Georgia Milk Producers Weekly Enews |
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American Dairy Coalition conducting ‘Class I formula’ survey
Progressive Dairy Editor Dave Natzke
With questions continuing to swirl around the Federal Milk Marketing Order (FMMO) Class 1 milk pricing formula, the American Dairy Coalition (ADC) has launched an online survey to gain input from dairy producers.
The change in the formula, from the “higher of” advanced Class III-Class IV skim milk prices to the “average of plus 74 cents” advanced Class III-Class IV skim milk prices formula, was implemented in May 2019.
Compared to the previous formula, ADC estimates FMMO Class I prices paid to dairy producers were lower in 16 of the first 26 months the new formula was implemented, affecting FMMO blend prices and pooling and reducing producers’ abilities to effectively utilize risk management tools.
Previous estimates by the National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF) put producer losses at about $750 million, with heaviest losses in FMMOs with high Class I utilization rates. How much impact the change has had on individual producers depends on Class I utilization within the FMMO where their milk is marketed.
Since July 2021, a narrowing spread in Class III and Class IV milk prices has resulted in a net benefit to dairy producers under the average-of plus 74 cents formula. Despite that trend, the ADC said the current formula leaves dairy producers open to additional downside risk whenever the spread between advanced Class III-Class IV skim milk prices is more than $1.48 per hundredweight (cwt).
ADC’s six-question survey asks producers to indicate how the change in the pricing formula affected their dairy business finances and their ability to implement risk management tools. The survey also asks for producer preferences regarding a return to the higher-of formula or retaining the average-of formula until both methods and other proposals can be evaluated. Find a link to the survey here.
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Component Levels are Rising. FAST!
From John Geuss, MilkPrice Blog
Component levels in producer milk have been slowly but steadily increasing for years. Now, the growth in component levels is growing much faster. Technology to increase component levels is available and improving. Producers and nutritionists are implementing these practices at an accelerating rate. The data used in this analysis is for pooled Class III milk.
Chart I covers the years from 2018 through August of 2021 with data based on 12-month moving averages. During this time, butterfat levels have increased from 3.81 percent to 3.96 percent. Butterfat prices were at historically high levels in 2018 and 2019, starting at $2.61 per pound, but have fallen to more normal levels and are currently at $1.75 per pound. Butterfat percentage set a record in the Southwest Federal Order in February 2021 at 4.25%. Read more here>>>
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Cattle emissions expert: Environmental impact of beef has been overstated
by Cara Pesek | IANR Media
On Oct. 25, Frank Mitloehner, a leading researcher in the realm of livestock sustainability, asked a packed auditorium on the University of Nebraska–Lincoln’s East Campus to picture three coffee cups — a ceramic cup, a Styrofoam cup and an insulated reusable mug.
Coffee will stay warm in any of those cups, but to widely varying degrees. And just as different mugs trap heat differently, so do different greenhouse gasses, Mitloehner said. Carbon dioxide remains in the atmosphere trapping heat from the sun for about 1,000 years from emission. Nitrous oxide lasts about 110 years. Methane, which cattle produce as they digest grasses and then emit through belching and manure, remains in the atmosphere for about 12 years.
“I call it ‘the fast and the furious,’” Mitloehner said. “Methane is a potent greenhouse gas. Methane is a greenhouse gas we want to reduce. But it is different. It has a different and much shorter shelf life.” Read more here>>>
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Progressive Dairy Editor Dave Natzke
The USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA) is set to announce the September Dairy Margin Coverage (DMC) program margin and potential indemnity payments on Oct. 29. Through the first eight months of the year (covering January-August 2021), DMC indemnity payments had already totaled more than $981 million, according to the USDA’s monthly update released Oct. 25. Year-to-date payments across all participating dairies averaged $51,566.
Indemnity payments distributed in September (on August milk) topped $164 million, after the August DMC milk income over feed cost margin was $5.25 per hundredweight (cwt) and the smallest margin in the history of either DMC or its predecessor, the Margin Protection Program for Dairy (MPP-Dairy). It marked the seventh straight month in which the DMC milk income margin was below $7 per cwt. Read: August DMC margin falls to record-low $5.25 per cwt.
Through Oct. 25, dairy producers in Wisconsin led all states in total payments, receiving $220.6 million. Rounding out the top five states for January-August indemnity payments were: California ($94.4 million), New York ($91.2 million), Minnesota ($84.4 million) and Pennsylvania ($72 million).
All 2021 DMC indemnity payments are subject to a 5.7% sequestration deduction.
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Supply chain struggles
By Caitlin Rodgers, Georgia dairy farmer, Hoard's Dairyman
From feed ingredients to milking equipment, our farm has had to adapt when faced with product shortages.
It seems everyone in the United States is having supply chain issues right now. Some have faced worse challenges than others. We have experienced it worse than we would have thought, and to a point it is scary to think that this might actually get worse.
Whether it is receiving parts for the robots or feed commodities, we’ve been hit with the supply chain issues. Boy, have I rigged up some “save the day” inventions for our robots just because something has been on backorder. We also had to do some heavy shifting with ingredients in our feed rations.
Back in June and July, we had a good supply of whole cottonseed and citrus pulp. We use these ingredients, along with soybean meal and ground corn, to add to our combinations of ryegrass, sorghum, and corn silages. By August, we were running thin on whole cottonseed and citrus pulp. We changed rations to help stretch out what we had, but they quickly ran out. Our nutritionist tweaked the rations, adding different amounts of other ingredients to get us by. Read more here>>>
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October 2021 Dairy Market Report
NMPF & DMI
In this issue:
- Commercial Use of Dairy Products
- U.S. Dairy Trade
- Milk Production
- Dairy Product Inventories
- Milk and Feed Prices
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Dr. Andy Johnson, "The Udder Doctor", will return to Savannah in January as one of our session speakers. He always delivers a fun, educational session to our attendees!
Dr. Johnson is a dairy consultant who has consulted in 30 countries and 46 states. He has consulted on dairies ranging from 20 to over 20,000 dairy cows. His specialties are quality milk production, new parlor design and performance, and cow comfort. He chaired the NMC sub-committee on milking machine evaluation and developed the new airflow protocols that have become the US standards. In January 2019, Dr. Johnson received the NMC Award of Excellence for Contributions in Mastitis Prevention and Control at the annual meeting in Savannah Georgia. This is their highest award given to an individual internationally for improving milk quality. This award has been given 8 times in their 58 year history.
Welcome back Dr. Johnson!
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U.S. dairy cows too expensive to feed, causing herd to plummet
By Elizabeth Elkin, Bloomberg
The number of dairy cows in the U.S. is plunging at a pace not seen in more than a decade, signaling elevated costs for products like butter.
The cost of feeding dairy cows has been soaring, said Nate Donnay, director of dairy market insight at StoneX Group. That’s forcing dairy farmers to slash herds.
The U.S. herd shrank by 85,000 cows between June and September, the biggest four-month drop since 2009. Milk production is consequently less than expected, rising in September just 0.2% from last year, falling way short of StoneX’s forecast of 1.3%.
Lower milk production could mean that prices for dairy products could be more expensive, and add to rising food inflation that’s already hitting Americans’ wallets.
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Good-bye Plant Based, Hello Personalized Nutrition
By Donna Berry, Berry on Dairy Blog
The concept of personalized nutrition started to gain mainstream momentum before the pandemic, and then, well, things changed. It’s not a new concept. Scientists have been actively talking about it since the turn-of-the-century, some progressive players even before that.
Personalized nutrition is about adapting food to individual needs. We know consumers react differently to diet—just think of the body’s response to something as simple as lactose—but there’s more to it than the overt signs. Genetic makeup, lifestyle and environment have an impact on long-term health and wellness.
“While there are food products available that address requirements or preferences of specific consumer groups, these products are based on empirical consumer science rather than on nutrigenomics and nutrigenetics. The latter two build the science foundation for understanding human variability in preferences, requirements and responses to diet, and may become the future tools for consumer assessment motivated by personalized nutritional counseling for health maintenance and disease prevention,” according to a 2008 article in Medscape. You can read it HERE. Read more here>>>
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On the front of a carton of milk from the Portland, Oregon-based brand Neutral, above the brand name, the package has a short message in large print: “This milk fights climate change.” On its website, the company lists the number of pounds of CO2 that were offset to give the milk that tagline—12 pounds, in the case of a carton of organic 2% milk. The company works with dairies to reduce emissions as much as possible, and then offsets the rest, making each product carbon neutral.
“Because consumers are buying this milk, we’re investing directly in dairy farms on climate reduction technologies and projects,” says Marcus Lovell Smith, CEO of Neutral, which claims to be the first carbon-neutral food brand in the U.S., though others are also now offsetting their footprints. (Some larger companies plan to soon hit the goal, like the salad chain Sweetgreen; a larger dairy brand, Stonyfield Organic, plans to have a carbon-positive dairy supply chain by the end of the decade.) Read more here>>>
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Other Stories to Check Out This Week >>> |
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Register Today for the 2021 Georgia Ag Labor Forum |
You don't want to miss this outstanding lineup of ag labor experts!
IN-PERSON EVENT
UGA Tifton Campus Conference Center
Tifton, Georgia
Tuesday, Nov. 9 - Wednesday, Nov. 10
This year the Georgia Ag Labor Relations Forum will be in person in Tifton, Georgia November 9-10. Hear advice from industry experts to help you comply with labor regulations and get updates about OSHA and DOL in this new COVID world.
This event is suited for all owners, operators, office managers, personnel managers and service providers for the produce, nursery, landscape, dairy, cotton, and any other agricultural professional dealing with agricultural labor relations.
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TO ADVERTISE: EMAIL AD AND CONTACT INFORMATION TO FARRAH NEWBERRY at gamilkproducers@gmail.com
WANTED: DHI Cooperative has a position to fill in the North Central Georgia area for a
DHIA FIELD SERVICE TECHNICIAN.
• Responsibilities include data collection on area dairy farms during milking time.
• The schedule is somewhat flexible and the hours are typical for dairy farm work
• Travel is part of the job and reliable transportation is required, mileage is paid
• Applicants should be comfortable with computers and software and have good communication and organizational skills.
Looking for calves for 200 head calf barn with auto feeders in Arcadia
FL: Please call Brian 863-444-0060
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
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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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