This Dairy Regional Recap updates a New York farm labor lawsuit, an Indiana bovine tuberculosis investigation, Arizona’s changing milk marketing landscape and a plant-based argument in an Idaho "ag-gag" lawsuit. 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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EAST
New York Farm Bureau seeks to intervene in farm labor lawsuit
The New York Farm Bureau (NYFB) has filed for “intervenor status” in a farm labor lawsuit filed against the state of New York and Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
The lawsuit was filed by the New York Civil Liberties Union Foundation (NYCLUF) in the State Supreme Court of Albany County. It charges Cuomo and the state of New York with failure to protect all workers by exempting farm workers to unionize under the State Employment Relations Act (SERA).
Shortly after the lawsuit was filed, Cuomo said he would not defend the state law that excludes farm workers from the right to organize. He called the exemption a “flaw” in the SERA because “farm workers are not afforded the right to organize without fear of retaliation, which is unacceptable, and appears to violate the New York State Constitution.”
In its statement, NYFB said New York farmers feel abandoned by Cuomo and the New York attorney general. In early June, 18 state agricultural organization leaders representing 35,000 farms and agribusinesses signed a letter urging Cuomo to defend the state law. Dairy group leaders signing the letter included Agri-Mark, Dairy Farmers of America, the Northeast Dairy Producers Association and Upstate Niagara Cooperaitive.
Seeking dismissal of the lawsuit, NYFB said it had the right to intervene because the interest of its members is not being represented by the state government and the ability of the organization’s members to continue to produce food would be harmed in the event the plaintiffs prevail.
Farm Bureau believes that the exemption of farmworkers from collective bargaining rights is constitutional, and that the exclusion of farmworkers from the State Labor Relations Act law is based on decades of rational public policy and legal precedent that will be outlined in NYFB’s motions to intervene and to dismiss, according to Dean Norton, NYFB president.
University of New Hampshire’s Fairchild Dairy receives Dairy One milk quality award
The University of New Hampshire’s Fairchild Dairy Teaching and Research Center has been awarded a 2015 Quality Milk Award from Dairy One, a national milk testing cooperative.
The Fairchild Dairy Center, which previously received the award in 2013 and 2014, houses about 80 milking-age Holstein and Jersey cows and approximately 70 replacement animals. Included in that number is the 20-cow, student-managed Cooperative for Real Education in Agricultural Management (CREAM) herd, with the remaining animals devoted primarily to dairy nutrition and reproductive biology research.
The herds were recognized for consistently producing milk with a low somatic cell count throughout the year. Cows at the Fairchild Dairy Center produce an average of about 26,000 to 27,000 pounds of milk per cow per year.
Maryland wetlands mitigation banking law takes effect
Maryland’s Nontidal Wetlands Mitigation Banking law (H.B. 797), meant to improve the state’s wetlands conservation and restoration strategies, went into effect July 1. The new law is designed to spur more public-private partnerships on wetlands protection projects.
Maryland has a “no net loss” of wetlands goal. The wetland mitigation bank allows land developers, including farmers, to buy wetland mitigation credits for larger projects completed by an approved mitigation bank, or pay a fee to a compensation fund used to implement these kinds of projects.
Dairy facilitator focus groups planned for July, August
Pennsylvania’s Center for Dairy Excellence will join the Penn State Extension Dairy Team to host "facilitator focus groups" as webinars in July and August. These focus groups are listening sessions to gather facilitator input for the 2016-2017 program year.
The facilitator focus groups will be on:
• Wednesday, July 27, at 7 p.m.
• Thursday, July 28, at 12 p.m.
• Tuesday, Aug. 9, at 7 p.m.
• Wednesday, Aug. 10, at 12 p.m.
For more information, contact Melissa Anderson at (717) 346-0849 or manderson@centerfordairyexcellence.org.
NORTHWEST
Plant-based foods treated unfairly under Idaho ‘ag-gag’ law
The Plant Based Foods Association (PBFA) submitted a “friend of the court” brief to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, requesting affirmation a U.S District Court’s ruling Idaho’s so-called “ag-gag” statute is unconstitutional.
PBFA’s brief makes the novel argument that the law places plant-based foods at an unfair economic disadvantage.
In a statement, PBFA Executive Director Michele Simon said it is seeking to ensure a fair and competitive marketplace for businesses selling plant-based foods intended to replace animal products. It argues Idaho’s statute barring “interference with agricultural production” prevents consumers from receiving and evaluating truthful information about how animal products are made.
Southern Idaho Nutrient Management Field Day set
Southern Idaho’s Nutrient Management Mini-Field Day is July 26, 10 a.m.-12 p.m., near Kimberly, Idaho. The field day will be held at the USDA Ag Research Service/University of Idaho research station, site of a long-term manure study.
Field day topics include the response of sugar beets and potatoes to dairy manure applications, corn nitrogen fertilizer rates, a cover crop/manure/corn research study, barley irrigation and nitrogen management, dairy manure management techniques and silica applications to crops.
Learn more from the University of Idaho Extension.
SOUTHWEST
Arizona milkshed: 15 years of changes
Arizona milk production has seen dramatic changes in the past 15 years, according to John Mykrantz, agricultural economist with the federal milk marketing order administrator’s office in Bothell, Washington.
Mykrantz analyzed milk deliveries in the order based on herd numbers, milk production per dairy and interregional differences, comparing October 2000 with October 2015. The Arizona milkshed includes producers in Arizona, but also California and Texas.
In October 2000, 116 producers delivered about 238 million pounds of milk during the month. Fifteen years later, in October 2015, the number of producers decreased to 97, but the milk delivered to the market increased to 388 million pounds, or about 60 percent.
While the number of producers declined by 16 percent since 2000, the average production per producer increased from about 2 million pounds to nearly 4 million pounds, or more than 90 percent.
Read Changes in the Arizona Order’s Milk Shed: 2000–2015 (PDF, 76KB)
Texas Association of Dairymen board adds two
Brent Jennings and James Hancock joined the Texas Association of Dairymen (TAD) board.
Jennings, who represents Dairy Farmers of America (DFA) Southeast, is a third-generation dairy farmer who milks 400 Holsteins and Jerseys at his dairy, Mooville Farms, in Alba.
Hancock, who represents DFA Southwest, helps run the Hancock family-owned Prairie View Dairy in Muleshoe, which has about 5,000 cows. Hancock succeeded his father, Larry Hancock, who left the TAD board in February as its longest-serving board member.
2016 Texas agricultural custom rates guide available
The Texas A&M University Department of Agricultural Economics recently published its custom rates survey. This publication is derived from survey responses from producers across the state and provides information on rates for a variety of farming and ranch activities, including tractor rental, planting, fertilizer and chemical application, harvesting, hay cutting, baling and hauling, livestock activities, fence building and more.
Texas state veterinarian ready to tackle livestock health challenges
Managing bovine tuberculosis (TB) on Texas dairy farms is among the immediate challenges facing Andy Schwartz, recently appointed state veterinarian and executive director of the Texas Animal Health Commission (TAHC).
Appointed in May, Schwartz had served as interim in both positions since the retirement of Dr. Dee Ellis on Dec. 31, 2015.
Responding to members of the Texas Association of Dairymen in the June 2016 Dairy Dispatch, Schwartz listed bovine TB – confirmed in two Texas Panhandle dairies in early 2015 – as well as a cattle fever tick outbreak that spans a considerable portion of two South Texas counties, and chronic wasting disease (CWD) in captive white-tailed deer as the most immediate challenges facing TAHC staff.
“Tuberculosis has proven to be a costly and difficult disease to deal with in dairies, in part due to the increased size of dairies and heifer-raising facilities, and to the frequency of animal movements between facilities,” Schwartz said. “Ongoing epidemiological investigations of tuberculosis in two dairy complexes in Texas has led to tracing 5,766 replacement animals in 51 shipments to facilities in Texas and eight other states. Test-and-removal strategies have proven ineffective in cleaning up affected dairies when the prevalence of tuberculosis is relatively high, and federal indemnity funds for depopulation have diminished.”
Schwartz said the biggest disease threat to animal agriculture in Texas remains hoof and mouth disease.
MIDWEST
Indiana investigating bovine TB in beef herd
Bovine tuberculosis (TB) was discovered on a beef cattle operation in southeastern Indiana in April, according to the Indiana Dairy Producers Association. The TB-positive cattle were identified through routine inspection at a meat processing facility in Pennsylvania.
Indiana State Board of Animal Health (BOAH) staff worked with the producer to test the remaining cattle in the herd, which were located on two Franklin County, Indiana, sites. BOAH staff are also testing about 30 cattle herds in a 3-mile radius around the infected herd.
The herd owners have provided purchase, sale and movement records of animals into and out of the herd for the last several years. More information about the disease and the investigation, as it develops, will be available on the BOAH website.
Lactation biologist from Spain visiting South Dakota
South Dakota State University’s (SDSU) Dairy Science Department and Extension are hosting an expert in dairy ruminants (including cows, sheep, goats and camels) this summer.
Professor Dr. Gerardo Caja is an animal scientist from the department of animal and food sciences, veterinary faculty at the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB), Spain.
Caja, visiting as part of an international exchange, will also visit commercial dairy farms and organizations to exchange knowledge and obtain a comprehensive view of the dairy industry in South Dakota. He will be presenting seminars and conferences at the American Dairy Science Association-American Society of Animal Science (ADSA-ASAS) joint meeting and at the SDSU Dairy Science Department.
CAFO training set in South Dakota
An environmental training session for operators of concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFO) is set for July 13 in Huron, South Dakota. The program will be held 8:30 a.m.-4:45 p.m. at the Crossroads Convention Center.
Specialists from South Dakota State University (SDSU) and Extension, the South Dakota Department of Environment and Natural Resources, and the Natural Resources Conservation Service are offering the training.
This training fulfills the environmental and manure-management training requirement to obtain a livestock permit for CAFOs from the South Dakota Department of Environment and Natural Resources.
Registration cost is $50 and includes lunch, breaks and training materials. To register, contact Erin Cortus at (605) 688-5144.
Minnesota stray voltage workshop is July 12
The Minnesota Milk Producers Association (MMPA) and Clay View Dairy are sponsoring a workshop and demonstration on stray voltage, July 12. Clay View Dairy is located at 35694 215th Avenue, Goodhue, Minnesota. The agenda calls for a lunch at noon, presentations by a master electrician and veterinarian at 1 p.m., and a visual demonstration at 2 p.m. The program concludes at 3 p.m.
Haywood awarded Michigan dairy scholarship
Ethan Haywood of Hastings, Michigan, was chosen as the 2016-2017 recipient of the Russel Erickson Scholarship.
The $5,500 scholarship is awarded by the Michigan Dairy Memorial and Scholarship Foundation (MDMSF) at Michigan State University (MSU). It is named after Russel Erickson, MSU professor emeritus in the department of animal science, and is awarded to a student whose career aspirations include working on or with dairy farms.
Haywood, the son of Luke and Renee Haywood, is scheduled to graduate in spring 2018 with a Bachelor of Science degree in animal science. He received the scholarship based on his academic achievements, involvement in extracurricular activities and interest in pursuing a career in the dairy industry.
After graduating, Haywood plans to return to his family’s dairy operation as a sixth-generation owner and manager. PD
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