This Dairy Regional Recap includes information on use of EPA funds by environmental advocates in Washington state, the latest outlook for Pennsylvania dairy farms and a study of farmer health in robotic milking systems. This and other U.S. region-by-region dairy news can be found here.
To find news in your region, click on its link below.
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NORTHWEST
House Ag Committee chair joins call for EPA answers
House Agriculture Committee Chairman K. Michael Conaway is among those asking questions regarding the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) role in an environmental advocacy campaign in Washington State.
Conaway (R-Texas) sent a letter to EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy, requesting information related to the agency’s oversight of a $3 million cooperative agreement with the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission.
That organization allegedly used an EPA grant to partner with environmental activist groups to fund “‘What’s Upstream,” a campaign designed to create public support for increased environmental regulation of agriculture.
Billboards and bus placards stated, “Unregulated agriculture is putting our waterways at risk.” A website link urged the public to send a pre-written email to state lawmakers encouraging increased regulation.
Conaway requested documents and information related to EPA’s “Region 10 Pugent Sound Action Agenda” dating back to January 2009.
“While this advocacy campaign is troubling, we are even more concerned that it appears to be part of a broader pattern of mismanagement of federal funds at EPA,” Conaway wrote in the letter. He asked for a response by the end of April.
Northwest dairy margins
A preliminary review of 2015 financial results from dairies in the Pacific Northwest reveals profits and losses, according to the latest Northwest Farm Credit Service dairy market snapshot.
In southern Idaho and central Washington, early results include profits range between $0.60 and $0.80 per hundredweight; losses are between $0.80 and $2.60 per hundredweight. Losses are more common in western Washington, where the average loss is approximately $1 per hundredweight, with a range of between $0.50 and $1.25 per hundredweight.
Milk breakeven prices are estimated as high as $17.50 per hundredweight in western Washington, and $14.50 to $15.50 per hundredweight in central Washington and southern Idaho.
Despite margin pressure, replacement dairy cow prices remain stable. Holstein cow prices generally start between $1,600 and $1,800 per head throughout the Northwest. Jersey cows are selling at a slight premium.
Washington dairy farm safety checklist available
The Washington State Dairy Federation is helping distribute a dairy farm safety checklist.
Developed by the Washington State Department of Labor & Industries, the form may be used to help track common hazards and basic safety program requirements.
Download a copy of the checklist.
Checklist categories include general safety programs, animal contact areas, chemicals, electrical and fire, feed and bulk materials, machinery, equipment and vehicles, manure storage and other hazards.
Earlier this year, a bill in the Washington Legislature would have required the state to establish training requirements for dairy farm employees and allowed for random safety inspections. H.B. 2484 failed to pass out of committee.
EAST
MADA, dairy farmers lead Fuel Up To Play 60 youth summit
Pennsylvania dairy farmers Renée Norman-Kenny and Clayton Kenny joined middle schoolers at Heinz Field recently to participate in a Fuel Up to Play 60 Beyond the Field Youth Summit. The Pittsburgh Steelers and Mid-Atlantic Dairy Association (MADA) facilitated the summit, which gathered 64 program advisors and students.
Norman-Kenny from Kenny Farm, New Castle, shared the story about her family’s dairy farm and encouraged the students to take every opportunity to become involved in the Fuel Up to Play 60 program.
Former Steelers’ quarterback, Charlie Batch, delivered the keynote address and moderated an interactive panel discussion that included representatives from the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Funded through the farmer-funded dairy checkoff, Fuel Up to Play 60 is the nation’s largest in-school health and wellness program. It is now in nearly 73,000 schools nationwide.
Read more about about Fuel Up to Play 60.
Historical Society exhibit features milk bottles
A milk bottle exhibit is featured at the Wayne County Historical Society (WCHS), Honesdale, Pa.
County resident Bruce Mackle donated a collection of more than 30 milk bottles from dairy farms throughout the county, according to the Wayne Independent.
Carol Dunn, WCHA executive director, said the museum is seeking one bottle from every dairy that bottled milk in the county.
Read more in the Wayne Independent.
‘Dairy U’ coming to Auburn University, April 23
Alabama Extension will host Dairy U, providing a fun forum for adults and children to learn more about the dairy industry. The event is set for April 23, at Auburn University’s Beef Teaching Unit, Auburn, Ala .
The program features a hands-on workshop led by Auburn University students and faculty, covering topics from how cows make milk to the health of dairy animals.
Vermont milk cooler grant program aids schools, students
A milk cooler grant program is helping put milk in the hands of Vermont students, according to Cecilia McCrary, Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food & Markets (VAAFM) intern.
With many schools lacking appropriate storage facilities to display and keep milk cold, VAAFM launched the Milk Cooler Grant Program in 2014. The program is financed through dairy checkoff funds, which is managed by the Vermont Dairy Promotion Council.
Putney Central, one of the schools receiving a grant in 2015, saw milk consumption increase while waste and labor costs associated with the milk program declined. Before the bulk milk cooler was installed, the school was tossing 51,000 milk cartons into landfills annually.
In 2016, the grant program gifted $12,000 to 12 schools. The next round of grant applications will be accepted this fall.
Stammer to receive ADPI Award of Merit
The American Dairy Products Institute (ADPI) will honor Richard Stammer, past president and CEO of Agri-Mark and CEO of Cabot Creamery, with its 2016 ADPI Award of Merit. The award will be presented during the ADPI/American Butter Institute annual conference, April 25 in Chicago, Ill.
Stammer, a New Jersey native, first served as Agri-Mark’s senior vice president of economics, communications and government relations before being promoted to become the company's chief operating officer in 1990.
With the merger of Agri-Mark and Cabot Creamery in the early 1990s, Stammer was added to the role of CEO of Cabot Creamery Cooperative. He was named president and CEO of Agri-Mark in 2011 and currently serves as executive senior vice president.
Pennsylvania dairy outlook
Pennsylvania dairy farmers saw milk income over feeds costs (IOFC) fall in March, with milk prices falling more than the feed costs to produce it, according to the latest Dairy Outlook report from Jim Dunn, Pennsylvania State University dairy economist.
Dunn’s calculations reflect daily gross milk income less feed costs for an average cow producing 65 lbs. of milk per day.
March 2015 daily feed costs were down 26 cents from February’s revised estimate, to $4.31 per cow per day. The March Pennsylvania all-milk price was estimated at $16.60 per hundredweight, down 50 cents from February, and generating $10.79 per cow per day. That left the preliminary March IOFC at $6.48/cow/day, down 17 cents (2.9 percent) from February, and the lowest since July 2015.
Measured another way, the milk margin over feed costs equaled to $9.98 per hundredweight.
Dunn’s forecast of the average 2016 Pennsylvania all-milk price is $17.75 per hundredweight, which would be down 72 cents (-3.9 percent) from 2015.
Ultrafiltered milk creating Canadian-U.S. border war
Presidential candidate Donald Trump may want a bigger fence between the United States and Mexico, but it’s the U.S.-Canadian border that’s seeing an escalating conflict. At the center of the dispute is ultrafiltered (UF) milk (called diafiltered milk on the Canadian side of the border).
Canadian dairy producers are upset over the flow of U.S.-produced UF milk into cheese vats. They’re asking for stricter enforcement of Canadian cheese standards to stem that flow.
Under those standards, a minimum percentage of protein used in making cheese must be sourced directly from fluid milk. The Canadian dairy farmers contend imported lower-cost milk proteins, including UF milk, are displacing milk in the country’s cheese production. Sales of UF milk are duty-free under the North American Free Trade Agreement.
South of the border, New York’s dairy industry is concerned. U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer (D-New York) threatened a trade war, calling on the U.S. Trade Representatives and USDA to protect U.S. dairy exports by ensuring Canada doesn’t impose restrictive trade rules.
Schumer recently hosted a press conference at western New York dairy cooperative O-AT-KA of Batavia, which exports about 20 percent of its production to Canada annually. He said potential trade restrictions and tariffs on UF milk, which add up to 180 million pounds of milk and $19 million in sales, threaten O-AT-KA and the entire western New York dairy industry.
Upstate Niagara Cooperative, made up of nearly 400 dairies, is the majority owner of O-AT-KA. Dairy Farmers of America owns the remaining 10 percent. A $16 million expansion expanded UF capabilities in 2012.
SOUTHWEST
Commodity prices impacting Dallas Fed
Land values in the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas region are feeling the pressure of lower commodity prices, although dryland values rose slightly in the first quarter of 2016. The district covers all or portions of Texas, New Mexico and Louisiana.
Based on a quarterly survey of agricultural lenders, dryland values across the region rose 1.4 percent during the quarter and were 5.1 percent higher than a year ago.
Irrigated land values declined 5.4 percent during the quarter, and ranchland values were mostly unchanged. However, values of irrigated land and ranchland remained above year-ago levels.
In contrast to land values, average cash rents for dryland dipped, but rental rates for irrigated land rose.
With the exception of operational loans, demand for other loan types declined. Loan repayment rates declined, while loan renewals and extensions picked up.
Variable interest rates rose slightly for all loan types (feeder cattle loans, farm operating and intermediate loans and farm real estate loans) during the quarter. Some bankers indicated they are tightening credit standards.
Read the Quarterly Survey of Agricultural Credit Conditions in the Eleventh Federal Research District.
Play ball: Shatto Milk debuts blue caramel corn milk
Kansas City-based Shatto Milk Company, widely known for its unique milk flavors, introduced Caramel Corn Milk in limited-edition pint bottles. The milk celebrated Major League Baseball’s reigning World Series champion Kansas City Royals.
California DWR water allocation boosted
California’s Department of Water Resources (DWR) increased its water allocation for most recipients to 45 percent of requests for the calendar year.
The 29 public agencies receiving SWP water (state water project contractors) requested nearly 4.2 million acre-feet of water for 2016. With the allocation increase, they will receive about 1.9 million acre-feet.
Improved Sierra snowpack and rainfall in March helped boost the state’s two largest reservoirs, Shasta Lake and Lake Oroville, to slightly above their historic levels for the date.
Collectively, the SWP contractors serve approximately 25 million Californians and just under a million acres of irrigated farmland.
The SWP provides the same allocation percentages to cities and farms. The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, which operates California’s other major water project, the Central Valley Project (CVP), is expected to announce its initial allocation to farms and cities. The SWP and CVP have different legal and contractual obligations and operational capabilities, and the CVP uses a priority system to allocate water.
California Class 4b whey factor hearing held April 11-12
The California Department of Food & Agriculture (CDFA) held a public hearing on California’s Class 4b minimum milk pricing formula “dry whey scale,” April 11-12 in Sacramento, California. All hearing briefs have been placed on the CDFA hearing matrix.
A temporary adjustment implemented last year is set to expire on July 31, 2016.
A proposal from dairy producer trade associations retains the current dry whey scale and makes it permanent. Or, at least permanent until if and when California joins the federal milk marketing order (FMMO) system. That process is under a separate track and is overseen by USDA.
The Dairy Institute of California (DIC), representing the dairy processors, repeated its claim the dry whey-based scale is no longer representative of the whey values received by cheese plants operating in the state. Instead, DIC’s proposal substitutes a factor based on liquid whey protein concentrate (WPC).
CDFA has about 60 days to announce a decision.
California statewide average costs
California fourth quarter (Q4) 2015 statewide milk production costs averaged $18.08 per hundredweight, down slightly from the previous quarter, according to the California Department of Food & Agriculture’s April 2016 California Dairy Review. Including an allowance for management and return on investment, statewide total costs averaged $19.74 per hundredweight, unchanged from the previous quarter.
The statewide averages were also down slightly from Q4 of 2014.
Fourth-quarter 2015 costs and costs plus allowances were highest in the North Coast region, with lowest costs in Southern California. By region, fourth-quarter costs on a per-hundredweight basis (excluding allowances for management and return on investment) were as follows:
• North Coast: 2014 – $27.47; 2015 – $29.47
• North Valley: 2014 – $18.30; 2015 – $18.02
• South Valley: 2014 – $18.22; 2015 – $17.71
• Southern California: 2014 – $17.31; 2015 – $17.44
• Statewide average: 2014 – $18.39; 2015 – $18.08
Average “mailbox prices” paid to California producers averaged $15.79 per hundredweight in the Q4 of 2015, according to CDFA.
Campaign pairs spicy tacos, milk
The California Milk Processor Board (CMPB) has launched a new campaign titled "Spicy Loves Milk." The statewide campaign joins Californians' love of tacos and America's fascination with spicy foods, while highlighting milk's essential role in spicy food pairing.
The campaign features seven popular chefs, each creating a “hot” taco recipe, while showcasing milk's versatility and unique ability to complement exciting spicy flavors and tone down the heat.
Try the spicy taco recipes and learn more about milk.
Valley Milk names CEO, schedules groundbreaking for April 25
California-based Valley Milk LLC hired dairy industry veteran Patti Smith as its first chief executive officer. The company is scheduled to break ground on a new milk powder processing facility on April 29.
Smith’s 25 years of global experience includes positions with Fonterra and Roquette Group.
Valley Milk’s plant, to be built in Turlock’s regional business park, will provide easy access to the Port of Oakland for exporting milk powders.
The plant will have the capacity to process about 2 million to 2.5 million pounds of milk daily, sourced from California’s Central Valley. Production of specialty dairy ingredients, including low-spore, agglomerated and instantized powders, is expected to begin in July 2017.
Valley Milk was established by the Machado, TeVelde, Vander Schaaf, deJager and Kelley dairy farm families, and members of Progressive Dairy Solutions, Oakdale, Calif. Dairy producer Don Machado serves as company chairman.
MIDWEST
Study to evaluate farmer health, quality of life with robotic milking systems
A pilot project through the Upper Midwest Agricultural Safety and Health Center (UMASH) will attempt to evaluate the impact of robotic milking systems on dairy farmer health and quality of life.
The lead researcher is Bryan Weichelt, health communications manager with the National Farm Medicine Center.
The pilot project will create an instrument to quantitatively and qualitatively assess the variations in injuries on farms with robotic milking system installations. The project will also evaluate the perceived quality of life among the farmers and families of milking robot owners and non-robot owners in the Upper Midwest.
Farmers launch watershed initiative
More than 35 farmers in northeastern Wisconsin formed an environmental stewardship coalition. Formed as a nonprofit organization, Peninsula Pride Farms will focus on innovative ways to protect and improve ground and surface water through conservation practices and technology in Kewaunee and southern Door counties.
Dairy herd sizes of coalition members range in size from 66 to 6,000 cows.
A similar farmer-led alliance in the Yahara River watershed, near Madison, Wis., has kept thousands of pounds of phosphorous out of area lakes in the past two years in an effort to reduce algae growth.
Farmer mediation services available
The South Dakota Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Mediation Program (AMP) is available for farmers and ranchers in financial distress.
AMP’s areas include debtor/creditor, federal lands, oil and gas and water drainage mediation.
Mediation is mandatory for any agricultural credit over $50,000. Mediation is voluntary for any credit under $50,000. Mediation for the program areas of water drainage, federal lands, and oil or gas are all voluntary.
Find more at the AMP website.
Indiana Dairy Producers host successful farm and industry tour
The Indiana Dairy Producers Association visited dairy farms and businesses in Illinois during its Farm & Industry Tour. Stops included the following:
• Slagel Farm, a heifer-raising farm for Seven Hills Dairy in Goodland, Ind. About 2,100 heifers are raised in hoop barns. Mortality losses for the past 12 months were 1 percent.
• Zehr Acres, a heifer-raising facility for four different large dairy farms. They pick up hospital milk and newborn calves in the same specially modified trailer. They feed calves with a combination of pasteurized milk and milk replacer. With 750 calf hutches, they have automated systems for filling milk bottles, bedding hutches and presenting water and grain.
• Kilgus Dairy and Farmstead milks about 130 Jersey cows. Kilgus Dairy started on-farm processing in 2009, and today they market all of their milk and then some, processing about 1,500-1,700 gallons of milk three days per week.
• River Valley Farm houses a show and genetic herd in individual box stalls, with a separate commercial Jersey herd of 240 cows. River Valley currently has 20 bulls in Select Sire's program. They have a robotic calf feeding system, Juno robotic feed pusher, as well as four Lely A3 robots.
• Stone Ridge Dairy features a double-35 parallel parlor, where 35 employees are milking 3,200 cows three times daily. They milk about 450 cows an hour.
• Butlerview focuses on superior genetics, with milk production secondary. Their goals include high net merit and TPI index cattle for marketing and use by bull studs. They utilize technologies like embryo transfer, IVF, and genomic evaluations. They have also produced many All-American and All-Canadian show cows throughout the years
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