Kentucky Warehouse to Expand

News EditorIce Cream, Industry News

UnitedDairyFarmerslogoUnited Dairy Farmers, Covington, Ky., a supplier of dairy products and operator of over 200 retail ice cream stores, is expanding its distribution and warehousing facility in Erlanger, Ky., with a new 104,000 sq.-ft. facility. It will be built on property adjacent to the company’s current 126,000 sq.-ft. location.

“United Dairy Farmers has a strong interest in keeping its facilities in the region where the company was founded. Northern Kentucky, with its easily accessible transportation options and dedicated, educated workforce, is a perfect location for this facility,” said Angelos Christon, a spokesperson for the company. United Dairy Farmers currently employs 96 employees and the new facility is expected to create 40 new jobs.

Wolff Requests Extension

News EditorGovernment, Industry News, Milk

Pennsylvania Agriculture Secretary Dennis Wolff took a stand for his state today, requesting Congress to extend the deadline for the milk income loss contract program.

To date, the program has provided more than $220 million in federal support to help many Pennsylvania dairy farmers stay in business during periods of extremely low milk prices.

“Dairy is the largest part of Pennsylvania’s agricultural industry, and the milk income loss contract program has helped sustain farmers with funding vital to maintaining their businesses,” said Wolff. “To ensure the future of Pennsylvania’s dairy industry, a one-month extension must be authorized for the milk income loss contract program so it can be continued through the 2007 Farm Bill.”

If extended through Sept. 30, the milk income loss contract program will be included as part of the Farm Bill baseline and it will maintain an adequate level of funding during the 2007 Farm Bill consideration period.

The program can be extended as part of the supplemental appropriations bill, which will be considered by the appropriations committees in the coming days. The milk income loss contract program was originally enacted in 2002 under the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act and was extended to Aug. 31, 2007, through the 2006 Budget Reconciliation Bill.

U. S. Dairy Export Record

Chuck ZimmermanAudio, Export

USDECYesterday there was some good news in the area of dairy exports according to the U. S. Dairy Export Council. Here’s a report that summarizes the 2006 dairy export results.

U.S. dairy exports set a record in 2006 – for the third straight year and are now worth nearly 1-point-9 billion dollars. This report includes comments from U.S. Dairy Export Council President Tom Suber, looking at some of the reasons behind the growth in U.S. Dairy exports

Listen To MP3 File USDEC Report (1 min MP3)

Retired Producer is Humanitarian

News EditorExport

Dairy producers in our country have a record for being humanitarians, and Carl Baumann, a retired producer, is no exception. Baumann runs the nonprofit group, Dairy Relief, which exports nonfat milk powder to developing countries.

Dairy Relief has given away enough milk powder to make almost 2.3 million gallons of nonfat milk. Milk is a staple of nutrition programs the world over. And while U.S. residents might take it for granted, and wince a little at the price before filling their shopping carts, in many developing nations the beverage is simply out of reach. Baumann keeps pictures and letters detailing the stories of Dairy Relief’s efforts. Photos show groups of smiling orphans and children whose skin stretches taught across their skeletons. Letters tell of deliveries — sometimes one-ton pallets of powdered milk — saving lives. Baumann’s group has sent dry milk to groups working on five continents in countries ranging from the Philippines to Iraq.

Increased worldwide consumption has made milk powder more scarce and Baumann’s job more difficult. The higher demand also has upped the price, meaning Baumann can purchase less with the donations — mostly from milk producers themselves — that make up his budget.

Baumann’s dream would be access to those government milk powder stores, but the process is far too complex for most small groups. Commodity Credit Corporation has tight regulations on just who has access and how the goods can be used. So Dairy Relief instead relies on donations — mostly from milk industry insiders.

Ethanol Use Increases Inputs

News EditorFeed, Industry News

This is an issue we’re sure to keep hearing more about as our country looks for other ways to reduce its dependancy on foreign oil.

The cost of energy independence may well be higher prices for meat, cheese and milk as the ethanol boom continues to consume corn that had been used to feed cows, chicken and hogs. Ethanol production took 20 percent of America’s corn crop last year and is expected to use more than 25 percent this season, according to federal estimates released during a congressional hearing Thursday.

Rep. Dennis Cardoza, D-Merced, (California) said the state has the most influence over milk prices in the short term. For the long term, Cardoza said the federal government plans to shift millions in research and development cash from corn-based ethanol – which is now a profitable industry – to ethanol based on other sources. Cardoza says that once non-corn ethanol production catches up, it will relieve pressure on the corn market and lower prices.

But that could be years away. Meanwhile, more farmers will take advantage of the high corn prices by planting it instead of soybeans or alfalfa or cotton. All three are vital to a healthy cow’s diet, “You wouldn’t think one commodity would cause such a chain reaction, but it does. Corn is in everything.”

NMPF Opposes Opening Border

News EditorIndustry News, International

nmpflogoThe National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF) submitted comments to USDA regarding the opening of the Canadian border to breeding or herd replacement dairy animals. The organization expressed an opposing view to the proposed rule and asked the USDA to consider a more in-depth analysis before approving the opening.

Due to ongoing concerns about the effectiveness in Canada of the 10 years-old ban on feeding mammalian tissues to cows – the key firewall intended to prevent the spread of BSE, or mad cow disease – NMPF told the USDA that it would be imprudent to allow live animal traffic to resume. USDA is currently considering reopening the U.S. border to animals born after March 1999 for any use, including as breeding stock.

“We feel that there are a few more questions that need to be answered before we allow replacement animals in the U.S.,” said Jerry Kozak, NMPF President & CEO. “The dairy and beef industry should protect itself from another case of BSE entering this country through our borders.”

In its comments, NMPF expressed concern that Canada’s implementation of the 1997 feed ban was not as effective as the government had originally thought. USDA estimates the prevalence of BSE in Canada at 6.8 animals per every 10 million adult cattle, which is more than seven times the BSE prevalence in the U.S.

Kozak said that the U.S. Department of Agriculture has not yet done an economic impact analysis on the potential financial losses to dairy farmers from the resumption of Canadian dairy heifer imports. Such an action is “crucial to examining the overall changes to our market that will result from moving forward with a completely open border,” Kozak said.

CWT Export Assistance Bids

Chuck ZimmermanDairy Group, Export

Cooperatives Working TogetherHere’s the latest announcement from Cooperatives Working Together:

Cooperatives Working Together announced today that it accepted nine export assistance bids last week for the sale of cheese and butter.

Three of the bids were from Dairy Farmers of America of Kansas City, MO: 296 metric tons (651,200 pounds) of Mozzarella cheese to Guatemala; 140 metric tons (308,000 lbs.) of Cheddar cheese, also to Guatemala; and 100 metric tons (220,000 lbs.) of Cheddar to South Africa.

Two bids were accepted from Darigold of Seattle, WA: 250 metric tons (550,000 lbs.) of butter to Belgium, and 250 metric tons (550,000 lbs.) of Cheddar to Egypt.

Finally, four bids were accepted from Land O’Lakes of Arden Hills, MN, all bound for China: 6 metric tons (13,200 lbs.) of retail-packaged cheese; another 3 tons (6,600 lbs.) of retail cheese; and two bids together totaling .45 metric tons (990 lbs.) of retail-packaged butter. CWT will pay an export bonus to the bidders, once completion of the butter and cheese shipments is verified.

CWT will pay an export bonus to the bidders, once completion of the butter, milkfat and cheese shipments is verified.

California Cooperative Goes BST Free

News EditorIndustry News

CaliforniaDairiesLogoCalifornia Dairies Inc. is the latest milk cooperative to ask its producers to stop using BST. The cooperative is under pressure from their customers to supply BST free milk.

Despite evidence that the rBST hormone doesn’t harm humans, California Dairies Inc. said its biggest customers such as Vons and Safeway didn’t want it in the cows. The co-op also supplies brands such as Foster Farms, Knudsen Farms and Producers Dairy.

The dairy co-op has to comply if it wants to keep its customers, Chief Executive Richard Cotta said. “Demand for this milk has exceeded our ability to supply it.” The phaseout of the hormone made by Monsanto Co., the St. Louis-based chemical giant, will be in effect Aug. 1.

Other large players in the dairy industry such as Oregon’s Tillamook County Creamery Assn. and Dean Foods Co. are also winding down its use.

Shoppers at the Smart & Final on Verdugo Road in Glendale on Wednesday generally voiced concern about whether milk from cows injected with the hormone was a threat to their health. “I’m interested in my health,” said Mike Metzler, a Glendale publisher. “I never buy milk with bovine growth hormone in it.”

Jerry Gillespie, director of the Western Institute for Food Safety and Security at UC Davis, said, “The idea that it might be harmful has not gone away among the public even though it doesn’t bear the light of science.”

Farmers in the co-op will still have the choice of whether to use the hormone. But if they do, California Dairies is going to charge extra handling fees to sell that milk. That expense and the cost of the hormone are expected to all but end the hormone’s use.

Dairy Industry Testimony on Feed Costs

Chuck ZimmermanAudio, Dairy Group, Feed, General, Government

Dairy Farmers of AmericaThe House Agriculture Subcommittee on Livestock, Dairy and Poultry held a hearing this week to review the impact of higher feed costs on the livestock industry, specifically as a result of increased demand for ethanol from corn. One of the witnesses was Rob Wonderlich, a producer from Ollie, Iowa who testified on behalf of Dairy Farmers of America.

Wonderlich testified that while the higher corn prices may be “great for U.S. grain farmers who have experienced several consecutive years of depressed prices, it is tragically affecting the financial viability of dairy farmers.” As a producer with a 270-cow dairy, who also farms 520 acres of cropland, Wonderlich has calculated that the increased corn prices over the past year have increased his cost of production by $1.90 per hundredweight or 45 percent.

He further noted that his farm revenues were being stressed as the value of bull calves born has been reduced by almost half “due to calf-feeders unwillingness to buy corn-hungry calves.”

Wonderlich told the committee that he is a “firm believer in renewable fuels derived from agricultural commodities” but the biofuels revolution has occurred too quickly for livestock producers to properly adapt “which has sent a shock across the industries in the form of increased operating costs.”

Read Wonderlich’s testimony from the House Agriculture committee website, or listen to it here:
Listen To MP3 File Wonderlich (5:30 min MP3)