March 2006

Pa. almost in 5th place for national milk production; Idaho is gushing (Farmshine, Mar. 31, ’06). “Pennsylvania barely hung onto fourth place for 2005’s national milk production. The top states were: California, with 37.6 billion pounds; 2. Wisconsin, with 22.9 billion; 3. New York, 12.1 billion; 4. Pennsylvania, 10.5 billion and 5. Idaho, with 10.2 billion pounds. . . . Due to very different herd sizes, the 2005 ranking for these same five states in the number of licensed dairy herds was: 1. Wisconsin with 15,100 herds, 2. Pennsylvania 8,700, 3. New York 6430, 4. California 1970 and 5. Idaho with 725 dairy herds.” These data come from Marc Tosiano, Director NASS-PA. More information is available on the NASS website at http://www.nass.usda.gov/.

Fuel savings pump bucks back into farmers’ pockets. “Taking proactive measures to conserve energy in daily farming tasks -- no matter how mundane or unimportant those tasks might seem -- can put extra dollars back in a producer's pocket, said Randall Reeder, an Ohio State University Extension agricultural engineer.” Reeder's fuel-saving recommendations include: Invest in conservation tillage; consider auto-steering; maintain the right kind of tires at the proper inflation; be sure to perform regular maintenance on equipment; shut off idling engines; watch for fuel-wasting use of equipment; and, replace worn-out equipment parts. Read the complete article on the Ag Answers website at http://www.agriculture.purdue.edu/AgAnswers/story.asp?storyID=4144.

Necessity is the mother of invention is the introductory article in the “Peak Performance” section of Northeast DairyBusiness (Mar. ’06). “The necessity to overcome or eliminate the biological stressors and inefficiencies that limit or causes wide variation in animal and plant performance has led to the development and adoption of most technology used in dairying today. . . . Old dairy journals describe considerable debate over such things as fermented feeds, automated milking machines and artificial insemination, technologies that are afterthoughts today. Debate over technology continues and will have an even greater impact in the future, because technology will not only have to be accepted by producers, but also by consumers.” “Peak Performance” articles were prepared by Monsanto Dairy business dairy specialists and the editors of DairyBusiness Communications. Copies can be requested at 800-334-1904.

Got jobs? Survey shows that Pennsylvania dairies offer decent pay and benefits. The next step: Spread the word.” Rich Stup and Lisa Holden write in Northeast DairyBusiness (Mar. ’06), “Data from our study. . . demonstrates that dairy jobs are not just ‘low pay’ and ‘long hours.’ In fact, actual dairy farm information reveals an industry that is competitive in local labor markets and is likely to grow. As this growth occurs, many of the jobs created will offer good wages, management training, and hours and working arrangements similar to other industries.” Stup and Holden offer several ideas to “help change the less-than-attractive image of dairy careers within your community” including posting news about hires and promotions in the business section of your local newspaper; getting to know your local high school guidance counselors; ensuring the dairy industry is fairly represented at career fairs; getting involved in the local business community; and, being proactive in providing job information to local and regional workforce investment organizations such as CareerLink. The full report can be found at http://www.ruralpa.org/Dairy_cover.pdf.

The dairy industry needs 5 minutes of your time! says Hoard’s Dairyman (Mar. 25, ’06). “The USDA’s National Animal Health Monitoring System (NAHMS) is beginning to plan for the Dairy 2007 national study and seeks your input. By providing feedback via an on-line survey, you will help ensure that the study addresses the most important issues facing the U.S. dairy industry. The NAHMS Dairy 2002 study contributed greatly to our knowledge of management practices and major dairy cattle diseases. With your help, the NAHMS Dairy 2007 study can build on these accomplishments.” You can access the survey by clicking here: Your Opinion Needed.

Testing for Success discusses the issue of testing job applicants before they are hired. It is the “Management” feature in Greenhouse Product News (Mar. ’06). Human resource consultant Carol Hacker writes, “Pre-employment testing can provide you with information that may be helpful when making a hiring decision. Pre-employments tests can be dangerous if you are not familiar with selecting tests, use them improperly or make them the sole reason for rejecting applicants. . . . Use the information as only one step in evaluating applicants. The face-to-face interview is still the most effective way to determine whether or not the applicant is the right choice for you and your business.” Read the complete article at Testing for Success.

Link to infertility found (Feedstuffs, Mar. 27, ’06). Matt Garcia, a post-doctoral associate in Washington State University’s School of Molecular Biosciences, “did a complete genome scan of the DNA of the 60 most fertile and 60 least fertile cows from a population of 1,500 semen samples provided by the Agricultural Research Service’s Animal Improvement Laboratory. . . . Garcia said. ‘We found a significant candidate gene, the Calpistatin or CAST gene, and four regions in the bovine genome that could potentially be associated with increased fertility.’” Garcia, Zhihua Jiang (asst. professor of animal science) and the university “have applied for a patent on the finding, which some day may help dairy producers use genetic markets to select for low-heritable traits, such as reproduction.” A news release on this research is available on the Washington State University website: http://cahenews.wsu.edu/RELEASES/2006/06009.htm.

‘Dirty Jobs’ Host Gives Cow Pedicures (Lancaster Farming, Mar. 18, ’06). “Each week, Mike Rowe, host of the Discovery Channel’s hit TV show ‘Dirty Jobs,’ challenges his viewers to tell him about a dirty job. . . . Once the Dirty Jobs team saw the job (hoof trimming), they packed their bags for Pennsylvania.” Rowe undertook the “dirty job” at Yippee! Farms, Mount Joy, owned by Arlin and Deborah Benner. Rowe helped hoof trimmer Ami Sinay’s team examine and trim the hooves. “A date has not been set for the Yippee! Farm show yet, but it is scheduled to appear this summer.”

Stillbirths represent sorry state for calves writes dairy nutrition consultant Al Kertz in Feedstuffs (Mar. 13, ’06). Kertz concludes his article with “The Bottom Line. . . . Calf losses average 20%-30% from stillbirths and from calves born alive that die before weaning. There is a need to keep records on this situation to ensure that heifers are well grown since they have two to three times the incidence of calving difficulty and stillbirths than older cows, to use calving ease bulls, to account for the effect of inbreeding and to re-evaluate conditions and calving employees’ level of competency to deal properly with cows calving.”

How to coach tough workers (Feedstuffs, Mar. 13, ’06). “Managers, like most people, don’t like conflict, so they tend to avoid dealing with it, and hope the trouble goes away. It rarely does.” Author Michael McCartney offers “some no-nonsense action steps for confronting an employee to improve behavior or performance.” These include: “confront as soon as possible and in private; describe the behavior or gap in performance; ask for their view, and acknowledge it; get their input; express confidence in them to fix the problem; observe closely . . . you must inspect what you expect. Reinforce what’s right. Redirect what’s not. . . . What gets rewarded gets repeated.”

Dairy farm numbers drop only 3.4 percent (Hoard’s Dairyman, Mar. 10, ’06). “Following two years of strong milk prices, the number of U.S. dairy farms only dropped by 2,275 during the past year. That is the lowest drop on a percentage or total dairy farm number basis since the annual series began in 1992, according to USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS). . . . Seventeen states lost 3 percent of less of their herds between 2004 and 2005.” Pennsylvania is one of those 17. “While there is not a perfect correlation, the decline in herd numbers generally has followed milk prices.”

10 Ways to Step Up Your Cow Management (Dairy Herd Management, Mar. ’06). Wayne Weiland, veterinarian and technical services specialist for Monsanto’s Animal Agriculture Group offers a checklist of ten areas where “improvements can be made on nearly every dairy.” The list begins with forage quality; feeding consistency; stall design and comfort; barn design that doesn’t impede access to feed, water, and beds/stalls; and limiting group/environment changes. Read the complete checklist with details at http://www.dairyherd.com/directories.asp?pgID=724&ed_id=5257.

Like Fine Wine. . . (Dairy Herd Management, Mar. ’06). This “Food Systems Insider” looks at how aging changes consumers and highlights an ERS-USDA report ‘Food and Agriculture Commodity Consumption in The United States: Looking Ahead to 2020.’ “The researchers predict that per capita consumption of fish, poultry, eggs and yogurt will rise, whereas consumption of beef, pork, milk and cheese will fall. In addition to an older and more racially diverse population, influential factors mentioned in the report included rising income and improved diet and health knowledge. Educating the public on the health benefits of meat and dairy will be crucial in the coming years.” Read the complete article at Like Fine Wine.

What Do Your Financial Records Say? (Dairy Herd Management, Mar. ’06). “Good financial records, combined with the ability to correctly interpret that data, give managers much more confidence, which, in turn, creates more energy and drive to see the business through even in tough times.” Author Shirley Roenfeldt lists “eight of the most common mistakes made when interpreting financial records and how to avoid them.” For example, “Net income means nothing by itself. . . . Net income does not account for owner draw, principal payments, depreciation, change in herd size, and income from culled cattle. Once these are factored in, the result could be very different.” A sidebar in the article notes, “Farming is one of the few businesses that can report taxes on a cash basis. But producers also need accrual-based accounting to help them understand what is truly going on in the business. However, many people still don’t understand the difference.” Read the complete article at http://www.dairyherd.com/directories.asp?pgID=724&ed_id=5258 (sidebar at bottom).

Study sheds more light on dairy’s role in weight loss (Dairy Herd Management, Mar. ’06). “A new clinical trial published in the December 2005 issue of Obesity Research . . . found that when adults on a reduced-calorie diet exercised and consumed the recommended three to four servings of dairy foods each day, their metabolism changed so that their bodies burned more fat than those in the study who only consumed one serving of dairy under the same conditions.”

Organic dairy farming. . . Do high pay prices equal more profit? (Hoard’s Dairyman, Mar. 10, ’06). This article reports on a research project that collected production and financial information from 30 farms in Maine and Vermont. The complete report from the project, “Costs and Returns to Organic Dairy Farming” is available on the University of Maine website.

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