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GA Milk Weekly Enews - August 3,
2018
Your weekly update for the Georgia Dairy Industry
Brought to you by the Georgia Milk Producers, Inc.
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Mary Ethel' joins UGA teaching dairy Jersey calf third generation of Department of Animal and Dairy Science stock
First there was Herschel. Then Brooks. And now there is Mary Ethel.
Mary Ethel Creswell, the calf, was born one month ago at the University of Georgia's Teaching Dairy on Georgia Highway 78, east of the university's Athens campus. She is the first granddaughter born in UGA's fledgling Jersey dairy herd and has already stolen the hearts of thousands of online followers.
"We had a naming survey on our social media page for the UGA Dairy Science Club after she was born, and we got more than 100 suggestions," Jillian Bohlen, an assistant professor in the UGA College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences Department of Animal and Dairy Science, said.
Read more
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U.S. says farmers could get cash aid by Oct but will not be made whole
U.S. farmers could receive cash payments from a planned $12 billion aid package as soon as late September, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue told Reuters on Saturday, warning that the program will not make tariff-hit farmers whole.
Perdue said in an interview on the sidelines of the G20 meeting of agriculture ministers in Buenos Aires that the plan would include between $7 billion and $8 billion in direct cash relief.
"Obviously this is not going to make farmers whole," Perdue said.
The program includes cash for farmers of soybeans, sorghum, corn, wheat, cotton, dairy and hogs. It offers government purchases of fruits, nuts, rice, legumes, beef, pork and milk for distribution to food banks and nutrition programs. And it promises a trade promotion program to develop new markets.
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Biosecure Your Dairy for Foot-and-Mouth Disease and Other Diseases
By Wyatt Bechtel, Dairy Herd Management
Biosecurity is the first step in disease prevention and for one virus, biosecurity could mean financial security for farmers.
Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) was eradicated from the U.S. in 1929, but it is prevalent internationally. Vaccines are just one tool that can be used to reduce the impacts of FMD, and on-farm biosecurity is the first line of defense.
The dairy industry has been proactive on the biosecurity front when it comes to FMD by establishing the
Secure Milk Supply Plan (SMS) for Continuity of Business. SMS is a voluntary certification program that helps farms prepare before an outbreak ever occurs and allows them to keep moving milk should there ever be an FMD case domestically.
"We hope that FMD never hits the U.S., but you know, in order to move milk that's what we have to do," Satterwhite says.
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Milk Processors: It's Time to be a Beverage Processor
By Donna Berry, Berry on Dairy Blob
Milk Processors: It's Time to be a Beverage Processor
Many of you won't like my opinion about the regulatory debate on the word "milk," but many of you agree and have told me so. Even if FDA enforces current regulations that define milk as an animal product, not a plant-based food, that doesn't mean consumers are going to stop drinking the other stuff, which The Onion refers to as nut sweat (read the satire
HERE). Owning the word milk will not increase milk consumption.
What will increase milk consumption is innovation. The status quo is not working and owning the word milk is not going to make a difference. Volume sales continue to decline. In my 25 years of writing for the dairy industry, I have never once written that milk consumption has increased. It is time to be proactive.
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Let's take the barn to the boardroom
By Jessica Peters, Pennsylvania dairy farmer, Hoards.com
Our dairy promotion boardrooms need all types. Diversity has the power to push change.
t's becoming increasingly obvious to me that what we're doing right now in the dairy industry isn't working. If it were, family farms wouldn't be selling out at such an alarming rate. If it were, we wouldn't be working more than 80 hours every week while still not being able to pay our bills at the end of each month. If it were working, people would be drinking milk. Our tactics need to change, and I think that needs to start in the boardroom.
Millennials are the generation with all the questions. Social media-using, podcast-loving, skinny jean-wearing millennials. The problem, in all of agriculture, is that most of our leadership is Generation X or older and struggles to relate to this group of individuals. Though their experiences have value, do they have the right experiences to effectively market our dairy products to younger generations? Do they know what will catch the eye of selfie-taking, Uber-grabbing, instant gratification-wanting millennials? If not, how do we fix that?
The answer is simple, yet difficult. Young farmers must get involved. Simple, right? Speaking as a young farmer, it's not as simple as it seems. No matter how we got into farming, most of us are either managing or co-managing the farm while starting families of our own. We're working long hours while still trying to have a social life. Our time is precious to us, and we don't want to waste it.
Equally distressing is the intimidation factor. Coming onto a board full of people who have been together for years or have years of experience in the industry is scary. Speaking from personal experience, I have been almost afraid to ask a dumb question or even speak for fear of being looked down on. We don't have the connections of some board members, and because of the generation gap, our ideas may seem eccentric or be undervalued.
But you know what? Our ideas and voices have value, too. I may wear barn clothes more often than I wear suits, but I reach tens of thousands of people weekly on social media with my pro-farming messages because I know what they want to hear and how they want to hear it.
To invite the change our industry deserves, we should be attacking this problem from both angles. Current board members need to be open and encouraging to young farmers, reaching out to those who may not think they have what is needed to serve. At the same time, millennial dairy farmers need to be willing to make the sacrifices needed to get our voices where they need to be.
Guys, I can't read another Facebook post about another dairy selling the cows that have been in the family for five generations. I can't go another five years wondering, at the end of each, if I'll be milking cows at the end of the next. I'd rather spend all day in the barn than the boardroom, but maybe some of us need to step up in one so the rest of us can enjoy the other.
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Amendment Banning Dairy Label Enforcement Fails; Processor Aid Passes
Legislation that would have changed how the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulates non-dairy "milk" failed to make its way into a Senate bill, while another amendment aimed at sparking innovation in dairy processing passed.
An amendment proposed by Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) and co-sponsored by Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) had the stated purpose of prohibiting "the use of funds to enforce standards of identity with respect to certain food." The amendment was part of the "minibus" spending bill that the Senate is working on. It
failed by a vote of 14-84 with two Senators not voting.
The Lee amendment would have overturned a recent decision by FDA regarding dairy labeling where the agency was looking at enforcing standards for labeling products as milk that come exclusively from animals.
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The number of milk products a consumer can choose from is growing. But alternatives to dairy go beyond almond, soy and coconut milk.
In fact, non-nut milks are now muscling in on the market. These milks are made from plants like oats, hemp, quinoa and peas.
"The fastest growing section of these alternative milks are kinds of things that really didn't exist 10 years ago," said dairy analyst Matt Gould.
According to Gould, millenials are driving the trend.
Demand for alternative milk products jumped 10 and a half percent in the past five years while regular cow's milk took a one and a half percent dive. Experts say concern about lactose intolerance, hormones, nut allergies and a vegan lifestyle are key reasons why.
But how do these new non-nut, non-dairy milks stack up to cow's milk nutritionally?
Watch Report
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UGA Seeking Senior Farm Manager for ADS Beef and Dairy Farms in Athens/Eatonton
The University of Georgia Animal and Dairy Science Department is seeking to hire a Senior Farm Manager to oversee management of all ADS Beef and Dairy Farms in Athens and Eatonton areas. This position reports directly to the Head of the Animal and Dairy Science Department (ADS). Duties of the position include, but are not limited to, 1) providing budgetary management to ensure that all farm units are operated in a fiscally sound manner, 2) providing direct oversight of all the farming and livestock operations in ADS to ensure that each farm efficiently utilizes all available resources, each farm's infrastructure is properly maintained and each farm's practices are in compliance with current industry, governmental and university standards an regulations, 3) working with faculty and farm staff to ensure that the research, teaching and extension missions are accomplished. For additional information
click here.
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Nestle misled consumers about GMOs in its food products. lawsuit alleges
Nestle is facing a federal class-action lawsuit in Los Angeles alleging it sold products labeled as having "No GMO Ingredients" with genetically modified organisms.
The corporate parent behind such food brands as Stouffer's frozen dinners, Buitoni pasta, and Haagen Dazs ice cream also is accused on designing a seal on its product packaging with the intention to trick consumers into thinking that its products were certified by the non-profit
Non-GMO Project, a leading authority on the subject
According to
an 18-page court filing, Nestle's "No GMO Ingredients" label was developed by the Switzerland-based company to mimic the appearance of the Non-GMO Project seal, which is on more than 43,000 products. The suit also alleges that Nestle sold dairy from cows fed GMO grain, a violation of the non-profit's standards for its Product Verification Program.
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Popular almond milk recalled because it might contain actual milk-milk
A popular brand of almond milk
was recalled Thursday after its maker realized actual milk may be in more than 140,000 cartons, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced.
HP Hood LLC has recalled 145,254 half-gallon cartons of refrigerated Vanilla Almond Breeze almond milk that were sent to retailers and wholesalers in 28 states, including New Jersey.
"People who have an allergy or severe sensitivity to milk run the risk of serio
us or life-threatening allergic reaction if they consume these products," the FDA said in a release.
There has been one report of an allergic reaction as of Thursday, but the person who drank the almond milk did not need medical treatment, according to the FDA.
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10 Gallon Challenge a Win-Win for Both Dairy Farmers and Needy Families
A new social media challenge has exploded in agriculture circles over the last 24 hours.
The 10 Gallon Challenge is simple: head to your local grocery store, buy 10 gallons of milk, and then donate them to a local food pantry.
The challenge was conceived by farm broadcaster Ty Higgins, who created a video Wednesday that's been viewed over 30,000 times. Higgins says he empathizes with the struggles that dairy farmers are facing today.
"Dairy farmers right now are in the worst position they've been in in years," Higgins says, "and so I thought, 'how can I help them?'"
Dairy farmer Mark Petersen agrees that economic conditions in the industry are tough.
"There's a lot of milk out there, and it drives the price down, so I don't think there's a dairy farmer anywhere around that's making a lot of money right now." Petersen says, "We have to get rid of some of this milk that's on the market.
And while there's an oversupply of milk, food pantries nationwide are in need of it.
Watch more here
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The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) is focused on passing bills that make livestock farming more difficult, according to a latest report from the
Animal Agriculture Alliance. On Tuesday, the Alliance released observations from the recent Taking Action for Animals Conference, an event organized by the HSUS.
"Farmers, ranchers, and food companies are under constant pressure from animal rights activist groups who want to eliminate meat, dairy, and eggs from everyone's plate," said Kay Johnson Smith, Alliance president and CEO. "HSUS may not seem as extreme as many activist groups, but they share the same vegan agenda. We hope this report along with our report from the 2018 National Animal Rights Conference will help farmers, ranchers, veterinarians, and all those dedicated to providing a safe food supply prepare for activist tactics and threats. Likewise, we hope they shed light on groups that fundraise on pets to help consumers better understand their true agenda."
Speakers at the conference focused on how to work with legislators on passing bills that make raising livestock and poultry more difficult for farmers and ranchers. "We are reaching in our toolbox and using everything we can," said Kitty Block, HSUS acting president and CEO. "The single most important thing you can do is build a relationship with your legislator," added Kristen Tullo, HSUS Pennsylvania state director. "We all want more laws for animals," said Carol Misseldine, HSUS senior director of grassroots and engagement.
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GA Dairy Classifieds
For HIRE: Southeast DHIA
has a position to fill in the
West Central Georgia area for a
FIELD SERVICE TECHNICIAN.
Responsibilities include data
collection on area dairy farms
during milking time. S
chedule is somewhat flexible
but the hours are non-typical. S
ome travel and out-of-town
work likely.
Applicants should be comfortable
with computers and software and
have good communication and
organizational skills as well as
reliable transportation. Pickup Truck required. I
f interested send a resume to
For Sale:
8 high quality Holstein heifers due Sept and Oct. AI bred and AI sired. $1400. Ray Ward 706-473-8789.
Private Herd Disperal: Small herd in Millen is dispersing their herd. 100 milk cows, 30 dry cows and additional heifers for sale. Holstein/Jersey Cross. If interested please email gamilkproducers@gmail.com for more information.
For Sale:
WW Livestock Systems Hydraulic Head shoot, never used, excellent condition, kept under roof. Listed for $23,041 asking $15,000 or reasonable offer. Call M
For Sale: Custom manure application and Dryhill manure equipment sales.
Contact Edwin @ 478-299-0717 with
Agboys Custom Services LLC -
New 8"x52' lagoon pump with outriggers $24,000 (Pictured right)
For Sale 3000 gallon Surge/Westfalia milk tank and wash system. Three phase condensers. 2002 model. Excellent condition. John B Gay, 478-494-5107
WANTED: DeLaval
Westfalia
Neck Transponders: TN Dairy seeking used Westfalia neck band transponders.
Please contact Bill or Peggy Howell if interested at 423-972-9254 or 423-371-3032.
WANTED: Looking for used pasteurizing and bottling equipment in working condition; Linda and Darrell Rankins, Jr.; 334-745-2357 (best times: mid-day and after 8 p.m.)
For Sale:
Jersey cows, heifers and calves for sale. Registered with AJCA, all ages! Contact Matt Holton at 770-718-8271, call or text. Dawsonville, GA.
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.
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AGAware Workshops Scheduled for Summer
AgGeorgia and AgSouth are pleased to announce the dates and locations locked down for another round of AGAware workshops. Van McCall will present an exciting and fun-filled, educational workshop on farm finance. The classes are from
9 am until 4 pm with lunch provided and there is no charge to attend. The workshops are certified for FSA borrower credits as well.
Click here for more information
.
This is a hands-on workshop with actual projects conducted during the training.
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Georgia Milk Producers has been named a 2017 All Star Award winner by
Constant Contact
, an
Endurance International Group
company and a leader in email marketing solutions. The annual award recognizes the most successful 10 percent of Constant Contact's customer base, based on their significant achievements using email marketing to engage their customer base and drive results for their organization during the prior year.
GA Milk utilizes the Constant Contact marketing service each Friday with their
GA Milk Weekly Enews
and has received this award for the last three years. Thank you to our many subscribers!!
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