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When I think about the people involved in ag, one word describes them all: passionate. Farmers are one of the most passionate groups of people you will ever meet, but sometimes our passion can be a liability. The most recent example is a certain Super Bowl commercial depicting dairy in a less than positive way.
When contemplating renting a facility for animals, it can be difficult to know how to calculate the value. There are standardized formats for renting other properties and assets, but no simple formula for computing livestock facilities’ worth.
Instead of pointing fingers, a group of northeast Wisconsin farmers are raising their hands to acknowledge the local dairy industry’s part in groundwater issues and making a public commitment to solving the problem.
You’re busy – milking cows, managing employees and attending farm meetings and conferences. With that in mind, Progressive Dairyman looks at issues in the news impacting you and your dairy business.
Editor’s note: This article has been updated to include MPP-Dairy margin calculations for December. Dairy producers insured at the $8 per hundredweight (cwt) margin level will see a payment of about 15 cents per cwt.
USDA staff members continue to catch up on reports that were delayed during the partial government shutdown, and Feb. 20 brought to light milk production, price and income margin data from December 2018.
We don’t know precisely when enrollment will be opened for the Dairy Margin Coverage (DMC) program, but once it does, those dairy farmers insuring margins on the first 5 million pounds of milk at the top margin level should see an early payback.
Recently, we completed two research trials on two dairy farms (each farm has over 1,500 cows) in Michigan. Cows were supplemented with a molasses-based liquid supplement from 21 days before calving to 40 days after calving. Trials ran for three months, and rumination data was collected on individual cows using rumination collars.
“We really don’t have a nutrient problem; we have a water problem,” states Galen Smith, partner and general manager of Coldstream Farm LLC in Deming, Washington.
The number of U.S. farms restructuring debt by filing Chapter 12 were down slightly last year, but the dairy economy likely figured prominently in states where bankruptcy filings were higher.
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