On a beautiful autumn day in central Michigan, a colleague and I visited a dairy farm. I am responsible for completing a number of quality assurance reviews for the Department of Agriculture. Specifically, my job is evaluating the planning done on a livestock farm to mitigate a resource concern such as soil and water. We want to make sure the federal government gets some return on the investment made on that farm.

This month I got a call from a “bitching” dairy producer (that’s how he identified himself) telling me that Idaho milk producers ought to be given an award for shooting themselves and everyone else in the foot by continually expanding cow numbers and herd size averages. His complaint was that such business practices drive down milk prices both for those expanding and for everyone else.

Recently, adulterated infant formula in China was linked to tens of thousands of illnesses and four deaths. The scandal has heightened the world’s concerns about political corruption in China and the integrity of Chinese-manufactured goods overall. And the “crisis of confidence” among Chinese consumers will take years to overcome.

Progressive Dairyman teamed up with Professional Dairy Producers of Wisconsin to bring the 2008 Nutrient Innovation & Technology Tours. Dairymen and industry representatives spent three days driving throughout Wisconsin looking at the latest innovations and solutions to manure management systems.

“We need to preserve our social license to produce food. It’s a reality we all have to face and deal with,” says Logan Bower, who hosted the Dairy Animal Care and Quality Assurance (DACQA) producer certification “preview” October 15 at his 500-cow dairy in Blain, Perry County, Pennsylvania. Long before the undercover HSUS videos depicted mistreatment of “downer” dairy cows at a beef plant and auction barns, a producer-led effort – the National Dairy Animal Well-Being Initiative (NDAWI) – was already underway, working to develop its recently finalized principles and guidelines.

During a recent press conference, Dr. Jamie Jonker, the National Dairy Animal Well-being Initiative’s co-chair for the principles and guidelines committee and director of regulatory affairs for the National Milk Producers Federation, explained the changes between the draft initiative and the final approved initiative.

Traveling one afternoon with Ricardo Ehrenfeld Stolzenbach, a veterinarian and sales manager for Cooprinsem, a farmer cooperative in Puerto Varas, Chile, was most informative. Ricardo is in charge of the A.I. department in his area, supervising three technicians and three insemination routes, along with handling direct herd sales and matings. His company represents CRI, Accelerated and Holland Genetics in the area. The average semen price is 6,500 pesos per unit (U.S. $13.00). They average 1.6 services per conception; however, in some of the better herds it is as low as 1.3 services per conception. The average calving interval for well-managed herds is 13 months.

If there is one thing that catches my daughters’ attention when we head to the fair, it is the rides. The constant commotion of screaming riders, flashing lights and the thrill of watching machines thrash back and forth, round and round, and up and down has them begging to go for a ride. One of their favorite rides is the mini roller coaster. They spend their time looking for Mom and Dad as they smile and wave from the vantage point of their steel cocoon.

As any experienced litigator will tell you, how a lawsuit and what it is fought over differs from why you are in court in the first place. When it comes to court challenges to administrative decisions, the difference between what happened in the rulemaking and the litigation can be even more different. So it was in the court challenge to the recent USDA decision to shift a quarter of a billion dollars from the pockets of producers to processors. A group of seven dairy cooperatives, United Dairymen of Arizona, Select Milk Producers, Zia Milk Producers, Lone Star Milk Producers, Arkansas Dairy Cooperative Association, Maryland Virginia Milk Producers and Continental Dairy Products, along with two producers, sued USDA to stop its implementation of higher make allowances. After being first in U.S. District Court and then the Court of Appeals hours later, both courts denied the demand for an injunction.

The milk-to-feed ratio continues to decline as producers see less money remain after feed has been purchased. In August 2008, the ratio fell to 1.89 compared to 3.19 only one year earlier. With the lowering milk price and sustained high feed costs, margins are expected to remain tight for the balance of the year. Tight margins bring out the best and worst among dairy producers. Historically, dairy producers are adept at making adjustments and sacrifices to make ends meet, but sometimes those decisions save a dime only to cost a quarter. When tough decisions need to be made, it’s often best to work with an assessment team from outside the dairy.