Congratulations to the Carter Family of Brand C Dairy in Eatonton! They were named the 2017 Dairy Farm Family of the Year at the Putnam Dairy Festival on June 3!!
Kicking off June Dairy Month in Georgia at the 2017 Putnam Dairy Festival

National Dairy Month started out as National Milk Month in 1937 as a way to promote drinking milk. According to the International Dairy Foods Association, it was initially created to stabilize the dairy demand when production was at a surplus, but has now developed into an annual tradition that celebrates the contributions the dairy industry 
has made to the world. After the National  Dairy Council stepped in to 
promote the cause, the name soon  changed to "Dairy Month."

Each year, Georgia kicks of dairy month with The Putnam Dairy Festival.  The Putnam Dairy Festival is an event hosted by  the Pilot Club of Eatonton  to celebrate Putnam County's status as a 
leading producer of dairy in Georgia.  

The first dairy festival was held in 1952. 
The event  includes a  10K road race, arts and food vendors, a parade and a "Dairy Festival Queen" pageant. 

Milk and ice cream sandwiches sponsored by the Georgia Agricultural  Commodity Commission for Milk were handed out to the public.  Festival goers also enjoyed learning about dairy farming and dairy nutrition from SUDIA, Georgia's Mobile Dairy Classroom and the Georgia Milk Producers. Special thanks to Heck Davis, Eatonton dairy farmer, for his part in organizing the event.  

2017 CORN SILAGE AND FORAGE FIELD DAY *NEXT WEEK*

The 2017 Corn Silage and Forage Field Day sponsored by the University of Georgia and University of Florida will be held at UGA Tifton Conference Center on June 15, 2017. 

This field day is an extension and education program that offers the latest educational techniques and resources for forage producers to improve forage yield and quality, and methods of forage conservation. 

This is an excellent opportunity to network with industry professionals and to listen to the latest research in forage production. For additional information, contact Dr. John Bernard at jbernard@uga.edu or 229-391-6856. 


(Event is free - just need to know if you are attending!)
Agriculture and Immigration
From Growing America

"Either we are going to import our labor to harvest our crops here in America or we're going to import our food." Southern Valley's Kent Hamilton talks agriculture and immigration.


June Dixie Dairy Report
Calvin Covington

Perdue: Canada's Class 7 Undercut U.S. Industry

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue traveled this week to Toronto where he conducted a series of meetings with Canadian officials, including Canadian Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food Lawrence MacAulay and current Premier of Ontario Kathleen Wynne, regarding bilateral trade issues of importance.  Among other issues, Perdue raised the topic of American ultra-filtered milk that has been a point of disagreement between the U.S. and Canada.

"We had very good, very candid discussions, very frank, like family members discussing some things that are not necessarily comfortable," Perdue says. "We laid out a great framework to begin renegotiating NAFTA."  Read more  
Dairy is Back (for now). It's up to the industry (us) to keep it relevant.
This year's International Dairy-Deli-Bakery Association annual expo took place this week in Anaheim. As always, cheese dominated the show, but as you should have been able to tell from the innovations featured this week as a Daily Dose of Dairy, all dairy foods were prominently on display, everything from Mexican-seasoned squeeze sour cream to artisan butter to premium single-serve flavored milk. It's a good time to be dairy. But it's up to the industry to invest and to innovate to keep dairy relevant to today's consumers.

Arnold Schwarzenegger spoke to expo attendees on the opening day. He shared his three tips for success: have a vision, don't mind the naysayers and work your butt off. In between those three tips he emphasized the need to educate, to nourish and to volunteer. These are all things that dairy farmers-and those who process and market milk and dairy foods-do on a regular basis.   Read more 

Building the right calf barn may mean looking outside the dairy industry for inspiration. For Dave Endres, owner of Endres Jazzy Jerseys, a 900-cow Jersey dairy in Lodi, Wisconsin, this meant borrowing the all-in, all-out style commonly seen in hog operations.

For several years Endres struggled to keep calves alive during the winter and often averaged a 10 percent death loss during those months.

"I used to have the hutches right here, and I remember going out there at 4 o'clock in the afternoon feeding the calf and it's perfectly healthy sucking down a bottle of milk," Endres says. "I come out the next morning and it started scouring in the middle of the night and froze to death, so it's like we can't do this. We've got to do something different."    Read more 
TOP 10 CONCERNS OF YOUNG FARMERS

At any roundtable of young and beginning farmers, a few common themes seem to bubble to the surface as folks share stories and concerns. Here are 10 of the biggest top-of-mind challenges, along with some ideas on how to deal with them.   

Read more   
The View from the Windshield
From UGA Beef Team

From my point of view (through the windshield), the forage production season is in full swing. Here's a rundown (insect and sugar aphid update). 

Drinking non-cow milk linked to shorter kids, study suggests
By Wayne Drash, CNN

Children who drink dairy alternatives like soy, almond or rice milks are slightly shorter than their peers who drink cow's milk, according to a new study.

The study, published Wednesday in the  American Journal of Clinical Nutrition , found that each daily cup of non-cow's milk consumed was associated with 0.4 centimeters (0.15 inches) lower height than average for a child's age.    Read more

Should dairy brands using milk from cows that may have consumed GM feed or been treated with rbST be allowed to market their wares as 'natural'? Not according to the latest in a new wave of false advertising lawsuits arguing that products utilizing genetic engineering at any stage of their production are not 'natural.'  Read more  

The Cornell Dairy Executive Program is now accepting applications for its latest class, to begin in December 2017.  This unique educational opportunity, organized by the PRO-DAIRY Program at Cornell University, is a professional educational program in leadership and management principles for progressive dairy executives and agriservice personnel, focused on increasing their ability to run a successful dairy business and enhancing their understanding of the fast-changing dairy industry.  By coming to this program, participants will continue to develop the necessary leadership and business management skills to lead their dairy business into the future. 
 
Timely topics in dairy business management are presented by a team of national experts from within and outside of the field of agriculture through three multi-day sessions over a 12-month period.  Participants attending the program can expect to develop 1- and 5-year strategic business plans through a comprehensive self-evaluation of their business, while building a network of dairy executives and business relationships.  All sessions take place at The Statler Hotel on the Cornell University campus, where a typical day includes presentations, individual study, small group discussions and roundtable discussions with faculty.
 
Detailed information, including an application, can be found online at http://prodairy.cals.cornell.edu/dairyexec/ or by contacting Heather Darrow, Conference Coordinator at (607) 255-4478 or hh96@cornell.edu.  Class size is limited to 30 participants - register TODAY! Registration deadline is October 15.   
Mark Your Calendars:
 
June 15: UGA Corn Silage Field Day, Tifton 
July 9-13: SE Dairy Youth Retreat, Bradenton, Florida
January 15-17, 2018: Georgia Dairy Conference, Savannah
Upcoming Dairy Stockyard Sales
Athens Stockyard -  ATHENS, TN
723 County Road 255,  P.O. Box 67  Athens, TN. 37371
 
I-75 NORTH  50 miles North of Chattanooga, TN   Exit 52
 
Graded Holstein Steer Sales Thurs @ 7:00 p.m. on  June 15th,   July 13th, and  August 10th
Cattle may be brought the night before and put on hay/water at no charge.   Check our website for a list of all our sales  www.athensstockyard.com
 
For more info contact:  Dean Williams (865) 556-5590 or  Office: (423) 745-3582
GA Dairy Classifieds


FOR SALE: Kuhn 1014 Manure Spreader for $9,000 - Contact Randall Ruff, Elbert County, at 706-498-4344

FOR SALE: 
20 Calftel Calf Hutches for $200 each - Contact Randall Ruff, Elbert County, at 706-498-4344

FOR HIRE:  Custom Silage Harvesting.  Late model JD chopper. Will travel. Let me put your quality forage up! Nic Haynes, Muddy H Farms, 678-617-3379.

FOR SALE: 
We have a continuous selection of fresh and springing heifers.
 
Call William at  (706) 768-2857 or visit our website at 
 

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 
Constant Contact, Inc.
, 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.