Iowa State University’s Dairy Farm will be open to the public Friday, June 8 from 6 to 11 AM in celebration of Dairy Month.
Free samples of milk, cheese, yogurt, and ice cream will be provided by Iowa’s dairy processors, with tours of the barns from 6:30 to 10:30 AM and a discovery center for children opening at 7 AM.
The facility is located three miles south of Iowa State’s campus in Ames.
The American Dairy Association of Indiana has been the sponsor of the Fastest Rookie Luncheon since it began in 1975. Deb Osza with the ADAI says it’s a great opportunity to explain milk’s importance to the Indy 500 to the new crop of drivers. “It’s great to have milk in the spotlight – to have race fans around the world to see milk in that light as ‘The Coolest Prize in the Sports World’,” she says.
This year’s Fastest Rookie was Josef Newgarden with a speed of 224.677. The 22-year-old driver from Hendersonville, TN said he didn’t even realize he was the fastest rookie.
“This really means a lot for myself and for my team,” he says, “it show the hard work from the crew through the entire group.” Newgarden tells Brownfield, “You can really feel the tradition here at the Fastest Rookie Luncheon with the American Dairy Association of Indiana and all they put into this and all that they do for the race.”
He says, “This is a fantastic race and this award makes it even better.” Newgarden was awarded a $5,000 prize and his name engraved on a trophy on permanent display in the Speedway’s Hall of Fame Museum.
No big surprise, the monthly Cold Storage Report from USDA shows total cheese stocks increased 2 percent in April to 1.024 billion pounds. The number is one percent less than April of last year. American-type cheese in storage totaled 628.4 million pounds at the end of April, up 4 percent for the month but 5 percent less than a year ago.
Milk production has been strong all this year with a lot of that extra milk going into cheese and a lot of that cheese going into storage.
Butter stocks were 253.85 million pounds as of April 30th, up 22 percent from March and 79 percent higher than April of 2011.
Dairy Market News does report milk production has peaked-out in the Midwest, Northeast and Southeast and may be at-peak in the west. Dairy processors say intakes have backed-off a little. In the meantime, there are indications more retailers are starting to feature cheese, they had been holding-off waiting to see how low the price would go.
Solid gains in Class III futures on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange on Monday, while May and June added a nickel each, July increased 39 cents, August jumped 51 cents higher, September increase 32 cents, October up 24 cents and November added a dime.
The dairy markets are getting a little support from several different areas: the weekly report from Dairy Market News says production has leveled-off in the west, just in time for the summer heat to step in. Meanwhile production has peaked and is starting to nudge-back a little in the Midwest, Northeast and Southeast.
Butter prices are surprisingly nudging higher even though cream is readily available and churns are running at or near capacity.
Cooperatives Working Together (CWT) has accepted 24 requests for export assistance from Dairy Farmers of America, Darigold, Maryland & Virginia Milk Producers Cooperative and United Dairymen of Arizona to sell a total of 3.578 million pounds of Cheddar and Monterey Jack cheese and 1.642 million pounds of butter to customers in Asia, Africa, Central America and the Middle East. The product will be delivered May through November 2012.
In 2012, CWT has assisted member cooperatives in making export sales of Cheddar, Monterey Jack and Gouda cheese totaling 53.8 million pounds, and butter and anhydrous milk fat totaling 44.4 million pounds, to 27 countries on four continents.
The Indiana State Board of Animal Health (BOAH) was tasked earlier this year by the Indiana General Assembly to conduct a summer study on the sale of raw milk in the state. BOAH dairy division director Terry Philibeck says they wanted to find a way for every Hoosier to participate. Because attending public hearings can be a challenge they decided to host a “virtual” public hearing to gather input. BOAH will launch the Virtual Public Hearing on its website June 1, 2012 and it will remain open until September 1, 2012.
Residents of Indiana are encouraged to visit the website and comment on the sale of raw milk as well as make suggestions for potential change to Indiana law. To submit comment – contact information must be provided, in case follow-up is needed. The feedback will be collected and a report will be released December 1, 2012.
The report will serve as a reference document for members of the 2013 legislature.
To comment – click HERE. Those without internet capabilities are welcome to submit comments by U.S. Mail to BOAH at Discovery Hall, Suite 100; 1202 E. 38th Street; Indianapolis, IN 46205-2898; Attn: Raw Milk Comments.
June Dairy Month in South Dakota will be celebrated with lunch on a dairy farm. The lunch is at Crosswind Jerseys Dairy near Elkton, South Dakota, on Saturday, June 2nd from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. The free lunch, accompanied by South Dakota State University ice cream, is sponsored by Ag United of South Dakota, the Brookings Area Chamber of Commerce and the Midwest Dairy Association.
The event is a good way to get people onto dairy farms, which is particularly important, according to Kelly Nelson, the outreach director for Agriculture United of South Dakota.
“People are familiar with maybe beef production because their parents were in it, but you know it’s been a few generations since some people have been on a dairy farm,” Nelson told Brownfield Monday. “In South Dakota for example, there are only 300 dairy farms, but there are probably around 15,000 or 16,000 beef farms, so there’s a disconnect there.”
In addition to lunch, guests can try their hand at milking a cow and can tour the dairy farm in order to learn more about dairy production in South Dakota.
Crosswind Jerseys Dairy is a few miles off the I-29 Elkton exit. From I-29, exit 127, go east on South Dakota Highway 324. At the stop sign turn left on Highway 13. Crosswind Jerseys is located 1/4 mile after the turn on the north side of the road.
The address is 48152 Hwy 13, Elkton, South Dakota.
Milk production in the United States totaled 17.19 billion pounds in April, up 3.2 percent from April of last year. Production per cow increased 40 pounds to1, 854 and the dairy herd increased 90,000 cows to 9.272 million head. The 3.2 percent increase is actually the smallest year-over-year increase this year. Production in the first three months increased 5.2 percent.
Milk production in the 23 major dairy states increased 3.3 percent in April to 16 billion pounds. Production per cow in those states averaged 1,875 up 40 pounds from a year ago while the number of dairy cows increased 94,000 to 8.53 million head. That is 4,000 more than a month ago.
California milk production increased 3.1 percent in April to 3.62 billion pounds. The Golden State added 23,000 cows to make the herd 1,787 million head and production per cow increased 35 pounds to average 2,030.
Wisconsin milk production in April was up 3.5 percent from a year ago to 2.267 billion pounds. The Badger State added 4,000 cows to make the herd 1.27 million head and production per cow increased 55 pounds to 1,785.
New York saw a 3.6 percent increase in milk production in April taking production to 1.12 billion pounds pushing it past Idaho into the number-3 spot. Idaho saw a 2.9 percent increase to 1.1 billion pounds. Pennsylvania production decreased 1 percent from a year ago to 918 million pounds. Production per cow held steady in the Keystone State but the dairy herd declined by 5,000 head.
Read the full NASS report here:
As hot weather sets-in across the country a reminder from Land O’Lakes Purina Feed dairy nutrition specialist Martha Baker of the need to check-out your hot weather systems. Clean and service fans and make sure they turn on-and-off at the correct times or temperatures. If you have a sprinkler system, look at the nozzles and soakers, make sure there are no broken water lines and here again, do a practice run to make sure everything is working properly. Baker notes just because everything was working well last fall doesn’t mean it will work this spring.
You should also start thinking about changing feeding times, a cow’s body temperature will peak in the early morning hours so cows won’t eat as much in the morning and that is when feed is typically dropped. Shifting the feeding time can help maintain feed intakes. Along with that, be diligent about bunk management and consider using a stabilizer in the total mixed ration to reduce secondary fermentation.
Also, make sure there is plenty of water trough space available, add temporary fixtures if needed.
Baker says these are very basic suggestions but they can go a long way in preventing heat stress.
It all started when Louis Meyer, the Indy 500’s first three-time winner asked for a cold glass of buttermilk to quench his thirst after the 500 mile race. In 1956 – Tony Hulman made that Bottle of Milk a tradition.
This coming Memorial Day weekend – two of Indiana’s finest dairy farmers get to deliver “the coolest prize in the sports world”. It’s David Forgey’s, a Logansport, IN dairy farmer, job to hand the winning driver their selection of milk.
“We’ve got a list of all the race drivers and what milk they like to drink,” he says. “We’ll provide them with their choice of skim, 2%, or whole milk.” Forgey says they carry a cooler with them at all times on race day – all in anticipation of the end of the race. Inside the cooler – the ice-cold milk for the winning driver. He calls the Winner’s Circle “the most valuable piece of real estate in Indiana”.
“The rookie” on the team this year is Fountain City, IN dairy farmer Duane Hill. He says he’ll spend much of his time taking notes for next year – when he’ll be the senior member of the tem. “I’ll follow in Dave’s footsteps and learn from his leadership,” he says. He also notes they have to make sure they are in the ‘right place – at the right time’.
As the rookie – Hill will hand the winning crew chief and team owner their bottles of milk.
Both Forgey and Hill are board members of the Milk Promotion Services of Indiana.
And in case you were wondering – the driver poll results for milk selection mostly says “no preference”. But 2% milk is the most common “choice”.
The monthly Livestock, Dairy and Poultry Outlook from USDA says with the big corn crop being planted this year and expectations feed prices will go down, the benchmark 16% dairy ration should be cheaper later this year…and while that is good news for dairy producers dealing with declining milk prices, the milk-to-feed ratio will not be conducive for expansion until late in 2013.
While cow numbers are expected to decline this year, producers are not culling cows as quickly as anticipated. As a result, the total dairy herd for this year is estimated to be 9.23 million head, up slightly from the April forecast. The herd is expected to decline to 9.17 million head in 2013. Production per cow is projected to be 21,880 this year and 22,100 in 2013 as those lower feed prices come into play. Milk production is estimated at 201.9 billion pounds this year increasing to 202.6 billion next year.
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