Georgia Milk Producers Weekly Enews |
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USDA: More Pandemic Assistance for Dairy Farmers, Biofuel Producers, Specialty Crop Growers and Livestock Producers
By SARA SCHAFER, Dairy Herd Management
USDA is continuing its rollout of aid to segments of the agriculture industry impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Today, June 15, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced additional aid to agricultural producers and businesses as part of the USDA Pandemic Assistance for Producers initiative. Since January, USDA has allocated $11 billion to producers and food and ag business.
This new round of funds will focus on a number of gaps and disparities in previous rounds of aid, according to Vilsack. As part of the Pandemic Assistance initiative announced in March, USDA pledged to continue Coronavirus Food Assistance Program (CFAP) payments and to provide aid to producers and businesses left behind.
“USDA is honoring its commitment to get financial assistance to producers and critical agricultural businesses, especially those left out or underserved by previous COVID aid,” Vilsack said in a news release. “These investments through USDA Pandemic Assistance will help our food, agriculture and forestry sectors get back on track and plan for the future.”
The following programming is planned for implementation within 60 days:
- Support for dairy farmers and processors:
- $400 million: The new Dairy Donation Program to address food insecurity and mitigate food waste and loss
- Additional pandemic payments targeted to dairy farmers that have demonstrated losses that have not been covered by previous pandemic assistance
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Approximately $580 million: Supplemental Dairy Margin Coverage for small and medium farms Read more here and watch report>>>
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From Progressive Dairy Editor Dave Natzke
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U.S. Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack announced additional details regarding USDA pandemic financial assistance for agricultural producers, including dairy farmers. The USDA will implement the assistance within 60 days of the announcement on June 15, according to the USDA press release.
Included in the announcement is mention of supplemental Dairy Margin Coverage (DMC) payments for small and medium producers, a provision approved in last December’s COVID-19 relief bill. According to the USDA, the outlay for the supplemental DMC payments is approximately $580 million.
Through April, DMC indemnity payments had been distributed every month of 2021, totaling $446.1 million as of June 7. It is anticipated supplemental payments to eligible producers will be retroactive to January 2021 and run through the end of 2023. The May 2021 DMC margin and potential indemnity payments will be announced June 30.
As part of the Pandemic Assistance initiative announced in March, the USDA also provided advance notice of minimum provisions to be included in a Dairy Donation Program (DDP). The plan requires participating dairy cooperatives and processors to have a donation and distribution plans describing the process to be used for the donation, processing, transportation, temporary storage and distribution of eligible dairy products. Specific regulations regarding the program, however, have not been published.
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GDYF Junior Board Training...Striving to Build Social Interaction!
GDYF Training Day held on June 5th
On Saturday, the Junior Board met for their annual leadership and training day. The seven officers spent the day learning about the industry, training, brainstorming ideas, and team building to improve involvement with the foundation.
The junior board began their day at Rock House Creamery in Newborn, Georgia. With the guidance of Robin Schick, they participated in making cheese, enjoyed a demonstration on making a charcuterie board, and toured the cheese facility. They were excited to sample Coffee, Bird Dog Betsy, Chocolate, and Vanilla Ice cream along with Rock House Chocolate Milk as well. A morning of yumminess!
The Kelly family are the owners of Rock House Creamery. They purchased the Johnston Family Farm dairy operation, a family owned and operated dairy since 1940. The farm milks to produce fresh whole milk, low-fat milk, skim milk, chocolate milk, buttermilk, cream, and half-and-half. The Kelly's dream was to expand that line offering many varieties of ice cream and cheeses at their family-run market. Farmview Market is located at 2610 Eatonton Road, Madison, GA where food is made, grown, and raised locally.
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Heavy Rainfall from Tropical System Expected
From Will Lanxton, State Meteorologist, GEMA/HS
Potential Tropical Cyclone #3 is expected to become Tropical Depression #3 later today and could become Tropical Storm Claudette before moving onshore along the Gulf Coast tonight. Regardless of the extent of development, heavy and/or persistent rainfall is expected across much of Georgia on Saturday and Sunday.
Timing: The timing of this system has sped up quite a bit, and it now appears the impacts will occur in Georgia mainly on Saturday and Sunday as opposed to Sunday and Monday. Rainfall associated with this system should start to move into western portions of Georgia later in the morning on Saturday and start to overspread much of the rest of Georgia through Saturday afternoon and evening. Showers and storms will continue through Sunday morning and afternoon, but should start to diminish and move out of Georgia later in the evening on Sunday.
Impacts: Rainfall totals from this system on Saturday and Sunday are forecast to be in the range of 2-4 inches for most of Georgia, with 4-6 inches possible in west-central Georgia. This could create some flash flooding and river flooding issues, particularly in west-central and southwestern Georgia. The Weather Prediction Center has outlined much of this area in a Moderate Risk for Excessive Rainfall (level 3 of 4) for Saturday morning through Sunday morning. A Flash Flood Watch is in effect from Saturday afternoon through Sunday evening for much of west-central Georgia and Metro Atlanta. There is also a Marginal Risk (level 1 of 5) for severe weather from the tropical system this weekend, as any storms that develop could be capable of producing brief tornadoes. Finally, although tropical storm force winds are not expected in Georgia, wind gusts could range from 20-30 mph as the tropical system moves through.
Next Week: A cold front will approach Georgia on Monday before moving through on Tuesday and Wednesday. This will bring an additional 1-2 inches of rainfall, mainly in northern Georgia, which could exacerbate any flooding issues that arise due to the tropical system this weekend. Rain chances will decrease throughout the day on Wednesday but should linger through the remainder of the week.
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UGA Georgia DairyFax
April,May & June 2021
In this report:
- Dairy Dawg and Youth Updates By: Dr. Jillian Bohlen
- Changes keep occurring By: Dr. Lane O. Ely
- Lagoon wastewater treatment to forage before harvest and its impact on the silage microbiota By: Osman Y. Koyun, Drs. Jeferson Lourenco, Todd Callaway, Sha Tao and John K. Bernard
- The scoop on teat dips By: Dr. Valerie Ryman and Jenna Williamson
- Efficient water usage is critical for sustainable dairy production By: Drs. Thiago Marins and Sha Tao
- Congratulations, Dr. Bohlen!
- Important dates
- Top 20 DHIA high herds by test day milk and fat production & low herds for SCC score
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Can Dairy Be Sustainable? Yes, And Here's Why
USDairy.com
Frank Konyn figures there are about 150 breweries within a reasonable drive from his dairy farm in the County of San Diego, Calif.
He frequents 19 of them but it has nothing to do with grabbing a cold one after a long day of milking cows. Instead, he makes weekly stops to pick up something the brewers no longer want: spent grains that remain from creating some of the area’s trendiest microbrews.
On an average week, Konyn collects about 225 tons of the grain that serves as protein-rich feed for his nearly 900 milking cows. He has plenty left over for a nearby dairy farmer’s herd.
Konyn began hauling the unwanted byproduct in 2009 with a pickup truck. Today, he owns five semi-trucks and 40 “roll-off” containers that are 18 feet long and are left at each brewery to be filled.
“The brewers know their waste stream is being upcycled and not contributing to filling up landfills,” Konyn said. “We’ve taken care of their headaches and created a win-win situation. It makes them proud and gives them a story they can tell.”
The more than 31,000 dairy farm families in the U.S. also have a story to tell, and the timing couldn’t be better to share it. Climate change is top of mind for consumers and is especially high on the radar of younger generations. A YPulse Sustainability Report of Gen Z and Millennial audiences (13- to 39-year-olds) finds two in five young people worry about climate change every week.
They expect industries to do the right thing for the planet. The good news is dairy farmers have been caring for the environment long before the term sustainable hit the mainstream. Though there’s still work that needs to be done, farmers haven’t always talked about the progress they have already made. Read more here>>>
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Have we seen the last of negative PPDs?
From Mark Stephenson, Center for Dairy Profitability, UW-Madison, Hoard's Dairyman
Unprecedented large negative producer price differentials (PPDs) have bedeviled dairy producer’s milk checks over the past year. These have encouraged quite a bit of depooling of milk on the part of cheese plants and made milk payments to producers less transparent than before.
The negative PPDs have a few root causes but the most prominent have been months when prices have been rapidly rising, and a persistently large gap between Class III and IV price. Hopefully, we’ll be able to forgive 2020 for these circumstances, and there are signs that some of those problems are already going away.
The settlement check for May milk production landed in mailboxes in mid-June. For many producers there was still a large negative PPD and continued depooling. But, futures markets are expecting more stable prices in the months ahead and the gap between Class III and IV is expected to be very small by the end of the year. If these conditions hold, then I think we have seen the last of the negative PPDs for the foreseeable future. Read more here>>>
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USDA to Begin Payments for Producers Impacted by 2018 And 2019 Natural Disasters
By: USDA
More than $1 billion in payments will be released over the next several weeks starting June 15 for agricultural producers with approved applications for the Quality Loss Adjustment (QLA) Program and for producers who have already received payments through the Wildfire and Hurricane Indemnity Program Plus (WHIP+). These U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) programs provide disaster assistance to producers who suffered losses to 2018 and 2019 natural disasters.
Producers weathered some significant natural disasters in 2018 and 2019, and USDA's Farm Service Agency (FSA) provided support for crop value and production losses through QLA and crop quantity losses through WHIP+.
"From massive floods to winter storms, and from extreme drought to excess moisture, natural disaster events in 2018 and 2019 were exceptionally catastrophic for agricultural producers nationwide - many suffered the impacts of multiple events in not just one but both years," said FSA Administrator Zach Ducheneaux. "FSA staff worked tirelessly for many months to develop and implement comprehensive disaster programs that meet the varying and unique needs of a large cross-section of U.S. production agriculture. QLA and the second round of WHIP+ assistance will provide much-needed assistance to help producers offset significant financial loss." Read more here>>>
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Virtual Continuing Education Opportunity for Certified Waste Operators and Planners
The Georgia Department of Agriculture will host an educational session to discuss Nutrient Management Plans and the components that are needed to have a complete NMP. There are several common components that are missing from NMPs for them to be approved quickly. This session will help educate the producers of the components needed to submit a plan that can be approved in a timely manner.
Continuing Education Hours will be given to any Certified Animal Feeding Operation Operator and Planner in attendance. We hope you will make plans to join us! We are offering this opportunity via zoom at three different dates and times. ***Zoom link will be sent day of event*** Our hope is to be able to accommodate everyone’s schedule with the options:
- Tuesday, June 22nd, 2021 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM
- Wednesday, June 23rd, 2021 1:00 PM – 3:00 PM
- Thursday, June 24th, 2021 5:00 PM – 7:00 PM
Continuing Education: CE hours will be provided to certified planners and operators that attend a session.
RSVP: Please make sure to RSVP by close of business on Monday, June 21st, 2021 to Mrs. Courtney Wilson via email at [email protected] with date and time of the session you would like to attend. Registration will be on a first come, first serve basis and each session has limited spaces so please RSVP as soon as possible
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AgGeorgia Farm Credit Announces Important Change to Refund Program; $6.2 Million in Payments to Borrowers |
AgGeorgia Farm Credit is excited to announce to borrowers a significant change to its Patronage Refund Program. Beginning with the 2021 Patronage Refund (to be issued spring 2022), distributions will be made entirely in cash. Previously, dividends declared by AgGeorgia’s board were split between cash (received up front) and surplus (received in 7-10 years). This change means that rather than waiting multiple years to receive their entire distribution, borrowers will now receive all refunds in cash the year after interest is accrued. Read more here>>>
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Morgan County Dairy Association Meeting on June 21
TO: Morgan County & Surrounding Dairyman
FROM: Daniel Williams, President
DATE: June 14th, 2021
The June Meeting is set for 7:00 p.m. on Monday, June 21st, 2021 at Bonner’s Triple B Restaurant, Buckhead, GA. Mr. David Greene and Mr. Matt Mitchell, with Barton and Kiefer Dairy Consulting, will be our speakers for the meeting. They will be discussing the services they offer. We would also like to thank Barton and Kiefer for sponsoring this month’s meeting. Thank you for your generous and loyal support to the local dairy industry!
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Virtual Corn Silage and Stored Forage Field Day
The field day features presentations and focuses on corn silage and forage production in the livestock industry
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Other Stories to Check Out This Week >>> |
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TO ADVERTISE: EMAIL AD AND CONTACT INFORMATION TO FARRAH NEWBERRY at [email protected]
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For Sale: Double 8 herringbone bone parlor available in Starr, SC.
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Delaval meters, Germania entrance and exit gates with tailboards and indexing tail, Muller plate cooler, receiving jar, filter housing and lowline stainless pipeline. Serious inquiries call 864-617-5911, Iris Barham
Expanding or looking for top quality herd replacement?
Available at all times:
Fresh two and three year old's and total herds; Also springing heifers and heifers of all ages. Service age bulls with top genetics available all year round. All different breeds and crossbreds also available. Last two loads of fresh two and three year olds Holsteins went on the trucks averaging 115 lbs and 112 lbs! One load to TN and the other to Wisconsin.
Contact:
Les McCracken
608-214-6484. Cell
608-879-2653. Fax
Seeking fulltime farm worker at heifer replacement farm in Eatonton, GA. If interested, please contact Mike Rainey at 706-473-0730.
Seeking Beef and dairy crossed bullcalves/heifers bottled or weaned. Please contact Victoria Rowland at 404-922-0938 or 423-946-5869
Will Raise Heifers for GA Dairy Farms: Hello we are located in Southern Illinois and have an abundance of pasture and cheap feed available looking to contract with a dairy to grow heifers for them, out location offers mild climate and we are just 558 miles from Montezuma Ga. Please contact 817-528-6645 very reasonable daily rates.
For Sale- DeLaval 84 Vacuum Pump on Stand, Oil Reclaimer, 10 HP- 3 Phase Electric Motor. New Bearings, New Oil Seal, New Belts. $2000
For sale - Please contact Archie Felder for more information at 803-682-3426:
- Dairy Tech Bay Pasturizer - $4,000
- Tidenberg Hydraulic Hoof Table (like new) - $5,000
- Claas Silage Choppers - 960 1875 cutterhead hours, 4WD, 600 orbis, HD300 PU - $180,000
- Koomin John Deere Corn Header adapter for Claus Silage Chopper Used - $6,000
WANTED: Peter's Cattle Co. will buy any dairy, beef, and cross, bottle or weaned, bulls, heifers or free martins. Pick up weekly 7 days a week. Chris- 470-255-8515
Bull Calves WANTED: Competitive pricing with 6 day a week pickup. Brandon Mason Cattle Company 912-632-4490
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Farmer to Farmer Support Program Available for SE dairy farmers
Farmers across the Southeast are experiencing uncertain times like never before. All aspects of agriculture have been hit by market losses due to COVID-19, but dairy has reached a level of uncertainty that many have never experienced.
As we navigate through these next few months, dairy producers across the Southeast have come together to introduce the "Farmer to Farmer Support Program." If you find that you need support or would like to talk to a fellow farmer or industry friend, they have several volunteers that are willing and able to help. Georgia Milk Producers has also put together a packet on the program that you can access by clicking here.
For more information on the program, please reach out to Farrah Newberry at [email protected].
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