The U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) will meet April 19-20 at the Ramada Conference Center, 1450 South Atherton Street, State College, Penn. Meeting sessions will run from 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. April 19, and from 8:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. April 20. All sessions are open to the public.

Immediately preceding the NOSB meeting, on April 18-19, will be an Organic Dairy Symposium consisting of four expert panels that will provide information to the NOP and the NOSB regarding the role of pasture in organic dairy production.

Source: USDA/ AMS, March 20, 2006
Source URL: http://www.ams.usda.gov/news/062-06.htm

Farmers in the Washington-Oregon area, and across the country, will have to put on their turbans and look into their crystal balls to try to determine if they should purchase diesel fuel now or wait and risk higher prices in hopes that prices actually fall.

In the Tri-City area of Washington-Oregon, the recent average price of diesel was $2.89 a gallon, up 20 cents over the last month and 33 cents above the year-ago price, said AAA. Washington’s average diesel price was about 25 cents higher than the national average of $2.64 a gallon as of March 17.

Gasoline prices also are rising, but not as fast as those of diesel.

Source: Tri-City Herald/ Jeff St. John, March 20, 2006
Source URL: http://www.tri-cityherald.com/tch/local/story/7549745p-7461324c.html

Brazen bull semen bandits are burglarizing dairy farms in California. The latest theft occurred in Tulare in broad daylight.

The Fletcher Dairy had $10,000 of semen stolen at about 2:40 p.m. Recent reports of cattle semen thefts add up to almost $30,000.

Source: Porterville Recorder/ Sarah Elizabeth Villicana, March 18, 2006
Source URL: http://myopr.com/articles/2006/03/18/news/local_state/news2.txt

While the number of dairy farms in Virginia continues to drop, there are many positive signs for the industry. Farmers still milking continue to increase their production, and there are prospects for more producers to enter the business in the near future.

There are 791 Grade A dairy farms remaining in the Old Dominion, according to the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.

Source: Virginia Farm Bureau Federation, March 16, 2006
Source URL: http://www.vafb.com/news/2006/mar/031606_1.htm

A Wisconsin dairy farm family has seen the wolf at the door—literally, not a metaphorical one some farmers might see if dairy prices continue downward.

The LaVern Davis dairy farm in Newport has received about five visits from a wolf that has strolled by calf hutches and walked past a heifer barn. That makes the Davis’ a bit nervous as they fear a dairy calf looks like a tasty deer to color-blind wolves. The wolf has also ventured into the farmhouse yard and has occasionally played with the family’s dogs.

Source: WiscNews/ Dells Events/ Kay James, March 20, 2006
Source URL: http://www.wiscnews.com/wde/news/index.php?ntid=76728&ntpid=0

Six months ago, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) launched a new product to assist the dairy industry in managing price risk in the butter and butterfat markets. Part of the impetus for the launch was a meeting between representatives of CME and IICA, where IICA presented a fact-based analysis of why the new contract would be beneficial. The cash-settled butter contract began trading September 19, 2005, and the volume of trading has steadily grown.

In the past two months, dairy trading volume for cash-settled butter futures has averaged more than 100 contracts per day.

Source: International Dairy Foods Association/ Bob Yonkers, March 20, 2006
Source URL: http://www.idfa.org/news/stories/2006/03/butter.cfm

At the beginning of the 2005-06 marketing year, the USDA expected U.S. exports would reach a record 1.115 billion bushels. That forecast has been lowered every month since October 2005. So far this year, USDA weekly export estimates have been tracking the monthly Census Bureau estimates very closely. Through January 2006, both the cumulative inspections estimate and the cumulative estimate from the Export Sales report were just 5 million bushels below the Census Bureau estimate of 510.7 million bushels. As of March 16, 2006, exports totaled about 671 million bushels, 200 million less than on the same day last year. Only Taiwan and Mexico have imported more U.S. soybeans this year than were imported last year. Shipments to China, which have accounted for 46 percent of all U.S. exports, are running nearly 22 percent behind the pace of a year ago. Unshipped sales of U.S. soybeans to all destinations on March 9, 2006 totaled only 98.3 million bushels, compared to 119 million on the same date last year. Only China has larger sales on the books than at this time last year. That total, however, is only 29 million bushels. With a record large South American harvest underway, U.S. exports may struggle to reach 900 million bushels by August 31, 2006.

Source: Farmdoc/ University of Illinois/ Darrel Good, March 20, 2006
Source URL: http://www.farmdoc.uiuc.edu/marketing/weekly/html/032006.html

Twenty-four multiparous Holstein cows ( 775 +/- 24 kg body weight; 3.4 +/- 0.11 body condition score) were used in a randomized complete block design experiment to determine the impact of increased ruminal butyrate from the fermentation of lactose on metabolism and lactation.

Feeding lactose to transition dairy cows increased the proportion of butyrate in the rumen and beta-hydroxybutyrate in plasma and decreased liver lipid but did not affect lactation performance.

Source: Feeding lactose to increase ruminal butyrate and the metabolic status of transition dairy cows. Journal of Dairy Science 89 (1): 267-276, 2006. DeFrain, J.M.; Hippen, A.R.; Kalscheur, K.F.; Schingoethe, D.J.

Small-grain straw has become popular in dairy cattle diets. There are three principle reasons for including straw in diets fed to dry and lactating dairy cows or dairy heifers:

1. To reduce the nutrient (primarily energy) density of the diet. For dairy heifer diets straw is commonly added to the diet to dilute energy content to prevent over-conditioning. The same strategy is used with dry or pre-fresh dairy cows to avoid over conditioning. Low inclusion rates of straw are also often used in lactating dairy cow diets to assure fiber adequacy and stimulate rumination as an aid to preventing acidosis and milkfat test depression.

Source: University of Wisconsin/ Tom Anderson and Patrick C. Hoffman, March 2006
Source URL: http://www.uwex.edu/ces/crops/uwforage/StrawFOF.htm

Omega Farms has launched the first full line of dairy products with all-natural Omega-3's, the fatty acids vital to good health and well-being. Now consumers can easily and conveniently obtain two of the most beneficial Omega-3 fatty acids--EPA and DHA--while receiving the nutritional and heart health benefits of high-quality dairy products, including calcium, protein and essential vitamins and minerals.

Omega Farms' all natural, delicious and nutritious line of products includes Milk with EPA and DHA Omega-3's, Cheese with EPA and DHA Omega-3's, Yogurt with EPA and DHA Omega-3's and Orange Juice with EPA and DHA Omega-3's.

Source: Business Wire/ Omega Farms/ News Release, March 13, 2006
Source URL: http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/index.jsp?
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