The ravages of Hurricane Katrina on the lives and properties of people and businesses in Mississippi and Louisiana have been well documented and often discussed over the past ten months. Despite the vast amounts of media coverage, many people simply cannot grasp the breadth of the immense devastation wrought over a large geographical area covering thousands of square miles. This author witnessed the destruction first-hand during mid-September and still has difficulty understanding the severity of the storm’s annihilation. The path of Katrina and the corridor of most severe destruction passed directly through the middle of a concentration of more than 425 dairy farms that were dramatically affected by this disaster. Before Katrina, these dairies produced about one million pounds of milk per day and compose a region described as the New Orleans milk shed. As recently as 10 years ago, the New Orleans milk shed was the 10th largest milk producing area in the U.S., but continual reductions in the number of dairy farms, cows, and milk output have eroded the importance of this milk production region nationally. During the months since Katrina, industry reports indicate that more than 80 dairies have already exited the industry and many more are on the brink of economic collapse.

Source: Mississippi State University/ Agricultural Economic and Policy Perspectives/ C.W. “Bill” Herndon, June 2006
Source URL: http://www.agecon.msstate.edu/research/farmpolicy/newsletter/200606.pdf

Next month Idaho will be known for something other than its already famous potatoes. The state will become the first in the nation to regulate ammonia emissions for dairy operations.

The new rule means tat Idaho dairy producers will be required to obtain air quality permits for dairies that emit 100 tons or more of ammonia per year. The new rule was created after about 18 months of negotiation between the state, the Idaho Dairyman’s Association and the Idaho Conservation League.

Source: Casper Star Tribune/ Associated Press, June 18, 2006
Source URL: http://www.casperstartribune.net/articles/2006/06/18/news/regional/08612af2a3b6c4c687257191000fd15b.txt

Following are some of the headlines from news articles highlighted from the past week:

• CA Milk Producers Face New Air Rule
• Toyota Technology Helps Drive Odor from Manure
• HSUS Urges Congress to Pass Animal Welfare Bill
• Spring Hill ‘Jersey Jack’ Held for Listeria
• Stonyfield Europe Buys Interest in Irish Firm

Click to read more of these and other news stories.

Have you ever signed a production contract, for hogs, seed corn, specialty soybeans, or another commodity? Most Midwestern commercial farmers have either engaged in contract production, or have considered production contracts and backed away for one reason or another. One of those reasons for saying “no thanks” may have been a provision in the agreement that seemed unfair. That was a reasonable reaction, since production contracts are written to be fair to the contractor. Since the explosion in use of production contracts in the late 1990’s, some state legislatures have undertaken an effort to overhaul their laws to make production contracts a bit more equitable to the producers. Let’s take a quick tour around the country to see what the trends have been in these risk management tools.

Source: Farmgate/ Stu Ellis/ University of Illinois, June 15, 2006
Source URL: http://www.farmgate.uiuc.edu/archive/2006/06/new_state_laws.html

USDA’s recent milk production report showed May milk production for the 23 states 2.8% more than a year ago. Milk production has slowed for the past two months with an increase of 3.7% in April as compared to increases of more than 5.5% for the first quarter of the year. This slow down in milk production is due to much smaller increases in milk per cow. While milk per cow was increasing more than 4% during the first quarter, the increase was just 1.3% in May. Some hot weather in the West and Northeast dampened milk production per cow. But, milk cow numbers continue to increase from the previous month with May numbers 19,000 head higher than April and a total of 128,000 head or 1.6% more cows than a year ago. As long as cow numbers increase there will be downward pressure on milk prices.

Source: University of Wisconsin/ Bob Cropp, June 19, 2006
Source URL: http://www.aae.wisc.edu/future/OUTLOOK/cropp_june_06.pdf

Following are some of the headlines from market articles and analysis from the past week:

• Milk Production: Upward Trend Continues
• Herndon’s Dairy Markets News
• UK: Creating Transparency in Liquid Milk Market
• Annual Acreage Report Important to Markets

Click to read more of these and other market news and analysis.

The objective of this study was to investigate whether milk performance is impacted by the housing of heifers from the second to the seventh day of life, the method of feeding milk from the second week of life to weaning, the sire lineage and by the season of birth and season of calving.

Dairy cows born and subsequently calving in December-February had the highest production of milk, protein and TS, and dairy cows born in June-August the lowest. FCM and fat yields were highest in the group born in September-November and lowest in the group born in June-August.

Source: Effects of some management factors on milk production in first-calf heifers. Asian - Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences 19 (5): 672-678, 2006. Broucek, J.; Arave, C.W.; Kisac, P.; Mihina, S.; et al.

We studied leptin content in bovine colostrum, milk and plasma during the first month of lactation, and investigated relationships between selected milk components and milk leptin in five multiparous dairy cows.

These findings have implications for the use of untreated milk and colostrum-based (functional) food products.

Source: Leptin in bovine colostrum and milk. Hormone and Metabolic Research 38 (2): 89-93, 2006. Pinotti, L.; Rosi, F.

Treatments for diarrhea caused by disease-causing organisms is a big deal to all calf raisers. It seems that we spend a tremendous amount of our time dealing with keeping baby calves – working to feed them appropriate amounts of colostrum, to keep them isolated from organisms that may cause scours and, occasionally, treating those that do develop disease.

Any new treatment or potential treatment for disease – especially those caused by bacteria should be evaluated carefully. These potential new treatments should undergo rigorous testing prior to widespread use. That’s why a recent paper published in the Journal of Veterinary Medicine (Bampidis et al., 2006) was so interesting.

Source: Calf Notes/ Jim Quigley, April 24, 2006
Source URL: http://www.calfnotes.com/pdffiles/CN116.pdf

Many small and mid-sized dairy operations in Minnesota need to upgrade their milk house wastewater systems in order to comply with Minnesota Feedlot Rules (Minnesota Rules Chapter
7020). Producers want systems that perform reliably, meet environmental regulations, fit their management practices, and are economical to install and operate. This publication reviews some of the available options.

Source: University of Minnesota, June 2006
Source URL: http://www.extension.umn.edu/dairy/dairydays06/pdfs/Janni_AppendixMilkHouseWastewater.pdf