Congratulations to Sunnyside Farms and Borden Company for being named award winners by MilkPEP (Milk Processor Education Program).
Sunnyside Farms was the winning processor in the Breakfast at Home category and the Borden Company of Florida was the winner in the Refuel category.
Sunnyside Farms won in the Breakfast-at-Home category for its strategic sponsorship of the Great Reno Balloon Race, the largest free hot air ballooning event in the world. Over the three-day event, Sunnyside Farms generated 150,000 impressions for its milk and other breakfast products. Taking advantage of the event’s early start time at 5 a.m. each day, the Sunnyside team promoted the Breakfast-at-Home message utilizing a wide range of MilkPEP marketing materials including an “It’s Not Breakfast Without Milk” banner and thousands of MilkPEP novelty items.
The team handed out free samples of milk along with cereal and fresh fruit to raise awareness of the importance of having milk with breakfast. Adding to the booth’s popularity was a fun game, the “Wheel of Opportunity” in which participants could spin the wheel for prizes. With its milk and by-products sold in over 40 stores in Reno and Northern Nevada, this event was an excellent opportunity to showcase the Sunnyside Farms milk to thousands of families and build brand loyalty.
The winner in the Refuel with Chocolate Milk category, the Borden Company of Florida, participated in the Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon in St. Petersburg, FL through MilkPEP’s partnership with the Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon Series. Borden’s lowfat chocolate milk was billed as the “Official Refuel Beverage” of the marathon which drew 15,000 athletes and spectators. To further maximize its participation, Borden added a retail component by partnering with a local retailer, Hess stores.
Borden promoted the REFUEL message and its branded lowfat chocolate milk throughout the race weekend by distributing more than 1,000 coupons and flyers to encourage athletes to head to their local Hess store to receive a discount off Borden chocolate milk and a free REFUEL lanyard.
On Race Day, the Borden team gave away 4,000 samples to athletes as they crossed the finish line. The recovery benefits of lowfat chocolate milk were the focus of the team’s discussions with event attendees. The response was so positive that Borden had over 100 athletes submitting videos to join Team REFUEL, a group of athletes who serve as ambassadors for chocolate milk in their local markets.
WhiteWave Foods, maker of Horizon Organic and Silk Soymilk, is officially spun-off from Dean Foods Co.
After the stock distribution made at the close of business Thursday, Dean Foods now owns a 19.9 percent stake in WhiteWave. Dean Foods plans to dispose of those holdings — through debt-for-equity exchanges or other tax-free dispositions — within the coming 18 months, officials said.
The spinoff comes roughly seven months after WhiteWave debuted on Wall Street with a $391 million initial public offering.
Blaine McPeak, president of WhiteWave Foods, said the newly independent status would allow for greater flexibility for future product development and sales and operational growth.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture extends the deadline on a program that could see more farmers, especially those in the dairy industry, turning livestock waste into energy. The deadline to submit for funds under the Rural Energy for America Program (REAP) and Dairy Industry Memorandum of Understanding has been extended to to May 31, 2013. During a teleconference moderated by Jerry Bingold from the Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy, the USDA’s Energy Policy Advisor for Rural Development Todd Campbell said this is a top priority of his agency.
“Taking biomass feedtsock and creating renewable energy, helping to implement enhanced manure management techniques, it not only helps our dairy farmers across the country to continue to be the great stewards of the land, it makes also makes real dollars and cents in their farming operations,” Campbell said.
Kelley Oehler, USDA’s Branch Chief Energy Division said the budget battles that have resulted in continuing resolutions, instead of real federal budgets, actually helped more money go to REAP.
“We’re still working with budget to identify the specific amount, but what I can tell you is it is significantly more than the [$20.8 million original amount announced in the March 29, 2013 deadline],” Oehler said.
More money meant they needed more time to give out the grants for things such as grants for under $20,000 programs, feasibility study grants (up to $50,000), and grants and combination grants-loans for things like biodigesters (which could be up to $500,000 for those digesters) that dairy farmers can use to turn waste into energy. Guaranteed loan-only deadlines remain at July 15, 2013. (More information available here.) Another program, the 9005 Program (for advanced biofuels payments made from things, such as biodigesters) will have a notice go out shortly that will have an additional 30 days, usually sometime in October.
Meanwhile, Campbell and Oehler praised the recent renewal of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed to accelerate the adoption of innovative waste-to-energy projects and energy efficiency improvements on U.S. dairy farms, both of which help producers diversify revenues and reduce utility expenses on their operations. The original MOU was signed in Copenhagen, Denmark, in 2009.
“Through the renewed commitment, the USDA, working with the Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy, will continue the research, development and deployment of these technologies that are helping to make dairy farmers’ operations more sustainable,” Campbell said.
Purina Animal Nutrition introduces new research data on Rally® Dairy Feed that shows milk production benefits during heat stress.
As a nutritional heat stress abatement measure, patented Rally® feed technology allows the delivery of more glucose and energy to cows than a typical diet when intakes are challenged and she needs it the most. Research highlights that Rally® Dairy Feed, a cost-effective feed technology, provides benefits for transition and lactating cows during times of heat stress to:
· Address energy needs
· Maintain feed intake
· Deliver more milk during times of heat stress
Research results, including two field demonstrations, shows that incorporating Rally® Dairy Feed into transition and lactating cow rations has benefits that may protect profitability potential, feed intake and milk production.
In field Demonstration A, cows fed Rally® Dairy Feed during heat stress showed:
· 3.5 pound increase in dry matter intake
· 7 percent improvement in feed efficiency
In field Demonstration B, Rally® Dairy Feed delivered a milk production benefit of 8 pounds per day during the first 15 weeks of lactation during heat stress conditions.
Transition cow studies conducted at the Purina Animal Nutrition Center have also shown that when this group was fed Rally®, it delivered[3]:
· Higher peaks in milk production
· Higher total milk yield over lactation
· Reduced non-esterified fatty acids (NEFA) levels by 15 percent
· 27.6 percent reduction in beta-hydroxybutyrate (BHBA)
At the farm level, heat stress and an associated 10 percent to 35 percent milk production loss[4] may cost $1.60 to $5.60 per cow per day[5]. But the overview of all research conducted by Purina Animal Nutrition shows that feeding Rally® Dairy Feed before and during warm weather can lessen the impact of heat stress on productivity and herd performance.
Because of factors outside of Purina Animal Nutrition LLC’s control, individual results to be obtained, including but not limited to: financial performance, animal condition, health or performance cannot be predicted or guaranteed by Purina Animal Nutrition LLC.
With all the farm bill activity in Congress this past week, our latest ZimmPoll asked “What’s your opinion of committee farm bill?” From the results, most think it’s better than nothing.
Our poll results: 18% said Better Than Nothing and Other, 14% said Hits Nutrition Too Hard and Bad For Everyone, nine percent said Senate Better Than House, Bad For Farmers, Will Help Conservation and Great For Everyone, and nobody said House Better Than Senate. Poll results are all over the charts this week with mixed reviews and disagreement with particular sections of the farm bill.
Our new ZimmPoll is now live and asks the question, “Is agriculture doing a bad job of marketing?” Marketing seems to be the key to a successful industry. The public often gets a bad taste for agriculture after “issues” hit the media. Do we cover our tracks and market the good along with the benefits to agriculture, not to mention the must haves of it? Let us know.
The National Dairy Council, Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics and Feeding America last year formed a partnership to help alleviate hunger through an increased focus on nutrition. Today, they reaffirmed that promise by announcing a $100,000 grant program designed to support nutrition education and increase access to dairy and other nutrient-rich foods.
Over the next month, $10,000 grants will be awarded to 10 different food banks across the county within the Feeding America network.More than one in five children in our country face food insecurity, unsure sure of where their next meal is coming from.
“Dairy farmers have been committed to the health and wellness of Americans, with an emphasis on child health, for nearly a century; this includes addressing hunger and helping ensure every American has access to nutrient-rich foods, such as low-fat and fat-free milk and milk products, whole grains, fruits, vegetables and lean proteins,” said Jean H. Ragalie, RD, president of NDC. This partnership is critical to helping America close the hunger gap across our country.”
Starting next month, NDC will kick off a series of local, grassroots efforts nationwide through its state and region network to “Give Good with Dairy” – ranging from food drive donations of dairy through partnerships, voucher programs and local events.
The Alltech International Symposium was held this week, May 20-22, in Lexington, Kentucky. It offered industry members an opportunity to think about the future of agriculture. The theme of the symposium was glimpse. This week we heard several glimpses of the future. The big one here at the Alltech International Symposium was given by Dr. Pearse Lyons, Founder, Alltech. As he always does he challenged us. At the beginning of his speech Dr. Lyons played the God Made a Farmer, Dodge Ram Trucks Super Bowl commercial. That phrase became a key part of his message to our audience. Dr. Lyons was introduced by another Dr. Lyons, Dr. Mark Lyons, his son.
Congratulations to the seven newest award recipients of the Holstein Association USA 2013 Herd of Excellence!
The Herd of Excellence designation was introduced six years ago to honor dairymen who have bred and raised Holstein cattle that are consistently performing at the highest levels for them.
To be named a Herd of Excellence, herds must be 25 percent above breed average Mature Equivalent (ME) for milk, fat and protein; have classified within the last year and have an actual average classification score of 83 points or higher; have at least 70 percent of the herd homebred; and be enrolled in the Association’s TriStar production records program.
This year’s honorees include: David Bachmann, Pinehurst Farms, Sheboygan, Wis.; Tim Baker, Star-Summit Farm, Byron Center, Mich.; Joseph A. Brantmeier, Hilrose Holsteins, Sherwood, Wis.; Janice Jurbala, Spotlite-J Holsteins, Orangeville, Pa.; Thomas J. Kestell, Ever-Green-View Farms, Waldo, Wis.; Randy W. Kortus, Mainstream Holsteins, Lynden, Wash.; and Benjamin F. & Carolyn A. Turner, Maplelane-Manor Farm, Apulia Station, N.Y.
Congratulations to Ann Marie Magnochi, the new Dairy Cattle Show Manager for World Dairy Expo!
In her new role, Magnochi will manage the World Dairy Expo Dairy Cattle Show that features over 2,500 head of cattle brought by more than 1,000 exhibitors from across North America She will manage the cattle show functions including the eight breed shows, breed sales, youth contests, ethics, Dairy Cattle Superintendents and Dairy Cattle Exhibitor Committee. She will work closely with the Wisconsin Division of Animal Health to insure animal health protocols are being followed. Ann Marie will also work with The Dane County Fair, North American Intercollegiate Dairy Challenge and Purebred Dairy Cattle Association organizations of WDE Management, Inc.
Ann Marie grew up on her family’s purebred dairy cattle operation in Carnation, Wash. She has been active in Two Sisters’ Dairy, which is home to Magnaville Holstein and Buttercrest Brown Swiss prefixes, as well as her sister’s prefixes, Amber Rose Jerseys & Guernseys. Ann Marie earned a B.A. in Communications from Washington State University. Most recently, she has served as Field Reporter for Holstein World. Ann Marie has valuable experience in the dairy cattle show realm. She has been the Chair of Washington Junior Black and White Show for 9 years. Ann Marie was an officer and lead member of the Enumclaw Junior Dairy Show Committee for 7 years.
Cooperatives Working Together (CWT) has accepted nine requests for export assistance from Bongards Creameries, Dairy Farmers of America and Northwest Dairy Association (Darigold) to sell 3.016 million pounds (1,338 metric tons) of Cheddar and Monterey Jack cheese to customers in Asia, the Middle East and North Africa. The product will be delivered May through September 2013.
Year-to-date, CWT has assisted member cooperatives in selling 56.826 million pounds of cheese, 51.727 million pounds of butter, 44,092 pounds of anhydrous milk fat and 218,258 pounds of whole milk powder to 31 countries on six continents. These sales are the equivalent of 1.653 billion pounds of milk on a milkfat basis. That is more than USDA’s projected increase in milk marketings for all of 2013.
Assisting CWT members through the Export Assistance program positively impacts producer milk prices in the short-term by helping to maintain inventories of cheese and butter at desirable levels. In the long-term, CWT’s Export Assistance program helps member cooperatives gain and maintain market share, thus expanding the demand for U.S. dairy products and the farm milk that produces them.
CWT will pay export assistance to the bidders only when delivery of the product is verified by the submission of the required documentation.
Want to learn more about New Holland products and services available to cattlemen? The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) is partnering with New Holland to answer producer questions about everything from field equipment, to maintenance, to quality haymaking.
Tune in as NCBA’s Cattlemen to Cattlemen goes LIVE from Denver, Colo., on Tues., May 21, at 8:30 p.m. Eastern on RFD-TV. This special live episode will allow viewers to call in and speak directly with New Holland representatives about a variety of topics.
The program will be broadcast again on RFD-TV Wed., May 22, at 10:30 a.m. Eastern and Sat., May 25, at 9 a.m. Eastern. In addition, all episodes of NCBA’s Cattlemen to Cattlemen are available on the program’s website. The show is also on Facebook and can be followed on Twitter.
Congratulations to Dr. Trevor Tomkins, founder of venture | dairy, for receiving the Distinguished Service Award from the American Feed Industry Association (AFIA).
In making the award, AFIA cited Tomkins’ achievements during his 30-year career as an active member of the U.S. Feed Industry, including his research contribution to the U.S. dairy industry, contributions to the National Research Council’s subcommittee that revised the Nutrient Requirements of Dairy Cattle in 2001, and more recently his role in leading Milk Specialties Global to its position as one of the largest independent dairy companies in the U.S.
Following the profitable sale of Milk Specialties Global in 2011, Tomkins founded venture | dairy, using his industry experience, passion and connections to advance dairying in emerging global markets. venture | dairy is an innovative, for-profit impact investment company working with local partners in emerging markets to bring capital, technology, education and opportunity to producers and entrepreneurs throughout the dairy value chain.
Tomkins earned a Ph.D. in animal science at the University of Reading and emigrated with his family from the U.K. to the U.S. after living and working in Europe and South Africa for the first 10 years of his career.
The Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy® has two new resources available to advance the industry’s ability to track, improve and communicate sustainability performance and progress across the supply chain.
The draft “Stewardship and Sustainability Guide for U.S. Dairy: A voluntary framework for tracking and communicating progress,” which has undergone a thorough review process by representatives from across the dairy industry and is now available for a 60-day open stakeholder consultation period
The 2012 U.S. Dairy Sustainability Report, the industry’s third annual report dedicated to reporting progress toward its sustainability goals
The Stewardship and Sustainability Guide for U.S. Dairy identifies the most important indicators for assessing dairy sustainability and communicating results. The indicators are based on scientific life cycle assessment studies commissioned by the Innovation Center, and the practical experience of industry members and other experts from nongovernmental, academic and government organizations.
The Guide has been through an extensive and collaborative industry-wide process of testing, piloting and refining content and incorporates initial input from dairy producers, cooperatives and dairy processors.
A 60-day stakeholder consultation period to obtain feedback that will help ensure the Guide is meaningful, useful and relevant begins on May 15, 2013, and runs through July 14, 2013.
Funding from government and nongovernmental organizations has increased by nearly 300 percent from 2008 to 2012, supplementing the industry’s own investments in sustainability projects. This progress is published in the 2012 U.S. Dairy Sustainability Report, a comprehensive resource describing the U.S. Dairy Sustainability Commitment and leadership of the dairy industry and its partners. The report covers challenges and opportunities facing the dairy industry in the 21st century, outlines environmental priorities and highlights the cow’s contribution to a sustainable food system. Using statistics, infographics and stories, the report provides a snapshot of the dairy industry supply chain from farm to table.
Posted: May 15, 2013 at 3:31 pm
By Cindy Zimmerman
The House Agriculture Committee came out in support of the Dairy Security Act (DSA) on Wednesday, voting to reject an amendment by Reps. Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) and David Scott (D-GA) to remove the supply management mechanism of the act.
“Supply management is antithetical to the future growth of the dairy industry,” Goodlatte and Scott said in a statement expressing their disappointment in the vote. “A supply control program that will directly intervene in markets and increase milk prices will ultimately hurt dairy producers and consumers as well as dairy food manufacturers by stifling industry growth. This program is contrary to the reforms already in the Farm Bill.”
The National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF) was pleased with the outcome. “The House committee has now twice rejected the Goodlatte-Scott effort to undermine establishment of a workable national dairy policy,” said NMPF president and CEO Jerry KozaK. “As the farm bill moves to the House floor, we hope that the committee’s decision today will be the final word on the matter. It is time for dairy processors to end their campaign of divisiveness, and assist us in moving the farm bill toward completion.”
The committee worked for over five hours straight on the bill before taking a break, but will reconvene this evening to finish. By contrast, the Senate Agriculture Committee on Tuesday completed its work in less than four hours. House Ag Committee Chairman Frank Lucas (R-OK) met with farm broadcasters just shortly before his committee began the markup saying he expected it to be a long day but maybe not quite as long as last year’s 15 hour session. “But I would note that we had approximately 100 amendments a year ago, as of this morning we have approximately 100 amendments this time,” he said.
Lucas says the bill will go to the House floor this year “a dramatic improvement over a year ago” but he does expect it to be a struggle. “Whatever we do in the committee, many of the battles – whether it is over dairy, or sugar, or the size of the nutrition reforms, will be fought out again on the floor of the United States House,” he said. “But it’s a struggle we’re prepared to engage in and we’re prepared to move forward on.”
Our poll results: Fifty-two percent said No, forty-one percent said Yes and seven percent said I Don’t Know. So most of you feel that ag gag bills are not fair. Do you think answers would be different if we called them “See Something, Say Something” laws?
Our new ZimmPoll is now live and asks the question, “What’s your opinion of committee farm bills?” The Senate Agriculture Committee voted 15-5 to approve their version of a 2013 farm bill. And according to House Ag Committee Chairman, Frank D. Lucas, “The work of the Agriculture Committee, including reauthorizing the Farm Bill, affects every American; ensuring that our farmers and ranchers have the tools they need to produce an abundant and affordable food and fiber supply is as important to our country as national defense.” Let us know what you think.
The House Agriculture Committee will take up their version of the bill on Wednesday, where an alternative plan to the DSA will be proposed. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack told farm broadcasters meeting in Washington on Tuesday that he expects dairy to be a challenge in the farm bill.
“I think everybody likes the price stabilization piece of it, (but) how do you ensure that it doesn’t break the bank financially,” said Vilsack. “But clearly something’s got to get done in dairy because we’ve had too much volatility and we’ve lost too many of our producers because of it.”
A new analysis of the two dairy proposals under consideration in the House Agriculture Committee finds the Dairy Security Act (DSA) would better for farmers and less costly for taxpayers compared to the Goodlatte-Scott alternative.
The new report, prepared by University of Missouri agricultural economists Scott Brown and Daniel Madison, assessed how each option would have affected farm-level economics during the period 2009 through 2012. Under that model they found the DSA would have increased net farm revenues by $0.55 per cwt over the period studied, while the Goodlatte-Scott amendment would have raised farm revenue by only $0.48 per cwt. In addition, the model suggests that the Goodlatte-Scott proposal would have cost $1 billion over the 2009 to 2012 period compared to the DSA, because it would encourage more milk production at lower margins.
The Dairy Calf and Heifer Association (DCHA) has announced a strategically refocus of the association’s priorities and industry role.
DCHA will be redefining the information and services provided to its members to ensure relevant and progressive training and educational resources are available. These changes will help to further advance the profitability, health and performance of young dairy animals, as well as the profitability potential of its members operations.
Additionally, the organization will seek to modernize its professional image and reputation across the industry, working closely with allied industry and research-focused entities to help drive product and service developments that will improve the livelihood of calf and heifer raising operations.
Realigning association operations with an industry partner that has a deep focus on the dairy industry is the first step DCHA has taken towards accomplishing its goals. In the upcoming months, programs and services will be carefully reviewed and enhanced as appropriate. Concentrated efforts will be placed on an industry-leading conference agenda for the 2014 DCHA Annual Conference, to be held April 1-3, 2014 in Green Bay, Wis.
Cooperatives Working Together (CWT) has accepted four requests for export assistance from Dairy Farmers of America, Northwest Dairy Association (Darigold) and Foremost Farms to sell 932,556 pounds (423 metric tons) of Cheddar cheese to customers in Asia and North Africa. The product will be delivered May through October 2013.
Year-to-date, CWT has assisted member cooperatives in selling 53.810 million pounds of cheese, 51.727 million pounds of butter, 44,092 pounds of anhydrous milk fat and 218,258 pounds of whole milk powder to 31 countries on six continents. These sales are the equivalent of 1.626 billion pounds of milk on a milkfat basis. That is more than USDA’s projected increase in milk marketings for all of 2013.
Assisting CWT members through the Export Assistance program positively impacts producer milk prices in the short-term by helping to maintain inventories of cheese and butter at desirable levels. In the long-term, CWT’s Export Assistance program helps member cooperatives gain and maintain market share, thus expanding the demand for U.S. dairy products and the farm milk that produces them.
CWT will pay export assistance to the bidders only when delivery of the product is verified by the submission of the required documentation.
Posted: May 14, 2013 at 6:51 am
By Cindy Zimmerman
The Senate Agriculture Committee meets this morning to consider the Agriculture Reform, Food and Jobs Act of 2013 and the House ag committee is scheduled to meet tomorrow morning to consider their version of a farm bill. Drafts from both committees were released last week.
Chris Galen with the National Milk Producers Federation says both drafts contain the Dairy Security Act and he expects the Senate to pass this proposal which they support, but on the House side there is another proposal being offered which they oppose. “Basically it would turn farmers into takers of government welfare because it would not allow the marketplace to correct quick enough,” he said. “They would be getting margin insurance subsidized by the government but not getting the necessary price signals that would either restore the market price for milk or reduce the cost to the taxpayer of the program.” That alternative is being proposed by Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-VA).
Galen says Congress appears to be serious about getting a farm bill passed this year. “I don’t think anyone wants a repeat of 2012,” he said. “The good news is that we’ve heard rumors that not only is the Senate Ag committee going to work on the farm bill this week, but they may actually vote on it on the Senate floor this week.” The House was a hold out last week, of course, but Galen hopes they will schedule time for it this year. “I think the stars and planets will align and that they will either be desperate enough or sick enough to get us a new farm bill this year.”
Katie Couric is the newest milk mustache celebrity!
“Even when you have the day off, you still need protein. An 8 ounce glass of milk has 8 grams of protein. A glass worth raising, even on Mother’s Day.”
