Cheryl Hayn Receives Friend of the Dairy Industry Award
Written by Whitney Dixon, UGA

Cheryl Hayn was presented with the 2017 Friend of the Dairy Industry Award on Monday, Feb. 16 at the Georgia Dairy Conference in Savannah.

Hayn has been a voice in the market for the Southeast's dairymen and dairywomen for over a quarter of a century. She recently retired from the Southeast United Dairy Industry Association with over 25 years of service and spent the last decade serving the dairy industry as SUDIA's general manager.
 
Hayn began working at SUDIA in December of 1988 as Director of Nutrition Communications.
Since then, she has worked in a variety of facets at SUDIA including issues and crisis management, member and industry relations, food publicity, nutrition education and strategic planning.
As a registered dietitian, Hayn acknowledged the significance of dairy nutrition and advocated for the implementation of RDNs at SUDIA.

She also represented the Southeast nationally by serving on Dairy Management Inc.'s Senior Leadership Team, Strategic Advisory Group, and Farmer Fluid Milk Advisory Group.
Thank you Cheryl Hayn for the impact you have made in the Georgia dairy industry!
 
Georgia Milk Producers awards the "Friend of the Dairy Industry" Award to an individual or company that has served as a strong advocate for Georgia's dairy industry during the previous year.  The award is presented during the Georgia Dairy Conference banquet each year.  
Almond milk's popularity is hurting Georgia dairy farmers
Nicole Butler, WMAZ

You may be a fan of dairy alternatives like almond milk, but the growing popularity is affecting the dairy farm business in central Georgia. 

Donacin Dairy has been in Benjamin Newberry's family for four generations. 
When they first opened the farm there were 42 other dairies in Bibb County, but now they stand alone. 

"People can't farm the value out of the land as urban development comes closer and closer to the farms, but also the trends in our society," said Newberry.

With almond milk increasing in popularity, he says its sales are affecting his farm.   Read more
Restriction of Pyrethroids Being Considered by EPA

I stole the write up from Lenny Wells, our Pecan Specialist, but it is important for all sectors of commercial agriculture to understand what is being proposed.

Many growers may not realize that By March 31, the EPA has been court-ordered to make a final decision on whether to revoke all food use tolerances for chlorpyrifos, commonly sold as Lorsban. The comment period has ended so all we can do is wait and see.

Pyrethroids now appear to be next on the chopping block. This includes products like bifenthrin, Warrior/Karate, Mustang Max, Baythroid, Asana, Permethrin, etc, which are the primary materials we have available to manage weevils and ambrosia beetles. See below for instructions on making comments to EPA regarding pyrethroid use:

IF PYRETHOIDS ARE IMPORTANT IN PRODUCTION OF YOUR CROPS, YOU ARE ENCOURAGED TO SUBMIT COMMENTS TO EPA ON THIS EVALUATION.

The current deadline is Jan. 30 at 11:59 p.m. (ET). An extension has been requested but has not been granted as yet. Please comment now if possible. EPA particularly needs to know why and specifically how you use pyrethroid insecticides. Read more
Dairy Industry Groups React Favorably to Perdue USDA Nomination
Dairy industry groups were saying all the right things with President-elect Donald Trump's nomination of Sonny Perdue as Secretary of Agriculture. Perdue's training as a veterinarian also bodes well, giving him special insight and understanding of animal care and health issues.

"Former [Georgia] Gov. Perdue is well-qualified to run the U.S. Department of Agriculture as a result of his eight years of executive experience as Georgia's governor, and his career as a state legislator and small businessman.  His educational training as a veterinarian also gives him unique insights into the important issues facing America's livestock producers in the areas of animal health, food safety and the environment," says Jim Mulhern, president and CEO of the National Milk Producers Federation.

"Dairy producers, like most other farmers and ranchers across America, have experienced significant economic challenges for more than a year," says Mulhern. "Starting right away in 2017, NMPF will seek to collaborate with Secretary Perdue on ways to strengthen the safety net for dairy farmers, relieve regulatory burdens and enhance opportunities to keep and grow markets abroad for our dairy exports.   Read more
By Mark Rodgers, GA Dairy Farmer, Hoards.com
 
I was eating breakfast when the newscast I was watching announced our former Georgia governor would be named U.S. Secretary of Agriculture later that day. It was then reported that several news media outlets were implying he was unfit for that role because he had joined our Georgia Commissioner of Agriculture in a prayer for rain at our state capitol in Atlanta during a drought.

I headed to my freestall barn a few minutes later. I was still bothered by that newscast and decided that I needed to speak up. On my farm's Facebook page I usually promote dairy farming and avoid politics, but today was different. And really, it still was not about politics but instead about the faith of a farmer.

I turned the camera from the cows and back toward me. I spoke of how I wanted a Secretary of Agriculture that had farmed, that prayed for rain during a drought, and someone who prayed for dry weather in which to harvest. Read more
By Progressive Dairyman Editor Dave Natzke

U.S. milk production momentum pushed through the final month of 2016, gaining strength from more cows and greater milk output per cow.

Momentum is built on mass and velocity, and December continued a four-month roll in which U.S. milk production increased at least 2 percent from the same month a year earlier. USDA's  monthly milk report estimated total December 2016 U.S. production at 17.86 billion pounds, up 2.2 percent from December 2015. Production in the 23 major dairy states was estimated at 16.78 billion pounds, up 2.4 percent.

December 2016 U.S. cow numbers were up 38,000 head compared to a year earlier, and up 53,000 head in the major states (Table 1). Thanks to genetics as well as feed and management, milk production per cow in the 23 major states was the highest December total since USDA started tracking those numbers in 2003.   

 
Rabo predicts less milk, higher dairy prices  
www.nzherald.co.nz 

Reduced milk supply out of key dairy export regions - including New Zealand - will fuel further dairy price increases in the early part of 2017, according to Rabobank's latest global dairy outlook.

In its recently-released Dairy Quarterly report, Rabobank says dairy production in the second half of 2016 dropped significantly in six of the seven key dairy export regions with 2.6 million tonnes less milk produced compared to the second half of 2015.

Report co-author Rabobank dairy analyst Emma Higgins says of the key dairy export regions, the United States is the only region to buck the trend of falling production.

"Strengthening producer margins have driven a lift in US production which was up 2.5 per cent in October from the same period in 2015," Ms Higgins says.

At the same time as declining global milk production, Ms Higgins says dairy demand in the US and Europe has strengthened, enabling stock growth to grind to a halt - and global dairy prices have "rocketed upwards" as a result.     Read more    
Whole Milk Rising to the Top
By Nora Doyle-Burr, Valley News Staff Writer
 
C onsumers seem to have decided  fat is no longer the enemy, at least when it comes to dairy products.

Despite formal dietary recommendations that continue to urge people to eat fat-free and low-fat dairy products in place of higher calorie full-fat options, some shoppers - both in the Upper Valley and nationally - are shifting to whole milk and products, particularly yogurt, made from it.

Upper Valley dairy farmers and grocers have seen evidence of consumers purchasing more full-fat dairy in recent years. They say the trend appears to be related to consumer demand for fuller tasting and less processed foods, and to recent studies showing that whole milk - milk with 3.25 percent butterfat - and other full-fat dairy products are good for you.    Read more
Trump abandons Trans-Pacific Partnership 
By Peter Baker, New York Times 
President Trump upended America's traditional, bipartisan trade policy  on Monday as he formally abandoned the ambitious, 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership brokered by his predecessor and declared an end to the era of multinational trade agreements that defined global economics for decades.

With the stroke of a pen on his first full weekday in office, Mr. Trump signaled that he plans to follow through on promises to take a more aggressive stance against foreign competitors as part of his "America First" approach. In doing so, he demonstrated that he would not follow old rules, effectively discarding longstanding Republican orthodoxy that expanding global trade was good for the world and America - and that the United States should help write the rules of international commerce.    
Mark Your Calendars:
 
Feb. 11: 2016 UGA Commercial Heifer Show, Athens
Feb. 22-25: Georgia Junior National Livestock Show, Perry 
March 7-8: 2016 Southern Dairy Conference, Atlanta
March 15-16:SUDIA Annual Meeting, Stone Mountain        
GA Dairy Classifieds

FOR SALE:  (1) Registered Holstein bull 12 months old.  (1) Registered Brown Swiss bull from Franks Farm, 14 months old. (1) Cross Breed Bull from WDairy.  Call Randall Ruff at 706-498-4344 for more information.

Bullcalves Wanted : Looking for Bullcalves to purchase - Barron Tench 864-844-2295 or  barron.tench@gmail.com     
GA Milk Producers|706.310.0020 gamilkproducers@gmail.com
www.gamilk.org

For 2016, Georgia Milk Producers, Inc. has once AGAIN been named an All Star Award winner by 
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, the trusted marketing adviser to hundreds of thousands of small organizations worldwide. The annual award recognizes the most successful 10% of Constant Contact's customer base, based on their significant achievements leveraging online marketing tools to engage their customer base and drive results for their organization.