Georgia Milk Producers Weekly Enews
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Dairy Serves Up Smiles at 2019 Sunbelt AG Expo
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The Dairy Pavilion at the 2019 Sunbelt Ag Expo was busy serving delicious milk and yogurt, donated by Dale McClellan and M & B Products, and ice cream sandwiches sponsored by the GA ACC for Milk this week in Moultrie.
On Tuesday, a hand-milking competition was held among representatives from the University of Georgia, University of Florida, Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College and Auburn University. Special thanks to Dr. Jillian Bohlen for representing our state well and placing 2nd in the contest!!
(Florida won - BOO)
Georgia's Mobile Dairy Classroom also educated the public each day on where milk comes from, how it is processed, the healthy benefits of consuming dairy products and dairy farmers' management of natural resources.
Many thanks to Chip Blalock, Wendell Brown, Becca Turner, Steve Blackburn and Expo staff for making this a great event each year!
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Woman brings dairy farm to Ag Expo
From WALB TV10
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One group that has traditionally been in attendance at expo is Georgia’s Mobile Dairy Classroom.
One of the many things that can be seen at the 2019 Sunbelt Ag Expo is their dairy cows.
Set up like a mini milking parlor, Nicole Duvall travels across the state with a real cow to educate people about dairy farming.
She said they want to teach kids, specifically, how the cows make their milk, give a milking demonstration, and share the importance of the substance.
“We understand what Hardwork dairy farmers do to produce a quality product for us. I can’t live without butter. So I want them to be able to keep doing their job," said Duvall.
Watch video here (second video on page)>>>
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USMCA: It's time to get it done for farmers
From The Hill
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On their farms, when something needs to get done, our dairy farmers don’t hem and haw, they don’t drag their feet and they don’t play politics. They get it done.
Congress needs to follow our farmers’ example and get the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement done.
USMCA, improves upon NAFTA, which created a significant and reliable market over the past 25 years for the second-to-none dairy foods produced by our farmers and processors.
Read more here>>>
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In Focus: Dairy consumption overcomes fluid milk decline
Progressive Dairy Editor Dave Natzke
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Despite
the ongoing challenges of declining fluid milk consumption, the picture of the health of the dairy industry is much brighter than the doom and gloom conjured from selective use of data.
So while a four-decade decline in fluid milk consumption continued in 2018, overall U.S. per-capita dairy product consumption rose from the year before.
Annual USDA data shows 2018 U.S. per-capita consumption of dairy products (on a milk-equivalent, milkfat basis) increased 1 pound from the 2017 revised estimate, to 646 pounds.
The small increase in 2018 reversed a 1-pound decline in 2017.
Per-capita dairy product consumption has jumped 38 pounds in the past five years, from 608 pounds in 2013 to 646 pounds in 2018.
Fluid milk continues slide
While overall per-capita dairy product consumption trended upward, consumption of fluid products has declined both in terms of volume and as a percentage of total dairy product consumption.
U.S. per-capita consumption of fluid milk was estimated at 146 pounds in 2018, down 4 pounds from 2017 and down more than 50 pounds in the past two decades. U.S. per-capita fluid milk consumption is now down more than 100 pounds since 1975, when it averaged 254 pounds. (The decline isn’t solely a U.S. phenomenon: Similar annual declines of 2% to 3% have been seen in western Europe, according to Rabobank. In contrast, developing markets, such as the Asia-Pacific region, have seen annual growth of 7% over the past decade.)
As a percentage of total U.S. dairy product consumption, fluid products have slipped from nearly 46 percent in 1975 to just over 22 percent in 2018.
Read more here >>>
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“I’d like to speak to someone in charge”
By Caitlin Rodgers, Georgia dairy farmer, Hoard's Dairyman
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How many of you ladies would agree that when someone unfamiliar with your farm comes to visit, advertise, or put in a resume, they go to every male on the farm trying to get to the “owner” or “person in charge”? We, as females, are often automatically dismissed.
Just this week I had someone pull into the farm and park. I was the only one in sight, but he looked at me, then turned the other direction and walked all the way around the barn until he found one of our VMS contractors (who was male) and asked if we were hiring.
The VMS contractor pointed at me and said, “That is the person you need to talk to.” The person turned around and realized that I was right behind them. Yes, I had to follow some random person who got out of their car on my farm, saw me, turned the other direction, and was oblivious to where he was going or who he was trying to find. I mean, I’m not mad . . . but I’m just not invisible.
Read more here>>>
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Most U.S. Dairy Cows Are Descended From Just 2 Bulls. That's Not Good
From Dan Charles, NPR's The Salt
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Chad Dechow, a geneticist at Pennsylvania State University who studies dairy cows, is explaining how all of America's cows ended up so similar to each other.
He brings up a website on his computer. "This is the company Select Sires," he says. It's one of just a few companies in the United States that sells semen from bulls for the purpose of artificially inseminating dairy cows.
Dechow chooses the lineup of Holstein bulls. This is the breed that dominates the dairy business. They're the black-and-white animals that give a lot of milk.
Dairy farmers can go to this online catalog and pick a bull, and the company will ship doses of semen to impregnate their cows. "There's one bull — we figure he has well over a quarter-million daughters," Dechow says.
Read more here >>>
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A Big Week in Dairy: PFAS, Milk Labeling, Cheese Price
By Brittany Bowman, Dairy Herd Management
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Imagine having to cull your entire 4,000 cow farm. That is the sad reality of Art Schaap, a New Mexico dairy farmer whose dairy has been impacted by PFAS contamination.
Schaap says he was forced to file a lawsuit against the ten manufacturers of the fire retardant used at a nearby Air Force base and plans to file against the Department of Defense, since they denied his claim to settle. Since the outbreak, Schaap has been forced to let go of all but nine of his 40 employees.
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Other Stories to Check Out This Week >>>
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Animal Waste Operator and Planner Certification Training in November
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A waste planner/operator certification training will be offered in Athens at the UGA Livestock Arena classroom on November 13 & 14, 2019. All permitted livestock operations (other than dry poultry operations) must have a certified animal waste systems operator and an implemented nutrient management plan written by a certified planner. In previous years this has been held as separate trainings, one to certify farm owners/employees to properly manage animal waste systems and the other to certify people to write nutrient management plans.
This training has been combined into one training with break-out sessions on day 2 for topics specific to each group. Both certifications require completion of this course and passing of the exam. This is the final operator/planner certification course this year. The next training will be in March 2020.
Click here for registration form and information>>>
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TO ADVERTISE: EMAIL AD AND CONTACT INFORMATION TO FARRAH NEWBERRY at [email protected]
UPDATED 10/4/19
The following are
FOR SALE
from Archie Felder. For more information call 1-803-682-3426 :
Dairy Tech Bag Pasturizer - $4,000
Tidenberg Hydraulic Hoof Table (like new) - $5,000
Hall stall sand leveler skid steer (never used) - $1,000
Mench Sand Trailer - $14,000
McLanahan 20 x 20 sand seperator - $25,000
Chiller Drake 24 hp, dual 12 hp scroll tank pumps, 3 phase - $10,000
Fans 3-phase w/brackets:
54" - $225/ea (18 available)
48" - $125/ea (20 available)
36" - $100/ea (20 available)
3000 Mueller Milk Tank - $5,000
20 springers 7 1/2 - 8 mos. pg - $1,450/ea (24,000 2x herd average)
Bull Calves WANTED:
Competitive pricing with 6 day a week pickup. Brandon Mason Cattle Company 912-632-4490
For Sale:
Custom manure application and Dryhill manure equipment sales. Contact Edwin @ 478-299-0717 with Agboys Custom Services LLC - New 8"x52' lagoon pump with outriggers $24,000 (Pictured right)
FOR HIRE
: Custom Silage Harvesting. Late model JD chopper. Will travel. Let me put your quality forage up! Nic Haynes, Muddy H Farms, 678-617-3379.
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