Tue, 27 Oct 2009 19:07:00 GMT
Cooperatives Working Together announced Tuesday that it has tentatively accepted 154 bids in the fourth herd retirement it has conducted in the last 12 months. The 26,412 cows and 517 million pounds of milk accepted in this round, combined with CWT’s three previous herd retirements since December 2008, equal a total reduction of milk production capacity of five billion pounds. For more detail click here.
Mon, 26 Oct 2009 14:42:00 GMT
The EU decreased export subsidies on a number of products. The SMP export refund was reduced from $0.13 to zero, the WMP subsidy was cut in half to approximately $.10/lb and the butter subsidy was reduced from $0.44/lb to $0.26/lb. The cheddar subsidy was unchanged at $0.15/lb .
Mon, 26 Oct 2009 14:39:00 GMT
Last week the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) announced they will be holding a public hearing on Monday, November 9th to consider changes to the formulas for all five classes of milk. More information can be obtained by clicking here.
Tue, 20 Oct 2009 21:35:00 GMT
Sept. Milk production in the 23 major States was 13.9 bil. lbs., down 0.7 percent from Sept. 2008. Prod/cow in the 23 major States averaged 1,672 lbs for Sept., 22 lbs above Sept. 2008. The no. of milk cows on farms in the 23 major States was 8.34 million head, 168,000 head less than Sept. 2008, and 32,000 head less than August 2009.
Tue, 20 Oct 2009 13:57:00 GMT
The U.S. Department of Agriculture last Friday announced a recommended decision to make milk price regulations consistent for all dairy processors, including producer- handlers who own farms and process milk. The recommended decision would make producer-handlers with more than three million pounds of Class I sales per month in federal milk marketing areas fully regulated and subject to all pricing and pooling provisions. Currently, only producer-handlers in two federal orders, the Pacific-Northwest and Arizona marketing areas, are limited in the volume of Class I sales they may have without being subject to these provisions. For a preliminary version of the Federal Register record click here.
Mon, 05 Oct 2009 14:17:00 GMT
The use of a specialized breeding technique to boost the number of milking cows by thousands is generating debate in California’s dairy industry. Some say it doesn’t make sense to produce more milk as farmers struggle with low prices, high debt and an oversupply. But supporters of the technology say it could be a valuable tool for efficiently raising more cows – and ultimately ramping up production when demand rises. In the central San Joaquin Valley, the heart of the nation’s dairy industry, the slumping dairy economy has hit farmers hard. Many dairy farmers are losing money, while others have left the industry. At issue is the use of a breeding technique called sexed semen that can produce more heifers – females – than bulls. Normal breeding practices generally produce about an equal number of female and male offspring. Using sexed semen, about 90 percent of pregnancies result in females.
For more detail click here.
Mon, 05 Oct 2009 12:35:00 GMT
House Agriculture Chairman Collin Peterson is planning to begin work next year on a new national dairy program, to be folded into the 2012 farm bill, in hopes of stemming the dairy industry crisis.
Speaking on the sidelines of a Congressional Dairy Caucus meeting Thursday with Agriculture Secretary Vilsack, Peterson outlined his plan and called the current system “inadequate.” But he added he wants to disabuse large dairy co-op leaders of the idea that a dairy-only overhaul will be passed before the farm bill comes up.
For the complete story click here.
Fri, 02 Oct 2009 11:56:00 GMT
Cooperatives Working Together is implementing its third herd retirement in 2009, effective October 1, 2009. All bids submitted must be postmarked no later than October 15, 2009. This is the fourth herd retirement that CWT has conducted in the past 12 months. For more detail click here.
Fri, 25 Sep 2009 16:03:00 GMT
Farm audits for the second herd retirement implemented by Cooperatives Working Together in 2009 have been completed, and the majority of the 74,114 cows that produced 1.5 billion pounds of milk have been sent to processing plants. In addition, 2,958 bred heifers also were removed through CWT’s eighth herd retirement round. In this most recent round, CWT removed 274 herds in 38 states. When combined with the herd retirements completed last winter and earlier this spring, CWT has removed 225,783 cows that produced 4.5 billion pounds of milk. In addition, the nearly 3,000 bred heifers taken in this herd retirement bring the total removed by CWT in the past nine months to 5,016. CWT received 312 bids from dairies in 39 states during the bidding process in July, which offered a set maximum acceptable bid price. As a result of the selection and auditing process CWT follows, along with some withdrawals by bidders, the final number of bids processed totaled 274, down 20 from the initial tentative tally. For the full news story click here.
Tue, 22 Sep 2009 19:46:00 GMT
The National Milk Producers Federation’s Strategic Planning Task Force agreed last Friday to pursue a four‐part approach to implementing sweeping changes as to how federal dairy policies protect producers and how farm‐level milk prices are established. For the full story click here.
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