Cooperative Chief Operating Officer, will share a view of dairy beyond the farm gate and the impact of dairy on our culture, land, economy, education system and our communities. Participants will then explore animal health as Dr. Robert Ehlenfeldt, State Veterinarian with the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection, will provide insight into the unbreakable link between animal health and community wellness.

Topping off the day is a panel of Wisconsin dairy producers. John Ruedinger from Van Dyne and Russel Strutz from Two Rivers who will share their views of the industry and plans for their businesses. This session allows for true “ACE” style interaction where we can learn from one another and look for opportunities to help our communities grow by dissolving barriers and building bridges.

High Calcium Intake and Weight

News EditorDairy Checkoff, Industry News, Nutrition

white_milk_pourThe journal Nutrition Reviews recently released a review of research that found a positive link between high calcium intake and improved body composition and weight maintenance.

The study concluded that high calcium intake may affect body composition through some combination of reducing body fat mass while maintaining lean body mass, reducing weight gain and increasing weight loss on calorie-restricted diets.

Despite these results and other studies, Americans are not consuming enough calcium. Nearly nine out of 10 women and six out of 10 men do not meet their daily calcium recommendations. Consuming three servings of nutrient-rich, low-fat and fat-free milk, cheese or yogurt a day provides 90 percent of the recommended calcium requirements.

“The calcium and eight other essential nutrients that dairy products provide are critical for an overall healthy diet,” said Ann Marie Krautheim, a registered dietitian and senior vice president of nutrition affairs for National Dairy Council®, the nutrition research arm of the dairy checkoff program. “This review of research concludes that dairy may also help to maintain an overall healthy weight – another great reason to consume three servings of low-fat or fat-free nutrient rich dairy foods a day.”

Science-based nutrition research serves as the foundation for producer-funded efforts to help build demand for and sales of U.S. dairy products by further advancing dairy’s role as part of a healthy diet. In addition to working with health professional partners, checkoff staffs also are communicating the study results to national and local health-focused media to reach other thought leaders and health professionals.

New CBB Chair is Dairy Producer

Chuck ZimmermanAudio, Beef Checkoff

Lucinda WilliamsI had the pleasure this morning of conducting the first interview with the new Chairman of the Beef Board. She’s dairy producer, Lucinda Williams. The Board releases some background information on Linda which I’m sharing with you here.

Lucinda’s roots to the beef industry date back to life growing up as the daughter of a Colorado cowboy and rancher. Lucinda’s father raised cattle in Holly, Colo., and also grew sugar beets. Early in her parents’ marriage, they made the choice to put farming on hold for a while and go back to school. Her father got involved with the Extension Service and never did make it back to the land full time. Instead, he became a professor and worked for the extension service. They lived in Virginia until Lucinda was a teen, at which time they moved to Massachusetts and their current home of Hatfield. “Even though we didn’t live on a farm, we still had a 5-acre garden,” jokes Lucinda.

After moving to Massachusetts, the first family to invite them to dinner was the Williams family who had a dairy farm in town. That’s how she met Darryl and 25 years of marriage later, she would pick him again. At the time, she thought that she was marrying a teacher but soon after their engagement, Darryl realized teaching just wasn’t for him – agriculture was in his blood – he had to give back to the land.

So Lucinda was the one to return to the farm. Darryl is the 12th generation on their land, which came down through his mother’s family. Over the years, the land has been used for a sheep operation, onions, tobacco and cucumbers. It was Darryl’s father who married into the family and introduced dairy.

“Dairy farming is hard. You don’t go into it for the time off or the money, you do it because you love the animals and the lifestyle,” says Lucinda. “There was never any pressure from family for us to take over the farm. It came down to our love for farming and that outweighed all else. It’s still quite evident it’s a family trait: Darryl’s dad still helps with chores and plants corn, while his mom still does the daily feeding of calves in the morning.”

Lucinda and Darryl milk 100 cows with a total of 200 animals with replacements. They crop 250 acres (own 180, rent the rest), raising corn, alfalfa and hay. In her part of the country, farmland is small and spread out with their biggest field sizing in at just 22 acres.

“The reality is, even though we live in a quiet, rural town,” continues Lucinda, “we farm on a residential street.”

You can listen to my interview with Lucinda here: [audio:http://zimmcomm.biz/cbb/cic-09-williams-chairman.mp3]

Feel free to check out my Cattle Industry Convention photos here: Cattle Industry Convention Photo Album

Some Dairy Economics From CattleFax

Chuck ZimmermanAudio, Beef Checkoff

Kevin GoodAt this year’s Cattle Industry Forum which is held at the Cattle Industry Convention, we heard from three speakers starting with Kevin Good, CattleFax.

He made a presentation about the importance of dairy breeds to beef production and the size of herds and the trends for dairy cattle numbers including changes around the country on a regional basis.

He talks about how 2008 was another expansion year in the dairy business but that he doesn’t think the 5-year trend will continue. He also addresses the need to reduce dairy cow numbers.

You can listen to Kevin’s presentation here: [audio:http://zimmcomm.biz/cbb/cic-09-good.mp3]

I was the Beef Board Blogger once again this year and have posted a lot of content on BeefBoardMeeting.com, the official blog of the Beef Board on which you can find all the committee meeting agendas, minutes, pictures, interviews. I created an online photo album from the convention which concludes today which you can find here: Cattle Industry Convention Photo Album

Dairyline Markets In Review

Chuck ZimmermanDairyline, Markets

DairylineDairy Markets Week in Review
Block and barrel cheese prices strengthened the last week of January. The block price closed Friday morning at $1.15 per pound, up 7 1/2-cents on the week, 2 cents above support, but 65 cents below that week a year ago when blocks jumped 15 cents, to $1.80. Barrel finished the final week of January at $1.1150, up 1 1/2-cents on the week, but 66 1/2 below a year ago.

Forty one cars of block traded hands on the week and five of barrel. The NASS surveyed U.S. average block price fell to $1.1529, down 7 cents. Barrel averaged $1.1330, down 13 cents.

Butter closed Friday at $1.1025, unchanged on the week but 12 cents below a year ago. Only one car was sold on the week. NASS butter averaged $1.0724, down a half-cent. NASS nonfat dry milk averaged 82.77 cents, down 0.3 cent, and dry whey averaged 16.59 cents, also down 0.3 cent.

Price support purchases for the week amounted to 600,000 pounds of butter and 8.1 million pounds of nonfat powder, raising the market year’s cumulative totals to 2.1 million and 150.1 million pounds respectively.

Provided courtesy of Dairyline.

UK Celebrates National Dairy Week

News EditorInternational

nationaldairyweekNational Dairy Week 2009, the celebration of dairy and its health and nutritional benefits for people of all ages, is being welcomed by leaders across the UK. The week starts on February 2nd.

Jane Kennedy, Minister for Farming and the Environment, said: “UK dairy farmers are doing great work often in very tough circumstances. National Dairy Week is an excellent opportunity for all of us to celebrate the industry’s many achievements. They produce high quality milk, yoghurt, cheese and butter which are important to our diet, whilst cutting the environmental impact of the industry through the pioneering dairy roadmap.”

Dr Judith Bryans, Director of the Dairy Council and Registered Nutritionist, whose organisation initiated the week, said: “The Dairy Council is proud to champion National Dairy Week, which we have organised as a dedicated time to focus on the positives about dairy. Dairy foods are an economical source of nutrition and have contributed greatly to the British diet throughout the centuries. National Dairy Week gives us the opportunity to talk about the goodness of dairy foods, and to celebrate the role of dairy in British history, as well as the role The Dairy Council has played over the years, albeit under different names, in promoting milk, cheese and yogurt as part of a healthy balanced diet.”

Leprino Foods Will Continue With Cheese Plant

News EditorCheese, Industry News

leprinofoodsDespite the price of milk “thoroughly collapsing” in the past few months, Leprino Foods of Denver has not changed plans to build a new cheese plant in Greeley. And when complete, it will be the second largest of the nine plants the company has in the U.S., a Leprino official said Wednesday.

Mike Reidy, senior vice president of business development for Leprino said the new plant will be operating in 2011. Once at full capacity, perhaps a year or so later, it will need 7 million pounds of milk per day, more than double the need in Fort Morgan, and will employ 500 people. Today, Colorado dairies produce about 7 million pounds per day.

Leprino is the largest producer of mozzarella cheese in the country for the quick-service restaurant business. In addition to plants in Colorado, it operates facilities in Minnesota, New Mexico, Nebraska, California and the United Kingdom.

Leprino gets all of its milk from Dairy Farmers of America, a cooperative that includes most Colorado dairies. In addition to mozzarella cheese it provides as diced and shredded product, it produces whey and lactose products, which it also will do at the Greeley plant. The plant is being built at the site of the former Western Sugar Factory on the east side of the city.

“We and the dairy industry are facing unbelievable challenges,” Reidy said, noting the recent drop in the price of milk is another sign of the nation’s declining economy.

Adding to the problems are declining exports, food safety crises — such as the recent salmonella bacteria found in some peanut products — that have eroded consumer confidence, and other factors, such as McDonald’s removing a second piece of cheese from its cheeseburgers. “There was no home for that cheese,” Reidy said.

Australia and New Zealand, however, have had drought conditions that have driven those markets to the United States. Other countries face land problems, political unrest and a myriad of other problems. Because of that, the “United States is well-positioned to supply the world,” Reidy said. He sees this country as the “last bastion of milk producers in the world.” And, he said, it will be the dairy industry of Colorado, Wyoming, Idaho, Texas and New Mexico “that will drive us to better economics. That’s why we’re building a new plant.”

Whitey McKown Dies

News EditorIndustry News

Well-known former Holstein World editor Robert M. “Whitey” McKown died on January 23 in Doylestown, Pa. at the age of 82 following complications from a heart attack. An icon in the Holstein industry, he had traveled to 40 states, Canada, Mexico and Japan during his career which spanned 43 years working with Holstein World readers, advertisers and fellow Holstein enthusiasts. He was an editor of the Pennsylvania Holstein News and Holstein World from 1960 until his retirement in 1999. In 1995, he was named Dairy Industry Person of the Year at the World Dairy Expo in Madison, Wis. and in 2005 he was named New York Master Breeder. Whitey was a favorite master of ceremonies at Holstein industry events.

He was born in 1926 to Paul and Florence Swank McKown in Apollo, Pa. He was a member of Apollo High School class of 1944 and Pennsylvania State University class of 1950 where he played varsity basketball. He served in the U.S. Army Air Corp. as a cryptographer 1944-46. He was a 50 year member of the Masons (32nd degree), China-Burma-India Veterans Assn., Sandy Creek United Methodist Church, Tau Kappa Epsilon, Klussendorf Assn., Dairy Shrine (President 1986-87), Holstein Assn. in several states. Formerly he served as Boy Scout Troop 30 Committee Chairman, President of the Sandy Creek Service Club, and coached Little League.

Survivors include his wife of 56 years, the former Jeanne Young, sons Robert (Sandra) of Brevard, NC, Christopher (Abby Johnson) of Milton, MA and daughter Susan Holihan (Russ) of Doylestown, PA and five granddaughters. His parents and brother, Paul, predeceased him.

Calling hours will be at 3:00 PM Saturday, January 31 at Doylestown United Methodist Church, 320 East Swamp Road, Doylestown, PA, followed by a memorial service at 4:00 PM. A memorial service will be held in Sandy Creek at a later date.

Contributions may be made to Sandy Creek United Methodist Church, Box 158, Sandy Creek, NY 13145; or to the “Whitey McKown Fund” which will be used to grant an annual award for excellence in Holstein breeding (mail to Horace Backus, Box 69, Mexico, NY 13114).

Holstein Association USA Reveals Redesigned Web Site

News EditorHolstein Association, Industry News

home_image3Check out the newly redesigned Holstein Association USA Web site. The new site is more member-friendly, having received a complete overhaul, with the goal of allowing members to access information and do business more easily.

Members will still have access to all of the features that they have in the past – the ability to order pedigrees, search for information on animals, view recognition lists, and download the latest genetic information. All of the menus and pages of information have been reorganized to provide easier, more intuitive navigation.

“The biggest change in the site will be the more user-friendly interface, which will allow members to access the information that they are looking for quickly and easily,” said Lindsey Worden, Communications Manager. “Our aim is to have a Web site that members come to as their first source for information about Holstein cattle and Association news.”

Some exciting new features are also being introduced. Members will have the option to order their official Holstein ear tags online and easily view account information and past orders. Other improvements include the ability to securely manage accounts and pay down account balances online, a site search function, and links to the most popular pages and lists right on the homepage.