A four-letter non-word recently has received a lot of attention in the national media as milk producers struggle to decide to use artificial growth hormones or not. rBST is the subject of several news articles in some of the nation’s top newspapers. Much of the focus is on how rBST-labeled milk costs more than non-labeled milk, but less than certified organic milk.

Source: Dairy Business Daily Staff, Oct. 10, 2006 

The evolution of animal agriculture in North America is focusing increased attention on its impacts on water and air quality. The adoption of new technologies and the restructuring of the food and agricultural system are generating new economic and environmental impacts and influencing public perception about animal agriculture. The expansion of livestock and poultry production, particularly larger confined animal operations, is increasingly leading to private disputes and public issues concerning agricultural production and the environment. These disputes are leading to new patterns of costs and benefits and, in some cases, public policies that are affecting competitiveness of this sector. The issues and options to resolve them are complex and require increased understanding and involvement by all stakeholders. While new technologies to improve environmental performance and monitor progress will be developed, constraints on resources may limit implementation.

Source: American Agricultural Economics Association/ Choices Magazine/ Charles W. Abdalla and Jennifer L. Lawton of Penn State University, October 2006
Source URL: http://www.choicesmagazine.org/2006-3/animal/2006-3-11.htm

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

• Mexico Opens Border to Dairy Heifers
• Community, Labor Issues in Animal Agriculture
• Report: Farm Policy Rarely More Critical than Now
• EC Members Fined EUR377m for Exceeding Milk Quota
• EU Bans Cheese from UK’s Bowland Dairy

Click to read more of these and other news stories.

Dairy farmers finally got to see milk prices rebound after such a long and hot summer. This price increase has been anticipated since late-July when extremely hot summer temperatures struck across the country. However, producers need to be cautious because milk output has already recovered from this heat wave. The good news is that dairy product prices have been fairly stable during September as demand continues to bolster dairy markets. Because this month’s Class I milk price is below the $16.94 per cwt. trigger price, farmers are once again eligible to receive additional monies through Milk Income Loss Contract (MILC) program payments by signing up at their local county’s Farm Services Agency (FSA) service center office. The September 2006 MILCX payment will be 43.18-cents per cwt, or about $864 on 200,000 pounds of milk.

Source: Mississippi State University/ Bill Herndon, October 2006
Source URL: http://www.agecon.msstate.edu/research/dairy_newsletter/NEWSLT06OCT.pdf

Fewer trades due to the Columbus Day holiday helped push the prices of wheat, corn and soybeans higher on the Chicago Board of Trade. Global supply concerns helped wheat soar to exchange-imposed ceilings; analysts said short contractors were trying to get out of the market.

CBOT’s December, March and May wheat went the 30-cent limit upwards to $4.94 a bushel, $5.075 and $5.045, respectively. Also hitting upper limits were December and March wheat on the Kansas City Board of Trade, while December Minneapolis Grain Exchange wheat was up 30 cents.

Source: Topix.net/ Associated Press, Oct. 9, 2006
Source URL: http://www.topix.net/content/ap/2309182441052636948635138652821106370651

Following are headlines from market trends and analysis highlighted this past week:

• UK: Sept. Milk Production Falls 7 Million Liters on Year; 75 Million Liters for 6 Months
• Does Crop Size Matter This Year?
• Report: Erratic Rain Hits IA Crop Quality, Yield

Click to read more of these and other marketing articles.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to analyse coagulase-negative staphylococci (CoNS) for their resistance to antimicrobial agents approved for the control of pathogens involved in bovine mastitis, with particular reference to macrolide and/or lincosamide (ML) resistance and the resistance genes involved.

The finding that five different resistance genes-present in various combinations-were responsible for ML resistance underlines the heterogeneous character of this resistance trait.

Source: Antimicrobial resistance of coagulase-negative staphylococci from bovine subclinical mastitis with particular reference to macrolide-lincosamide resistance phenotypes and genotypes. Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy 57 (5): 966-969, 2006. Luthje, P.; Schwarz, S.

Dairy farmers with milking parlors built in the 1970s and 1980s need new facilities to improve milking efficiency. However, a new milk barn can cost from $125,000 to $300,000.

Joe Horner has a money-saving idea for small producers who want to upgrade and stay in business another 10 years or more. "Retrofit instead of replace," said the University of Missouri Extension dairy specialist with the Commercial Agriculture program.

Source: University of Missouri/ Missouri Commercial Agriculture News, Summer 2006
Source URL: http://agebb.missouri.edu/commag/news/news12.htm

Restricted suckling before and after milking is used in most dual purpose cattle systems of Latin America, but many strategies exist that can alter milk fat and yield. An experiment was carried out to evaluate the influence of stimulation with calf suckling before milking on milk fat, yield of saleable and consumed milk and liveweight gain of calves in dual purpose systems with restricted suckling.

These results show that restricted suckling before milking to stimulate “let-down” increases saleable milk yield and its fat content without affecting calf growth rate, provided a feed supplement is given.

Source: Engormix/ Influence of suckling before milking on yield and composition of milk from dual purpose cows with restricted suckling. Merbis Tesorero, J. Combellas, W. Uzcátegui and L. Gabaldón, October 2006
Source URL: http://www.engormix.com/e_articles_view.asp?art=225&AREA=GDL

To identify virulence determinants of this economically important pathogen, a library of 5,060 transposon mutants was constructed using Tn5367 insertion mutagenesis, followed by large-scale sequencing to identify disrupted genes.

The identified potential virulence determinants represent novel functional classes that could be necessary for mycobacterial survival during infection and could provide suitable targets for vaccine and drug development against Johne's and Crohn's diseases.

Source: Identification of Novel Virulence Determinants in Mycobacterium paratuberculosis by Screening a Library of Insertional Mutants. Infection and Immunity, July 2006, p. 3825-3833, Vol. 74, No. 7. Sung Jae Shin, Chia-wei Wu, Howard Steinberg, and Adel M. Talaat.