The annual 2011 Ag Machinery Conference (AMC), a three-day agriculture engineering and education conference, will be held May 2, 3 and 4 at the Five Sullivan Brothers Convention Center in downtown Waterloo, Iowa. New for 2011, the Ag Machinery Conference will hold its opening ceremony at the Cedar Valley TechWorks on the Monday, May 2. The evening’s events will kick off with comments by 2011 AMC chairman Jim Evans of John Deere, and the mayor of the city of Waterloo, followed by a tour of the National Ag-Based Lubricants Center.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today issued a final exemption clarifying that dairy farms don’t have to treat milk the same as petroleum products under the Spill, Prevention, Control, and Countermeasure (SPCC) regulation. NMPF has been working with Congress and the EPA for two years to win the exemption for dairy farmers, so that their bulk milk storage equipment doesn’t get regulated under the SPCC rules, since milk storage is already regulated as part of the current Grade A Pasteurized Milk Ordinance (PMO).

Click here to download a pdf of the latest "Checkoff Watch" information, provided by Dairy Managment Inc. This update provides information about the 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans and a recent summit held by Milk Promotion Services of Indiana. PD

Now that Neogen has completed its Picture It & Pitch It! program, the rest is up to you. Neogen’s Picture It & Pitch It! program ran through March 31, and offered rebates for the purchase of one of Neogen’s calf pullers – Dr. Frank’s, Calf-Eze or Ratchet Style Puller. The program offered an additional cash prize to the person who submitted the photo that depicts the most creative method used to discard an old puller – as determined by a vote of you, the people.

The Animal Agriculture Alliance announced the results of its second College Aggies Online (CAO) scholarship competition. The nationwide program was developed in partnership with the American National CattleWomen, Inc. to help college students utilize social media tools to share agriculture's story. Students with an interest in agriculture were invited to join the CAO network in September 2010. Over the past seven months, 600 college students from more than 50 universities have participated in the competition. Members have earned points by posting blogs, photos and videos related to agriculture and by participating in “Aggie Homework” agriculture advocacy challenges via Twitter, Facebook, and e-mail.

Calibrate, a proprietary industry leading technology in dairy nutrition from Forage Genetics International, has added Dairyland Laboratories, Inc. to the network of labs running Calibrate rapid NIR starch tests. The addition of three Dairyland locations allows Calibrate technology to expand service reach and continue providing dairy producers and their nutritionists’ insights and recommendations to achieve a higher standard for nutrition consistency. All Dairyland laboratories are now equipped to conduct the rapid NIR test for rumen starch digestibility including the Arcadia and Stratford, Wisconsin, and St. Cloud, Minnesota, locations.

President Larry A. Tande presided at the spring Holstein Association USA, Inc. board of directors meeting held in Brattleboro, Vermont, March 24-25. The Business Plan portion of the meeting included updates on 2011 objectives. The board heard reports from the Audit, Nominating, Genetic Advancement, Legislative Affairs, and Show committees.

Western United Dairymen has secured $500,000 for water quality projects on dairies in California’s Central Valley. The funding is provided through the Agricultural Water Enhancement Program (AWEP), part of the 2008 Farm Bill conservation title, and is administered by the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS).

Michigan Milk Producers Association (MMPA) made cash payments of $4.8 million in equity retirements in April. These cash payments represent the retirement of the 2002 Equities. This is in addition to the $1.9 million in cash patronage from 2010 earnings paid to members earlier this year. Combined, MMPA has paid $6.7 million in addition to the monthly milk check to its dairy farmer members in the first four months of 2011.

Country music recording artist John Michael Montgomery started the 2011 Central Plains Dairy Expo with a bang on March 29. More than 2,600 people were estimated to have attended the three-day event in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, with the vast majority being dairy producers. Other special events included a Prayer Breakfast, where Harvey and Lisa Van Ess, Van Ess Dairy, Sanborn, Iowa, and Mike Wells, president and CEO of Wells Dairy, LeMars, Iowa gave testimonials in faith. Story continues below photo slideshow.