Digest Highlights: Seasonal beef cow culling impacts prices. California stand-alone quota plan advances. Michigan dairy checkoff vote set. Texas creates milk hauler academy. Dairy changes makie EU a beef exporter. Find a summary of these and other news here.

The USDA has failed to submit federally mandated annual reports summarizing dairy checkoff activities and spending since 2012, according to the Organization for Competitive Markets (OCM). Those associated with the reporting process say the delays are not intentional or an effort to mislead.

A group of insurance companies don't have to cover a dairy operation's costs to defend or settle a lawsuit alleging groundwater contamination by the inadequate handling of manure.

Digest Highlights: Dairy Farmers of America forms solar energy partnership. Bureaucratic hoops earn expanded school milk plan a low grade so far. New I-9 form must be used beginning Sept. 18. Find a summary of these and other news here.

USDA has backtracked a bit after five consecutive previous monthly reports forecasting milk production reductions in 2017. Growth in milk per cow, which has been slow, is expected to pick up the pace, more than offsetting a slower rate of herd expansion.

Late August and early September threw more curveballs at hay growers, with hurricanes hitting the Gulf Coast and Southeast, fire and smoke impacting haying activity and hay quality in the Northwest, and the drought lingering in the Northern Plains.

With dairy exports plateaued, it’s time for a “Big, Hairy, Audacious Goal,” according to Tom Vilsack, president and chief executive officer of the U.S. Dairy Export Council (USDEC). That goal: boost the percent of U.S. milk production exported another 5 percent by 2021.

Hay marketers have reported Pacific Northwest fires and smoke are impacting hay quality, mainly due to discoloration.

Digest Highlights: The milk pipeline to the Southeast filled despite Hurricane Harvey, but now Hurricane Irma may be on the way. Wisconsin sent 17,000 pounds of cheese to Houston food banks. Saputo is acquiring Southeast Milk’s ELS fluid business. Work advances on California quota plan. Find a summary of these and other news here.

The National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF) launched a “Peel Back the Label” campaign to focus consumer attention on “fear-based” food labels.