Another route to rid Iowa farms of manure is one step closer to being shut down.

The Iowa Environmental Protection Commission has instructed the state’s Department of Natural Resources to write a notice that sets a rule-making process into motion that, if approved, would end manure spreading on soybeans.

Source: Charlotte Observer/ Associated Press/ Amy Lorentzen, Sept. 21, 2006
Source URL: http://www.charlotte.com/mld/charlotte/business/15571512.htm

The FSA has concluded that whilst this study shows that organically produced milk can contain higher levels of types of fats called short-chain omega-3 fatty acids than conventionally produced milk, the evidence suggests that these fatty acids appear to be of limited health benefit compared to the longer chain omega-3 fatty acids found in oily fish.

Source: UK Food Standards Agency, Sept. 19, 2006
Source URL: http://www.food.gov.uk/news/newsarchive/2006/sep/organicmilkresponse

Following are some headlines from news articles highlighted this past week:

• FDA: Vital to Protect Ag, Food from Terror Attack
• Large Biogas Facility Set to Open in Texas
• ConAgra 1Q Results: Better EPS than Expected
• Dairy Crest Sells Cheesemaking Unit to First Milk

Click to read more of these and other news stories.

It looks like the strong growth in milk production for the past year has finally outpaced demand. The result has been low milk prices at levels not seen since late 2003. Combined with elevated feed prices and dramatically higher fuel prices, Indiana dairies have had a difficult time financially in the summer 2006.

Milk production continues to run ahead of last year, but the gap has narrowed from more than 5% in early 2006 to more like 1.5% in recent months nationally. In Indiana, July milk production was up 4.5 percent compared to 2005. This is the largest percentage increase for any state east of the Mississippi River but still pales in comparison to the increases in western states like Idaho (+6.4%), New Mexico (+12.6%), and Texas (+7.9%).

Source: Agricultural Outlook 2007/ Purdue University/ Mike Schutz, September 2006
Source URL: http://www.agecon.purdue.edu/extension/prices/pdfs/Outlook2007.pdf

The growth in milk production appears to have slowed from its rapid pace during the past 18 months, and demand for milk and dairy products has remained strong. In addition, early Fall marks the start of a robust demand period for most dairy products as retail pipelines begin to fill for the holiday season. As a result, wholesale prices for dairy products increased in recent weeks, leading to higher farm milk prices.

Source: International Dairy Foods Association/ Bob Yonkers, Sept. 25, 2006
Source URL: http://www.idfa.org/news/stories/2006/09/marketupdate.cfm

Following are some headlines from marketing trends and analysis articles from the past week:

• UK Milk Production Continues to Rise, Cheese Falls
• Saudi Dairy Market Continues Rapid Growth
• Market Shows Less Incentive for Storing Early Corn
• 2007 Soybean Market to Continue Struggles
• Think Put, Call Options Too Expensive? Study Says…

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

The effects of including forage from semi-natural grassland in the diet of dairy cows were studied in a feeding trial with cows in mid-lactation.

In conclusion, if used in low quantities (< 40%), silage from semi-natural grassland can be included in the diet of lactating dairy cows without reducing production. This conclusion is based on the presented results and cannot be generalized.

Source: Dairy cow performance on silage from semi-natural grassland. Njas - Wageningen Journal of Life Sciences 54 (1): 95-110, 2006. Bruinenberg, M.; Geerts, R.; Struik, P.; Valk, H.

Recent evaluations of calf feeding philosophies comparing conventional vs. intensive feeding has been the subject of much interest by dairy farmers and specialized calf raisers. Over the past two years the research team1 at the Southern Research and Outreach Center (SROC) in Waseca have evaluated both milk replacer (varying protein, fat sources, levels and supplements) and calf starter (physical form and composition) options with over 900 heifer calves from three southern Minnesota commercial dairy herds. Since April 2004, these calves came to SROC at 2 to 4 days of age and were custom raised in the calf and heifer facility up to 6 months of age. Calves were picked up twice weekly from three dairy farms and housed in individual 4 ft x 8 ft pens for 56 days in a naturally ventilated, curtain side-wall frame-steel building. Calves between 75 and 110 pounds were assigned to a number of nutritional management projects evaluating milk replacer and calf starter programs.

Source: University of Minnesota/ Hugh Chester-Jones and Neil Broadwater, Sept. 23, 2006
Source URL: http://www.extension.umn.edu/dairy/dairystar/09-23-06-ChesterJones.htm

Does management early in the life of the calf affect later growth, and, ultimately, factors such as age at first calving or size of heifers entering the milking string? Although this question has been addressed many times in the past (with the answer almost always being “yes”), some research published in the 2005 Journal of Dairy Science (Heinrichs et al., 2005) evaluated a number of farms in the Northeastern U.S. to address the issue.

The researchers used data from 21 commercial dairies in Northeastern Pennsylvania. There were 795 Holstein calves monitored throughout the study. Calves were followed from birth periodically until calving, when heifer body weight (BW), age at calving, wither height and body condition score were determined. Due to some farms dropping out of the study, results were available from 686 calves.

Source: Calf Notes/ Jim Quigley, Sept. 24, 2006
Source URL: http://www.calfnotes.com/pdffiles/CN118.pdf

The time needed for cow udder preparation before robotic milking depends on the length of the preceding interval in milking and is related to the extent of udder filling. The greater this extent, the more time required for milking preparation. In multibox robots this may be as long as 2 minutes from the time of teat stimulation to the beginning of milking and causes merely a temporarily decline in the concentration of oxytocin in blood and an insignificant increase of residual milk.

Combining robotic milking together with grazing the cows during the summer period may be a possible method of achieving a high standard of welfare for the animals.

Source: Main issues in robotic milking of cows. Medycyna Weterynaryjna 62 (6): 611-616, 2006. Olechnowicz, J.; Lipinski, M.; Jaskowski, J.M.