Dairy industry news from around the world - research, news and reports

[jade35]

It is comforting to think that NZ could be so helpful to dairy farmers worldwide in this time of crisis @FonterraFarmer
http://www.thebullvine.com/news/nz-should-get-rid-of-80-of-its-cows/
NZ ‘SHOULD GET RID OF 80% OF ITS COWS’
Thursday, June 2nd, 2016

New Zealand needs to get rid of 80 per cent of its dairy cows because dairying is dirtying our water.

That was the message delivered to the annual meeting of Wanganui Federated Farmers by its former president.

Rachel Stewart, president of the group for four years in the early 2000s and guest speaker at Friday’s annual meeting, is an “ardent critic” of farming.

Ms Stewart, recently crowned Opinion Writer of the Year at New Zealand’s premier journalism awards, began her talk by saying she loved farming – but dairy farming was responsible for 80 per cent of the degradation of New Zealand waterways and Federated Farmers needed to stop denying it.

This year’s Budget allocated $100 million over 10 years to cleaning up waterways.

“The taxpayer cleans up, and the polluters continue to pollute,” said Ms Stewart, who lives at Westmere and writes a regular newspaper opinion column.

At the same time, the National-led Government was encouraging more irrigation and more dairying.

Tourism overtook dairy as the country’s main income earner in November, and tourists came to New Zealand for its great outdoors and “100 per cent pure” reputation.

Government was attacking “the very thing that brings in the tourists – the environment”.

It was encouraging “all-eggs-in-one-basket” dairying and cutting Department of Conservation spending.

Irrigated dairy farming made water, a public asset, available to increase private wealth, she said.

It was equivalent to a subsidy for dairy farmers and “the biggest transfer of public wealth into private hands”.

Federated Farmers, banks and agricultural publications had been complicit in encouraging dairy farmers to keep borrowing.

“Is it that dairy farmers think being $5 million in debt is normal? That isn’t normal.”

She slated the Feds for denying waterways were degraded, and trying to blame sewage contamination from towns.



The “urban liberals” who “pretty much run the country” found that laughable.

Federated Farmers should hire public relations people rather than letting provincial presidents make statements urban people found “moronic”, she said.

There was only one dairy farmer at the annual meeting, Brian Doughty.

Mr Doughty was voted dairy section chairman on Friday, and said he had not been a denier.

“All Federated Farmers need is to publicly acknowledge they have actually screwed a fair bit of water in New Zealand,” Mr Doughty said.

“The next thing is to stand up and try and do something about fixing it.”

He is allowed to leach 40kg of nitrogen and is doing 4kg at the moment.

Ms Stewart expected to be shot down over her speech, and pointed out a cross on the back of her shirt that would make a target.

She did get a reaction.

Tim Matthews said farmers had put in a lot of work, fencing and planting their streams.

Ms Stewart said that didn’t capture nitrogen, which leached through soil into groundwater.

 

[FonterraFarmer]

It is comforting to think that NZ could be so helpful to dairy farmers worldwide in this time of crisis @FonterraFarmer
http://www.thebullvine.com/news/nz-should-get-rid-of-80-of-its-cows/
NZ ‘SHOULD GET RID OF 80% OF ITS COWS’
Thursday, June 2nd, 2016

View attachment 339746New Zealand needs to get rid of 80 per cent of its dairy cows because dairying is dirtying our water.

That was the message delivered to the annual meeting of Wanganui Federated Farmers by its former president.

Rachel Stewart, president of the group for four years in the early 2000s and guest speaker at Friday’s annual meeting, is an “ardent critic” of farming.

Ms Stewart, recently crowned Opinion Writer of the Year at New Zealand’s premier journalism awards, began her talk by saying she loved farming – but dairy farming was responsible for 80 per cent of the degradation of New Zealand waterways and Federated Farmers needed to stop denying it.

This year’s Budget allocated $100 million over 10 years to cleaning up waterways.

“The taxpayer cleans up, and the polluters continue to pollute,” said Ms Stewart, who lives at Westmere and writes a regular newspaper opinion column.

At the same time, the National-led Government was encouraging more irrigation and more dairying.

Tourism overtook dairy as the country’s main income earner in November, and tourists came to New Zealand for its great outdoors and “100 per cent pure” reputation.

Government was attacking “the very thing that brings in the tourists – the environment”.

It was encouraging “all-eggs-in-one-basket” dairying and cutting Department of Conservation spending.

Irrigated dairy farming made water, a public asset, available to increase private wealth, she said.

It was equivalent to a subsidy for dairy farmers and “the biggest transfer of public wealth into private hands”.

Federated Farmers, banks and agricultural publications had been complicit in encouraging dairy farmers to keep borrowing.

“Is it that dairy farmers think being $5 million in debt is normal? That isn’t normal.”

She slated the Feds for denying waterways were degraded, and trying to blame sewage contamination from towns.



The “urban liberals” who “pretty much run the country” found that laughable.

Federated Farmers should hire public relations people rather than letting provincial presidents make statements urban people found “moronic”, she said.

There was only one dairy farmer at the annual meeting, Brian Doughty.

Mr Doughty was voted dairy section chairman on Friday, and said he had not been a denier.

“All Federated Farmers need is to publicly acknowledge they have actually screwed a fair bit of water in New Zealand,” Mr Doughty said.

“The next thing is to stand up and try and do something about fixing it.”

He is allowed to leach 40kg of nitrogen and is doing 4kg at the moment.

Ms Stewart expected to be shot down over her speech, and pointed out a cross on the back of her shirt that would make a target.

She did get a reaction.

Tim Matthews said farmers had put in a lot of work, fencing and planting their streams.

Ms Stewart said that didn’t capture nitrogen, which leached through soil into groundwater.

Every one is entitled to their own opinion, but at least have the facts to back it up rather than making sensational statements in the media and to be fair, people who write columns for publication should get their facts right, rather than using journalistic creativity to promote their agenda.
While I would agree that some parts of NZ are not suited to dairy farming and that some farms that have been converted in the last 25-30 years , probably shouldn't have, to boldly state that we should "get rid of 80% of our cows" is on par with some one saying 'the EU including the UK and North America must farm without subsidies", probably not going to happen, is it?
Another irony is the comparison between "Dairy" and 'tourism", dairy is one part of agriculture and clearly defined and quantifiable, but tourism is a industry in it's entirety, but quite vague and I've never seen a clear explanation on how they quantify the value of tourism for a period of time. To be fair the dairy industry ,not just Fonterra but Tatua, Westland, Synlait and OCD have contributed greatly to the NZ economy, and more so over the last decade, maybe people from Westmere should consider that , and write something positive than an unbalanced, biased, incorrect negative reponse

 

[jade35]

Every one is entitled to their own opinion, but at least have the facts to back it up rather than making sensational statements in the media and to be fair, people who write columns for publication should get their facts right, rather than using journalistic creativity to promote their agenda.
While I would agree that some parts of NZ are not suited to dairy farming and that some farms that have been converted in the last 25-30 years , probably shouldn't have, to boldly state that we should "get rid of 80% of our cows" is on par with some one saying 'the EU including the UK and North America must farm without subsidies", probably not going to happen, is it?
Another irony is the comparison between "Dairy" and 'tourism", dairy is one part of agriculture and clearly defined and quantifiable, but tourism is a industry in it's entirety, but quite vague and I've never seen a clear explanation on how they quantify the value of tourism for a period of time. To be fair the dairy industry ,not just Fonterra but Tatua, Westland, Synlait and OCD have contributed greatly to the NZ economy, and more so over the last decade, maybe people from Westmere should consider that , and write something positive than an unbalanced, biased, incorrect negative reponse

Hoped you would enjoy that article I thought we were the only ones lumbered with the saintly George and associates

 

[jade35]

http://www.dairyreporter.com/Retail...products-in-the-dairy-aisles-for-May/(page)/8

Details of new dairy products in May, Hiland Dairy, USA, has developed three flavoured milks. Two of the main selling points mentioned in the article are that it contains no artificial growth hormones and that it is tested for antibiotics.

 

[FonterraFarmer]

Hoped you would enjoy that article I thought we were the only ones lumbered with the saintly George and associates

One wonders how Mc Meekan would have rebuked that article if he was alive?

 

[FonterraFarmer]

http://www.dairyreporter.com/Retail...products-in-the-dairy-aisles-for-May/(page)/8

Details of new dairy products in May, Hiland Dairy, USA, has developed three flavoured milks. Two of the main selling points mentioned in the article are that it contains no artificial growth hormones and that it is tested for antibiotics.

They not normally test for antibiotics???

 

[Clay52]

They not normally test for antibiotics???

They do, just playing on the public lack of knowledge that many believe that milk is always full of Antibotics.

 

[jade35]

They not normally test for antibiotics???

How could you ask such a thing Arla take check samples from each farm milk tank daily (antibiotic test once a week but daily samples held in case of problems) and all milk tankers tested before unloading at processor. Any failures can be very costly to the farmer - ranging from cost of tanker load of milk to silo of milk - and antibiotic insurance is recommended for all Arla farmers. Assume NZ has the same standards?

They do, just playing on the public lack of knowledge that many believe that milk is always full of Antibotics.

I thought it was interesting that the US dairy company felt it an important selling point to state that the milk was tested for antibiotics. Maybe it is something that needs to be mentioned more in the UK to counter the "milk is full of antibiotics" comments.

 

[FonterraFarmer]

How could you ask such a thing Arla take check samples from each farm milk tank daily (antibiotic test once a week but daily samples held in case of problems) and all milk tankers tested before unloading at processor. Any failures can be very costly to the farmer - ranging from cost of tanker load of milk to silo of milk - and antibiotic insurance is recommended for all Arla farmers. Assume NZ has the same standards?



I thought it was interesting that the US dairy company felt it an important selling point to state that the milk was tested for antibiotics. Maybe it is something that needs to be mentioned more in the UK to counter the "milk is full of antibiotics" comments.

Every tanker load is tested is tested BEFORE it is unloaded, postive test, means no unload and all milk samples from that run get tested indiviually to determine where the fault has occured, then that farm is liable for the contamination of that load.Also two/three random tests every month on milk suppplied from each farm. Insurance is available and advised.
If you have the unlikely event that you or staff have unwittingly contaminated a vat/silo, with antibiotics, you can get it tested by Assure Quality before it is scheduled to be picked up if it tests negative.

 

[jade35]

Every tanker load is tested is tested BEFORE it is unloaded, postive test, means no unload and all milk samples from that run get tested indiviually to determine where the fault has occured, then that farm is liable for the contamination of that load.Also two/three random tests every month on milk suppplied from each farm. Insurance is available and advised.
If you have the unlikely event that you or staff have unwittingly contaminated a vat/silo, with antibiotics, you can get it tested by Assure Quality before it is scheduled to be picked up if it tests negative.

Assumed it would be almost identical protocols as we are all competing in similar markets and milk purity is a very important sales point.

I forgot to mention the testing of the bulk tank before collection if you think there may have been a/b contamination - the only problem is the quick a/b milk test kits that the milk tankers carry do not, I believe, pick up certain a/b's so in those cases the longer (3 hour?) a/b test is needed.

 

[jade35]

http://www.dairyreporter.com/Market...ikings-on-creating-restaurant-quality-butter/

http://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/buttervikings

We want to start a butter dairy on the Isle of Wight!
For the past 8 years we have made butter in Sweden to top restaurants in Denmark, Sweden, Germany, France and the UK. We have had some success and have really enjoyed to cooperate with some truly wonderful people in the restaurant business. During more than 5 years we have had the privilege and honor to make our Virgin butter to restaurant Noma in Copenhagen.

René shaking our beloved milk can that Patrik's grandmother used when milking her cows.

Travels to the UK have been numerous over the years. Travels where we supplied butter to various restaurants and were delighted by the reception we and the butter enjoyed.

Patrik's grandmother had a small dairy in the 40s and 50s and taught Patrik traditional butter making.

We are Maria and Patrik, both from Sweden and both hopelessly in love with the art of making butter. Before we found our true calling in life (butter) we were occupying ourselves in other areas such as engineer, artist, politician, big boss on a coffee plantation in Madagascar, fisherman, saltmaker and IT specialist. Now we make butter and cultured cream which makes us happy and serene

The next step
So now we are ready to take the next step. To move the dairy from Sweden to the UK. In London alone there are more inhabitants than in the whole of Sweden and the number of restaurants are overwhelming. After much research we have decided to start our dairy on the Isle of Wight. Close to London but with unspoilt nature and breathtaking views over the ocean and green hills where beautiful cows graze.

In fact, once we had tasted the local cream there was no turning back, the cream on Isle of Wight is sensational and we simply have to stay here and make butter with it!

 

[cows sh#t me to tears]

http://www.weeklytimesnow.com.au/ag...e/news-story/1a1da193fad008fcf67854aedbc2eeb1
I have been saying for a while now that the business model that MG has gone with re their restructure is flawed. It is a major juxtaposition to expect to be able to return the best possible return to co-op members AND non member share holders. This is the main reason for the drastic price drop recently. The profit forecast dropped , and whilst it was still a profit the fact remains that the business structure means non farmer share holders have to share 33 % of profits. Thus the price was cut rather than the full profit being able to be distributed back to farmers to maintain the price. This had to be done imo to be able to pay a reasonable dividend to unit share holders due to forecasts in the prospectus .
Seems i am not the only one to share this opinion ...and i am a mere tit fiddler...what would i know.
http://www.abc.net.au/radionational...turns-sour/7538274?WT.ac=localnews_shepparton

 

[cows sh#t me to tears]

Found this article from 3 months ago. Note its in the Sydney morning herald, not at all reported in the states where MG's supplier base is.
http://www.smh.com.au/business/how-murray-goulburn-executives-milked-it-20160428-goh6c7.html
Is it any wonder that Helou was still forecasting a $6 closing price right up until the board challenged him? And is it any wonder that both he and the chief financial officer both offered their resignations immediatley? Surely this is a criminal matter? corporate fraud at worst and corporate mismanagement at the least.

 

[jade35]

http://www.thebeefsite.com/news/500...uld-provide-more-vitamin-d-for-milk-drinkers/

Quite surprising the difference in vit d content when treated with uv light

 

[jade35]

Not sure this idea is good for the dairy farmer

http://www.dairyreporter.com/Proces...cess-can-add-weeks-to-milk-shelf-life?nocount

 

[jade35]

http://www.thebeefsite.com/news/50006/new-tests-could-protect-cowpateating-animals/
SWITZERLAND - Livestock medications can impair beneficial organisms that break down dung, but a new study could show a way to conduct better testing to prevent such harm.

Toxicity of new livestock medications is currently tested with individual animal species such as the common yellow dung fly, the barn fly or a dung beetle, but sensitivity to these substance can vary even between closely related species.

An international research group including University of Zurich evolutionary biologist Wolf Blanckenhorn recently proposed extending the testing scheme to a representative selection of all organisms that break down dung, ideally in their natural environment.

For their feasibility study, the scientists worked on cattle pastures in the Canadian Prairie and the agricultural landscapes of southern France, the Netherlands and Switzerland – four locations with very different climatic conditions.

On these pastures, they distributed dung pats with different concentrations of ivermectin, a common drug used against parasites.

“As expected, the overall number and diversity of dung beetles, dung flies and parasitoid wasps decreased as the ivermectin concentration increased,” explained Mr Blanckenhorn.

However, a number of species also proved to be resistant: earthworms and springtails living in the ground underneath the cowpats were not notably affected, and a parallel test ultimately revealed that dung degradation was not significantly impaired.

“Evidently, beneficial organisms not affected as much by the drug, such as earthworms, were apparently able to compensate for the loss of other organisms,” summed up Mr Blanckenhorn.

The results, which were reproducible across four habitats, may lead the way to developing a more comprehensive test of the toxicity of drugs in the environment.



TheCattleSite News Desk

Environment and Waste, General

 

[jade35]

BRAZIL - A product based on nanotechnology is the new focus of agricultural research to tackle bovine mastitis - inflammation of the mammary gland that affects dairy herds worldwide.

The product was developed by Brazilian research organisation Embrapa Dairy Cattle and the Federal University of Ouro Preto, and they are now seeking partners from the pharmaceutical industry interested in bringing the product to market.

Researcher Guilherme Nunes de Souza estimates that in the US, where statistics on the issue are more advanced, mastitis causes annual losses of around two billion dollars a year due to reduced production of milk, drug costs and veterinary fees.

Researcher Humberto de Mello Brandão said that antibiotics are not always fully effective in combating mastitis, and he has been working on the development of nanostructures to improve their effectiveness for ten years.

Whilst the drug itself remains the same when using the nanostructures, the delivery of the drug to the appropriate cells is greatly improved.

Humberto Brandão pointed out that good results were obtained with half the antibiotic dose. "In our research, the number of animals carrying infectious mastitis decreased," said the researcher, who added: "The drug also demonstrated potential to prevent new infections."

http://www.thedairysite.com/news/50037/nanostructures-aid-mastitis-fight-in-brazilian-research/

 

[jade35]

EUROPEAN DAIRY INDUSTRY STRUGGLING TO DEAL WITH LOW MILK PRICE CRISIS
Friday, August 5th, 2016

European farmers are divided in trying to find a solution to the dairy crisis that’s engulfing farmers around the globe.

It’s the second year of low prices for farmers, with large dairy sectors struggling to cope.

Some countries are calling for more subsidies, while others are calling for lower production as dairy farmers continue to exit the industry.

German dairy farmer Christoph Lupshen isn’t shy about telling people how hard it is to be a dairy farmer in Europe.

“Right now I earn nothing, every morning I go into the barn I must take some money with me,” he said.

“It’s terrible but it’s true.”





Photo: International journalists interview German dairy farmer Christoph Lupshen at his farm near Bonn.

In Northern Ireland, which exports 80 per cent of its dairy, journalist Chris McCulloch says many are giving up.

“Unfortunately the next year ahead for some of them means the end of it, seriously means the end of it because they’ve said [the] first year they could cope but this year they can’t it’s just impossible.

“If you look in the agricultural press, every week there are some more dairy herds in the thing for sale.

“From what I heard from a local estate agent recently, he had another 18 herds on his books for this year, to be sold or dispersed.”

In the Netherlands, the majority of dairy farmers are getting 25 Euro cents (37 Australian cents) per litre, which is still seen as below cost of production.

Sjoerd Hofstee, a journalist from the Netherlands, said his country was traditionally a richer dairying nation.

But he said farmers in his country were happy to do it tough as it might make the industry easier in the long run.

“A lot of farmers, they say we struggle, this is not fun, not good but to be honest it’s just the market and maybe we need it to clean it up a bit.”

Mr Lupschen agreed the only way to fix the problems of the world market was to lower production – something he was happy for his country to lead the way with.

“We must start [lowering production] by ourselves.

“Like every problem you cannot look at your neighbour, you must start it by yourself.”

Source: ABC Rural

http://www.thebullvine.com/news/eur...truggling-to-deal-with-low-milk-price-crisis/

 

[jade35]

Tempers boil as farmers attack dairy processors
Brad Thompson - The West Australian on July 29, 2016, 2:08 am

Brownes chief Tony Girgis came under fire from dairy farmers at a meeting yesterday.
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WA’s leading dairy processors have warned farmers there is no quick fix for supply problems in the industry during an emotion-charged meeting in Busselton.

A handful of farmers with unwanted milk struggled to keep their anger in check yesterday when they came face-to-face with executives from Brownes, Harvey Fresh and Lion at the WAFarmers dairy conference.

Brownes chief executive Tony Girgis fended off repeated calls to apologise to one of the families whose milk supply contract is not being renewed.

Wagerup farmer Tony Ferraro said Brownes had dumped his family weeks after Mr Girgis sat at their table and described them as “perfect farmers”.

Dale Hanks also hit out at Mr Girgis, saying he was dumped six days after being assured Brownes wanted his milk.

Brownes has told four farmers their contracts will not be renewed and Harvey Fresh is cutting five farmers. Lion has ruled out signing the stranded farmers.

Former WAFarmers president Mike Norton, one of the farmers dropped by Harvey Fresh, predicted the numbers of dairy farmers in WA would drop from about 140 to 100.

Mr Girgis said Brownes was exploring every option to deal with the oversupply, including loss-making cheese production at Brunswick.

Harvey Fresh general manager Paul Lorimer said the Parmalat-owned processor did not have a home for the volume of milk it was receiving from farmers.

He revealed Harvey Fresh’s distributor of long-life milk in China had cut its annual order from 12 million litres to two million in a major blow which came after it lost the Coles contract to Lion.

WAFarmers chief executive Stephen Brown is meeting representatives of Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce in Canberra next week to discuss the issues.
https://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/w...oil-as-farmers-attack-dairy-processors/#page1

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[jade35]

http://www.dairyherd.com/news/indus...mers-annual-hope-and-national-quality-awards?

Horizon Organic honors family farmers with annual HOPE and National Quality Awards

By Horizon Organic September 29, 2016 | 3:52 pm EDTAs part of the 2016 Farm Aid program, Horizon Organic announced the 2016 recipients of two annual awards that honor its family farmers for their commitment to organic agriculture and milk production. Brian and Agnes Koenigsknecht of Havengreen Organic Dairy in Fowler, Mich. received the Horizon Organic Producer Education (HOPE) Award for being strong advocates for organic agriculture in their community and throughout the dairy industry. Stephen and Hope Galens of Galens Homestead Acres in Clifton Springs, N.Y. won the National Quality Award, which recognizes the Horizon farmer partner who produces the highest quality organic milk in the entire Horizon milk supply. In addition, Corey and Ann Chapman in Tunbridge, Vt. and Paul and Jason Tillotson in Pavilion, N.Y. were named as honorable mentions for the HOPE Award. This year’s recipients attended the annual Farm Aid concert in Bristow, VA., on Sept. 17th, and were honored at a Horizon awards dinner on Friday, Sept. 16th.

“Our nearly 700 family farmers nationwide are truly the heart of Horizon, and we couldn’t be more proud of their passion for producing high-quality organic milk for families to enjoy and feel good about,” said Mike Ferry, president of Horizon. “We are pleased to honor the Koenigsknecht family with this year’s HOPE award for their promotion of organic dairy, and thrilled to, once again, recognize the Galens family, three-time recipients of the National Quality Award, for producing the highest quality organic milk in our Horizon milk supply.”