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For anyone who grew up in a small town, I’m sure you will probably agree that “everyone knowing you” is both a blessing and a curse. Unfortunately, our parents somehow already knew about the shenanigans we pulled before we even got home.
But on the flip side, there was usually someone nearby who’d help us get out of a jam before anyone else found out. And for many of us who moved “back home” after school, we’re still hoping nobody remembers who we were during our rebellious high school days!
There are many theories as to why milk prices have gone higher since the lows of 2009. Some will argue that the CWT cow kills removed enough production capacity so as to shorten the available milk supply for processors, thus raising their effective bid.
Others will make a case for growing export demand and the broad sweeping interest that foreign buyers have for our products. Some will bring up the crippling weather conditions experienced throughout the Oceania region that shortened their feed availability and ultimately their milk supply.
Over the past two years, the Federal Reserve has been performing “stress tests” on the largest U.S. banks. “Stress tests” are used to better understand a business, its weaknesses and how much financial stress the key drivers of a business can withstand.
They are becoming more widely used due to a more volatile economy. Dairies have experienced record levels of volatility over the past two years and are now being stress tested by lenders for milk price and feed cost changes.
Growing up on my family’s farm, we used a number of methods to water our crops. The most prevalent was to flood irrigate the fields. On a few fields, however, we used a pressurized sprinkler system, and it fell to me and my siblings to move the sprinkler pipe.
Starting a risk management plan can be a daunting task for many dairy producers. You spend most of your time focusing on cow management – maximizing milk production, reproduction, cow comfort and cow health.
You fix equipment, plan this year’s crop rotation and buy next month’s loads of cottonseed or hay. Suddenly, you’re being asked about your risk tolerance, futures contracts, long puts and short calls. It’s not an easy or natural transition for most.
Rain poured down continuously from leaden skies overhead.
Inside the calf nursery, the newest babies were settling down to rest after guzzling down their breakfast bottles. The bawling of older ones, impatient for their shares of morning milk and fresh feed, partially drowned out the staccato hammering of raindrops pounding the barn’s metal roof.
Sheltered from the deluge only by a red, plastic rain poncho, I swooped from the nursery like a crimson Batman, swiftly slipping warm bottles of milk into holders on the pens of the outside calf condos. A yard-wide stream flowed past the nursery door, requiring a leap over the runoff to feed a final round of morning hay to the weaned calves in the barn on the opposite side.
Foreign dairy farmers who invest at least $500,000 to establish a U.S. dairy operation can qualify for permanent residence based on their investment. Many Dutch and Canadian dairy farmers have sold their farms and milk quotas during the last two decades to invest significant amounts of capital into the U.S. rural economy in order to build large dairy operations in this country.
They typically enter the U.S. as temporary investors after buying underutilized rural property, building new infrastructure and hiring U.S. workers.
Breakfast on the farm (BOTF) events in Michigan are connecting the public with modern agriculture and food production. BOTF events appear to be attracting the desired audience, with 46 percent of respondents to our exit survey indicating they have not been on a dairy farm before and 25 percent indicating they have been on a dairy farm only one to five times.
In addition, 45 percent live in an urban area, 42 percent live in a rural area and only 14 percent live on a farm.
To determine the key educational aspects of farm visits by the public, we surveyed BOTF participants. The focus of this article is on BOTF participants’ impressions about modern dairy farms and farmers. Do BOTF events change impressions and attitudes about modern dairy farms?
Grant information, videos, books, online courses, profiles of cutting-edge, on-farm research and much more – it's all available with a click of your mouse at the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education program's (SARE) new websites.
Mark Kruse will discuss his pasture conversion experiences, his rotational grazing system, organic pasture management, and manure management at a pasture walk on June 22.
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