California’s standing as a dairy industry leader would be only a memory had it only relied on what once was an area of America’s greatest concentrations of dairy farms, the Inland Empire.

Home to one of the fastest growing regions in the nation, Southern California’s Inland Empire’s $500-million dairy industry is disappearing as fast as milk producers can load their cows on trucks. Most of those trucks are heading for cheaper pastures in the Central Valley region of California.

Source: Los Angeles Times/ Jerry Hirsch, Jan. 9, 2006
Source URL: http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-
dairy9jan09,1,7755108.story?coll=la-headlines-
business&ctrack=1&cset=true

It’s not the large-scale farms that are responsible for most of the pollution spills in one Ohio county; it’s smaller farms that do not require permits and inspections by state agencies.

Data from the Darke County Soil and Water Conservation District, the Ohio Natural Resources and Agriculture departments, and the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency were compiled to look at where the pollution incidents originated.

Source: Dayton Daily News/ Ben Sutherly, Jan. 9, 2006
Source URL: http://www.daytondailynews.com/localnews/content/
localnews/daily/0109darkeswcd.html

Wisconsin dairy and beef producers may receive up to $1,000 in grants for equipment and materials to help control Johne's disease on their farms, but their applications must be postmarked by Jan. 31.

The grants are available to producers who participate in the Johne's Disease Risk Management Program. Under this program, producers must work with veterinarians trained and certified to conduct Johne's disease risk assessments and develop herd plans.

Source: Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection/ News Release, Jan. 6, 2006
Source URL: http://www.datcp.state.wi.us/press_release/result.jsp?prid=1740

Mexican farmworkers and their families are settling in rural upstate New York communities in record numbers, often offsetting recent decades of population loss and making upstate much more diverse. However, two-thirds of the newcomers can't speak or understand English, and most are marginalized in their communities, finds a new Cornell University study.

Seasonal farmworkers in New York used to be primarily African-Americans, but 95 percent of the farmworkers now are Latino, primarily Mexican, and they are increasingly settling down with their families in the farm communities rather than returning to their home countries.

Source: Cornell University/ Susan S. Lang, Jan. 5, 2006
Source URL: http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/Jan06/Latinos.upstate.ssl.html

The latest Defra dairy production/milk utilisation figures show cheddar production up between 7.8-9.5% over the 12 months to Oct-05, at the expense of other products such as milk powders. This means there has been an extra 28,400 tonnes of UK cheddar manufactured that is looking for a home. It is not all being exported as trade figures show little change in cheddar imports and exports - cheddar imports were up 2,000 tonnes while exports were up by a similar volume.

Source: MDC Datum, Jan. 6, 2006
Source URL: www.mdcdatum.org.uk

While the rest of the commodities markets surged last year on soaring demand from China and India, agricultural futures were left in the dust. But some investors are betting that food products are due to offer better monetary harvests.

Investors based some of their optimism on continuing dry weather in the U.S. and growing demand from developing countries.

Source: International Herald Tribune/ Jeff Wilson and Peter McGill, Jan. 9, 2006
Source URL: http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/01/08/news/bxatm.php

The objective of this study was to compare the persistence of artificially inoculated M. paratuberculosis, as well as other naturally occurring pathogens, during the treatment of dairy manure under conditions that simulate three commonly used manure management methods: thermophilic composting at 55°C, manure packing at 25°C (or low-temperature composting), and liquid lagoon storage. Straw and sawdust amendments used for composting and packing were also compared.

Taken together, the results indicate that high-temperature composting is more effective than pack storage or liquid storage of manure in reducing these pathogens in dairy manure. Therefore, thermophilic composting is recommended for treatment of manures destined for pathogen-sensitive environments such as those for vegetable production, residential gardening, or application to rapidly draining fields.

Source: Persistence of Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis and Other Zoonotic Pathogens during Simulated Composting, Manure Packing, and Liquid Storage of Dairy Manure. 
Applied and Environmental Microbiology, January 2006, p. 565-574, Vol. 72, No. 1. Sukhbir K. Grewal, Sreekumari Rajeev, Srinand Sreevatsan, and Frederick C. Michel Jr.

This paper reviews different production and management systems – mainly focusing on grazing systems – within intensive dairy farming and aspects of feeding and quality of herbage in order to propose areas of special interest within the new framework.

The interaction between grassland management and new technology such as automatic milking will be important in order to keep a high proportion of the dairy cows on pasture.

Source: Management of grasslands in intensive dairy livestock farming. Livestock Production Science, Volume 96, Issue 1 , 1 September 2005, Pages 61-73. Troels Kristensen, , Karen Søegaard and Ib Sillebak Kristensen.

Beyond being a great stimulation of letdown, pre-stripping also insures early detection of abnormal milk and is the only way to detect the mild cases that are not accompanied by tissue inflammation.

Once we have detected the mastitis we need to divert the abnormal milk from the saleable milk, mark of the clinical cow for examination, and initiate her mastitis record.

Source: University of Wisconsin/ David Rhoda, January 2006
Source URL: http://www.uwex.edu/milkquality/

India and Africa will work together to promote and develop the dairy industry.

The two countries will facilitate technology transfer, consultancy, marketing support and trade between them. The deal was signed by the Indian Dairy Association (IDA) and the Eastern and South African Dairy Association (ESADA).

Source: Web India, Jan. 7, 2006
Source URL: http://news.webindia123.com/news/showdetails.asp?id=212651&cat=Business