The White House budget proposal released today contained one additional burden and two reductions to dairy producers. No matter how you look at it, the budget proposal does not offer any favors to the dairy industry at the farm level.

The budget plan seeks a 3-cent tax per hundredweight of milk, which for an average-size dairy farm would add up to $720 per year. The tax would add $578 million over a decade to federal coffers.

Source: Grand Forks Herald/ Associated Press/ Frederic Frommer, Feb. 6, 2006
Source URL: http://www.grandforks.com/mld/grandforks/news/13805077.htm

Investigators have found that rules designed to keep mad cow disease from entering the human food chain were broken.

At two unidentified slaughterhouses, investigators discovered that 29 downer cows were sent through the food chain despite a Food Safety and Inspection Service policy stating that all downers are prohibited from the food chain regardless of how they became nonambulatory.

Source: Houston Chronicle/ David Ivanovich and Purva Patel, Feb. 2, 2006
Source URL: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/business/3632798.html

Canada’s new prime minister looked to the west to choose an agriculture minister—to the far west, past the prairies where many thought he’d stop, and all the way to British Columbia.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper tapped the shoulder of Chuck Strahl to lead the country’s agriculture sector, as well as oversee the Canadian Wheat Board. This is the first time in a number of years one person will oversee both.

Source: Saskatoonhomepage/ CJWW News/ Neil Billinger, Feb. 6, 2006
Source URL: http://www.saskatoonhomepage.ca/news_view_story_2147496306.php?story_id=2147486127&cat_id=2147483654

As we enter the start of the 2006 calendar year it is time to take stock of where we are milk price-wise and where we are likely to go in the next 12 months. In this column I will review the trends observed in the cash markets for dairy commodities; take a look at the relationship of butter and cheese inventories to high and low milk prices and finally stick my neck out and provide a forecast for 2006. Let’s get to it!

Source: Ohio State University/ Ohio Ag Manager/ Cameron Thraen, February 2006
Source URL: http://ohioagmanager.osu.edu/resources/January06_Outlook.pdf

Arla has cut its milk price for its farmers by 0.9ppl for February and March; although 0.6ppl will be restored in April. It has also confirmed that its farmgate price in future will be a formula based on returns from individual markets.

The cut of 0.3ppl will take effect from February onwards to compensate for current and expected future low commodity returns. The extra 0.6ppl will only cover February and March to compensate for falling commodity prices (primarily cream) over the past four months. Arla has stated categorically the 0.6ppl will be restored in April.

Source: MDC Datum, Feb. 3, 2006
Source URL: http://www.mdcdatum.org.uk/PDF/3%20feb%2006.pdf

Corn prices have been on a bit of a roller coaster since harvest, but are now at the highest level since late summer 2005. The large carry in the corn futures market results in a relatively high price being offered for the 2006 crop.

March 2005 corn futures traded to just under $2.26 on February 3, the highest price for that contract since early September 2005. December 2006 futures traded over $2.60, just about $.09 below the contract high. The average spot cash bid in central Illinois reached a marketing year high of $2.075 on February 3, $.44 above the marketing year low price reached on October 18, 2005 . The price strength has been a little surprising given the magnitude of the surplus in U.S. corn inventories. However, over the past 32 years, the central Illinois cash price has never established a marketing year high in February, suggesting that even higher prices might be expected sometime over the next six months.

Source: Farmdoc/ University of Illinois/ Darrel Good, Feb. 6, 2006
Source URL: http://www.farmdoc.uiuc.edu/marketing/weekly/html/020606.html

A Type 2 Ostertagia infection of “thousands” of Ostertagia worms saw a healthy pedigree heifer die within seven days.

Two heifers had suffered “classical” symptoms of Ostertagia, enduring severe scouring - “and one just went down and died”.

Rapid treatment of the second ill animal and the other 118 in the herd with an endectocide ended the problem.

Source: Scoop New Zealand/ Wanganui Veterinary Services/ News Release, Feb. 2, 2006
Source URL: http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/SC0602/S00005.htm

The objectives of this study were to characterize the flavors found in full-fat cheese, cheese fat, and reduced-fat cheese made from aged Cheddar using a novel process to remove the fat (Nelson and Barbano, 2004).

This study demonstrated that when fat was removed from aged full-fat Cheddar cheese, most of the flavor and flavor compounds remained in the cheese and were not removed with the fat.

Source: Flavor Profiles of Full-Fat and Reduced-Fat Cheese and Cheese Fat Made from Aged Cheddar with the Fat Removed Using a Novel Process. J. Dairy Sci. 89:505-517. M. E. Carunchia Whetstine, M. A. Drake, B. K. Nelson, et al.

Five years ago, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (WDNR) established a new regulation limiting discharges of chlorides to surface waters. At that time, dairy industry representatives requested WDNR develop a chloride control regulation that was based on source reduction for critical industries versus a water quality based effluent limit (WQBEL) based on NR 105 (Surface Water Quality Criteria and Secondary Values for Toxic Substances). The final regulation, subchapter IV to NR106 (WDNR, 2000), provided for the allowance of voluntary source reduction activities on an interim basis with target limitations until the plant was in compliance with their final WQBEL. After reading about recent violations of environmental regulations in other U.S. cheese plants due to chlorides, we felt it was time to assess Wisconsin chloride regulation. Are Wisconsin cheese plants effectively controlling chlorides in wastewater discharges?

Source: University of Wisconsin/ Dairy Pipeline/ Bill Wendorff, February 2006
Source URL: http://144.92.196.21/pdf/pipeline/2005/pipeline_2005_vol17_4.pdf

KUKA Robotics Corporation, a leading global manufacturer of industrial robots, today announced its system partner, Forte Automation Systems, has installed a KUKA KR 15 SL stainless steel robot into Dean Foods’ dairy product manufacturing facility. The robot is the first stainless steel robot to be installed in North America. Dean Foods, a division of PET Dairies LLC, is using the KUKA KR 15 SL robot in its dairy case packing process.

Source: Kuka Robotics Corp./ News Release, Jan. 24, 2006
Source URL: http://www.kuka.com/usa/en/pressevents/news/NN_060125_Stainless_Steel_Robot.htm