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Click the link below to download a two-page pdf of the August 2010 A.I. Tables
http://www.progressivedairy.com/downloads/2010/1310pd/1310pd_ai_tables.pdf
Eight bovine veterinary students from across the U.S. each received $1,500 awards and all-expenses-paid trips to the American Association of Bovine Practitioners (AABP) annual conference in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Aug. 18-21. Intervet/Schering-Plough Animal Health sponsored the Bovine Veterinary Student Recognition Awards Program and recognized the students Aug. 19.
The Sam and Glen Coblentz Farm is a 105-cow Holstein dairy in Guthrie, Kentucky, where cows are housed on a bedded pack and milked twice a day in a double-6 parallel parlor. The farm, 620 acres in total, is made up of 500 acres owned and 120 rented.
Heifers are raised on the home farm until weaning and then at 300 pounds are moved to a rented facility. At about 750 pounds, heifers are moved to pasture, bred, and returned to the milking herd to calve at 24 months of age. A new barn, 60 feet by 200 feet, was built in 2007 across the road from the dairy to house the heifers on a bedded pack during the winter.
At the end of April, we began a one-of-a-kind Progressive Dairyman straw poll, asking dairy producers to evaluate and choose the dairy reform plan they support most for needed industry reform.
The following update is provided by Dairy Management Inc. (DMI), which manages the national dairy checkoff program, and is a producer-funded, nonprofit domestic and international planning and management organization responsible for increasing sales of and demand for U.S.-produced dairy products and ingredients.
Managing dairy’s reputation on a global scale
One of the prime features of the U.S. Dairy Export Council (USDEC), managed by Dairy Management Inc., is USDEC’s network of overseas office representatives. In addition to providing valuable marketing and trade-development support around the world, these reps serve as the eyes and ears for the U.S. industry beyond our borders.
Here is the charge: “The Chicago Mercantile Exchange cash cheese market is responsible for the failure of milk prices over the last several years.” Those making the charge claim the CME is “thin” with less than 1 percent of cheese priced through its market. Other charges include shady prices when there is no trade (unfilled higher bids and uncovered lower offers) and few market players. Those two elements combined result in the opportunity, if not actuality, of cheese price manipulation and, through that, milk.
The CME and its supporters respond that the cash cheese market represents a perfectly honest method to handle the spot market needs by being a market of last resort for buyers and sellers of cheese. It reports actual activity and represents a price for spot cheese and nothing more. What others do with the information is their choice.
Over the past 10 years, we’ve seen every TV network focus a lot of its new programming on reality shows. I don’t watch a lot of TV, and I’m not a huge fan of most reality shows. But in the past couple of years, I’ll admit that I’ve come to enjoy some of the reality-based shows on the “Big 3” networks. The ones that have caught my attention recently are Extreme Home Makeover, Undercover Boss, and The Biggest Loser. I don’t have time to watch all of them, but I’ll admit that my DVR is set to record Undercover Boss whenever it’s on!
In every one of these shows, the main characters reach out to ordinary people who are struggling to fulfill a dream, get back on their feet or regain control of their lives. Sure, some of these shows have been criticized for the way they “overdo” the assistance they provide. And I’ll admit, I tend to agree sometimes. But generally speaking, these shows set out to give the underdog an opportunity that wouldn’t usually be available to them.
The road to better marketing continues for Dave Geiser and Deb Reinhart of Gold Star Farms. After choosing a marketing consultant in November 2009, Dave and Deb began their journey toward better control of their business through better marketing.
Travel log entry, July 2010: “After two quarters of marketing, we’ve learned that there are many opportunities for us to be price makers rather than to take what we receive on our milk price.”
Moisture can be a real problem in freestalls bedded with manure solids. It aids the growth of bacteria, which can lead to herd health issues. Raking freestalls bedded with manure solids is a common practice to combat the moisture, but many times it just scratches the surface.
Looking for a better way, dairyman Mark Barroso of Merced, California, designed and built the Freestall Rototiller. Unlike other rototillers, this one runs off the PTO of a small- to mid-sized tractor that can provide 60 to 100 horsepower.
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