We use cookies to provide you with a better experience. By continuing to browse the site you are agreeing to our use of cookies in accordance with our Cookie Policy.
After years of frustration over declining milk prices and what he felt was lack of promotion and education about whole milk, Richland, Pennsylvania, dairy farmer Nelson Troutman decided it was time he take the initiative to inform consumers himself.
The Progressive Publishing team is pleased to welcome Courtney Moser as this year’s editorial intern. Moser joins the team with a strong farm background and knowledge of the dairy industry. Having been born and raised on her family’s dairy farm, Dream Prairie Holsteins, in southwest Wisconsin, she understands and has first-hand experience of working with various aspects of the dairy industry.
Reproductive management of dairy cows has advanced significantly in the past two decades with the advent of ovulation synchronization protocols, improvements in nutrition and cow comfort, and the incorporation of female fertility and longevity traits into selection programs.
Cows exhibit heat stress in many ways, and the impact can be seen in both the short and long term. Understanding heat stress is critical for producers managing herds in warmer, more humid climates or farms located in areas that experience intense heat spells in summer. There are appropriate management practices to help herds avoid some of the heat and strategies that work with the animal to help a herd manage stress during the summer months.
The July 2019 Federal Milk Marketing Order (FMMO) Class I base price is $17.18 per hundredweight (cwt), the highest level since January 2017. It is up 11 cents from June 2019 and $1.82 more than July 2018. Through the first seven months of 2019, the Class I base price is $16.12 per cwt, up about $1.52 compared to the same period a year ago.
The USDA’s Risk Management Agency (RMA) is providing dairy producers and others with additional flexibility in harvesting cover crops to help meet their 2019 forage needs. Under the special provisions announced June 20, producers can hay, graze or cut cover crops for silage, haylage or baleage on “prevented plant” acres on or after Sept. 1 and still remain eligible for 100% of their prevented planting federal crop insurance payments.
U.S. dairy farmers have shown the capacity to turn on milk production quickly, but the pace of growth in recent months is the slowest dating back to lengthy stretches in 2011-12 and 2014.
It will likely be months before the farmers receive payments under a second Market Facilitation Program (MFP). For crop farmers, one of the issues the USDA must work through is the relationship between “prevent plant” crop insurance policies and how they impact MFP payments. Specifics related to the level of payments dairy farmers will receive has also not been announced. (Read: USDA announces new farmer aid package to offset impact of tariffs, dairy details yet to come.)
RSS
