Iowa’s dairy production could use a helping hand, and state producers offered up their suggestions for how to help through the 2005 Iowa Dairy Survey.

The survey was conducted by the Northeast Iowa Community-Based Dairy Foundation in conjunction with Iowa State University Extension, and garnered a 44.5 percent return rate. Half the state’s dairy producers were randomly selected to get the survey.

Source: Agri News/ Jean Caspers-Simmet, Feb. 7, 2006
Source URL: http://webstar.postbulletin.com/agrinews/321070277563948.bsp

A Minnesota county board unanimously approved a conditional use permit for what would be the state’s largest dairy—along with a list of 17 conditions it must meet.

Construction of the dairy must also wait for pending litigation challenging the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency’s decision to not seek an environmental impact statement; an environmental assessment worksheet was completed. An EIS takes about a year to complete.

A conference to set a hearing on the lawsuit will be later this month.

Source: West Central Tribune/ Cari Quam, Feb. 8, 2006
Source URL: http://www.wctrib.com/articles/index.cfm?id=4580&section=News

The state of Washington is getting tough on raw-milk producers who operate outside the law. State senators voted 46-2 in favor of a bill that punishes first-time violators with a gross misdemeanor. Second-time violators would be charged with a Class C felony.

Legislators tackled the issue, in part, because unpasteurized milk from Dee Creek Farm gave 18 people E. coli, including several children.

Source: The Daily News/ Don Jenkins, Feb. 8, 2006
Source URL: http://www.tdn.com/articles/2006/02/08/area_news/news22.txt

A Danish company is expanding its American cultures plant in a Midwestern city to capitalize on growth in the probiotics market.

Chr Hansen will up the fermentation capacity of the plant in Milwaukee, Wis., by 35 percent. The $7.4 million upgrade completes a five-year, $25-million investment plan and is the largest single expansion in the plant’s history.

Source: Food Navigator/ Anthony Fletcher, Feb. 8, 2006
Source URL: http://www.foodnavigator.com/news/ng.asp?n=65680-chr-hansen-probiotic-dairy

Basic economics dictates that if there is a large demand for a commodity and a small supply, the commodity’s price will rise. That truism is being borne out when it comes to Texas and hay.

The trio of heat, drought and wildfires has ganged up on Texas’ forage crops and withered cattle producers’ pocketbooks as they pay more to feed their animals. The hay shortage has seen average prices jump from $91 a ton in December to $97 in January. A year earlier those prices would have been $74 and $69, respectively.

Source: Dallas-Ft. Worth Star-Telegram/ Associated Press/ Angela K. Brown, Feb. 8, 2006
Source URL: http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/business/13818956.htm

Dean Foods Company  today announced that the Company earned $0.49 per diluted share from continuing operations for the quarter ended December 31, 2005, compared with $0.55 per diluted share from continuing operations in the fourth quarter of 2004. Net income from continuing operations for the fourth quarter totaled $70.7 million, compared with $85.2 million in the prior year fourth quarter.

Dairy Group net sales for the fourth quarter rose 3% to $2.3 billion, from $2.2 billion in the fourth quarter of 2004. The sales increase was due primarily to a 1.4% increase in fluid milk volumes. Those increases were offset somewhat by the pass through of lower dairy commodity costs to our customers. The fourth quarter average Class I mover, which is an indicator of the Company's raw milk costs, averaged $14.13 per hundred-weight, a 3% decrease from the same period in 2004. Class II butterfat prices averaged $1.65 per pound in the fourth quarter, 18% lower than the fourth quarter of 2004.

Source: Dean Foods/ News Release, Feb. 8, 2006
Source URL: http://www.deanfoods.com/investors/press.html

The objective of this study was to examine associations between susceptibility to clinical mastitis and protein yield in first-lactation Norwegian Dairy Cattle (NRF) cows.

An antagonistic genetic relationship between clinical mastitis and protein yield was corroborated.

Source: Genetic association between susceptibility to clinical mastitis and protein yield in Norwegian dairy cattle. Journal of Dairy Science 88 (4): 1509-1514, 2005. Heringstad, B.; Chang, Y.M.; Gianola, D.; Klemetsdal, G.

It is a report that a statistics professor would love. It is a report that would be priority bedtime reading for an agricultural economist. It is a report that would be newsworthy if it were timelier. Although it is based on the 2001 crop, USDA’s corn production study released this week contains a bushel of fascinating facts about how you and your neighbor produce corn, and how much money you really made (lost) doing it. Congratulations to some of you, and condolences to others. By the way, was 2001 typical for your farm?

Source: Farmgate/ Stu Ellis/ University of Illinois, Feb. 8, 2006
Source URL: http://www.farmgate.uiuc.edu/archive/2006/02/think_youre_goo.html

Renessen LLC, announced today that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has given “deregulated status” to its LY038 trait -- high lysine corn -- clearing the way for Renessen to commercialize the new technology for use in the livestock industry. To be sold under the name Mavera™ High Value Corn with Lysine, LY038 is the world’s first crop-based quality trait produced through biotechnology for the animal feed industry. It also represents the first biotechnology trait offering from Renessen.

The technology provides higher levels of lysine than a conventional corn plant produces.

Source: Cargill/ News Release, Feb. 6, 2006
Source URL: http://www.cargill.com/news/news_releases/060206_lysinecorn.htm#TopOfPage

Thousands of starlings perched on a high wire may be an impressive sight for some, but for livestock operation owners, they are a picture of money flying off the property.

Birds and rodents both cost feed yards, dairies and grain elevators thousands of dollars every day, said Joe Zotter, biologist for the Texas Wildlife Services.

Source: Texas A&M University/ News Release/ Kay Ledbetter, Jan. 23, 2006
Source URL: http://agnews.tamu.edu/dailynews/stories/WFSC/Jan2306a.htm