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Digest Highlights: From a price formula change proposal and EU-Mexico trade agreement restrictions to school milk and FDA labeling oversight, find a summary of news affecting dairy farmers here.
“The customer is always right,” in the hay business. Right? Except when they’re not.
Who came up with that mantra anyway? Well, it turns out Harry Selfridge did in 1909. He was trying to drum up business for his London department store, and businesses have been paying the price for that lie ever since.
Editor’s note: Estimated monthly MPP-Dairy indemnity payments have been adjusted from the original article to account for federal budget sequestration deductions.
Dairy farmers who enroll in the 2018 Margin Protection Program for Dairy (MPP-Dairy) and elect $7, $7.50 or $8 per hundredweight (cwt) margin coverage are guaranteed indemnity payments for February and March. And, based on the two-month indemnity payment estimates, producers who can stick to Tier I premium payments at the $8 margin level will cover full-year program costs in February-March alone.
The latest Drought Monitor shows rapid expansion of the exceptional drought (D4) area to include about 38 million acres with another 126 million acres of D3 (extreme drought) conditions. Parts of the drought region received some rain in the past 10 days – enough to slow expansion of drought conditions, but not enough to reduce drought without additional moisture.
Growing alfalfa in rotation with corn improves yields, reduces the risk of crop loss, reduces fertilizer nitrogen and pest control inputs, spreads cropping and labor activities throughout the growing season, improves soil quality and reduces cropland vulnerability to nitrate leaching, soil erosion and nutrient runoff.
After months of planning and preparation, the last thing you want is to watch your efforts and equipment go up in flames. In a few minutes, a baler fire can devastate an operation, one that can be easily prevented.
Although the spring flush is moving north and regional milk processing capacity is again becoming a challenge, the number of U.S. plants manufacturing one or more dairy products (excluding fluid milk) is actually at a two-decade high.
Water quality can affect land and cattle productivity. Let’s face it, cattle are naturals at drinking as long as there is a water source and access. What else is there to think about?
The importance of water deserves the time and attention of cattle producers. Cattle simply cannot be healthy and gain well without good quality water. What’s more, ensuring pastures have a high-quality, sustainable and uncontaminated water source is a key component to environmental stewardship.
What are the reasons, or goals, for applying fertilizer? Why fertilize alfalfa? Some reasons would likely include increasing or maintaining yield or avoiding “mining” the soil. There is another reason that AgroLiquid customers are discovering, and it ties in with the industry’s understanding that the digestibility of a ration’s forage component has a large impact on a cow’s milk production. That is why cut timing is carefully managed, weather conditions are closely monitored, weeds and insects are controlled, and the bunks are filled and packed quickly. Recently the dairy industry is also paying more attention to alfalfa fiber digestibility.
