In the time since I wrote my last post, in which I referenced a dairy being built in Indonesia and the signals it is sending to the market, I have had the opportunity to host on our farm two gentlemen who are tasked with trying to put together that dairy.

Proposed changes to U.S. tax law may affect only a few dairies, at least until milk prices rebound into profitable territory. Dairy industry accountants mostly agree that the components of a bill that is currently being reconciled by Congress will be “tax neutral” as it relates to any dairy operation income. It’s also unlikely the current discussion about tax revisions, if signed into law, will provide any significant changes to current year (2017) tax filings.

Digest Highlights: Dairy farmers may be closer to having access to another income safety net. USDA cuts milk production forecast, but price projections too. Dairy co-ops request temporary surcharge on Class I milk in the Florida Federal Milk Marketing Order. Find a summary of these and other news here.

How will the expansion of the global beef market, especially with new consumer bases opening up in China and around the world, affect the U.S. cattle producer?

With too much supply, milk marketing has become a buyer’s market, Larry Hermanson told dairy farmers attending the 2017 Vita Plus Dairy Summit, Dec. 6-7, in Madison, Wisconsin. The supply-demand imbalance negatively impacts his cooperative and its dairy producer members.

“This is a miracle – plain and simple,” cardiology doctors told Shelly O’Leary in June 2017.

This year we had a lease deal fall apart, and it really upset the apple cart. It caused financial hardship, emotions were high, stress levels went through the roof, and we were faced with the question a lot of people have been faced with at one time or another: Is it over? Where do we go from here and what will we do if something else doesn’t work out?

The 2018 B.C. Dairy Expo will once again be held in conjunction with the Pacific Agriculture Show on Jan. 25-27 at the Tradex – Trade and Exhibition Centre in Abbotsford, British Columbia.

“This has been one of the few years in history when every segment of the industry made money. And that doesn’t happen very often,” said Duane Lenz, general manager of CattleFax, at the California Cattleman’s Association annual convention in Reno, Nevada. Generally, one segment of the cattle market makes a profit at the expense of another segment.

U.S. exports of nonfat dry milk/skim milk powder (NDM/SMP) have been unable to match last year’s record pace in recent months, dragging overall trade performance down, according to Alan Levitt, USDEC vice president of communications and market analysis.