Providence Dairy, Climax
Groundbreaking Ceremony Held for GA Grown Baby Barn 

Georgia Milk Producers attended the groundbreaking ceremony 
this week for the GA Grown Baby Barn in Perry! We are looking forward to this exciting adventure and working with our industry partners to promote Georgia's animal production industries at the GA National Fair this October!! 


Georgia National Fair breaks ground for new birthing center
From  WMAZ Macon

The Georgia National Fair Board along with the Georgia Department of Agriculture broke ground Wednesday for their new Baby Barn.

The center will feature live births from cows and pigs, and spectators will be able to name the new babies.
The barn will be a new annex to the Georgia Grown building at the fairgrounds.

2018 MPP Enrollment is Underway

In February, Congress passed significant changes to the Margin Protection Program for dairy producers in the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018.  Last week, the Farm Service Agency announced new implementation rules to accommodate the changes and opened the sign-up period on April 9. 

Mark Stephenson, University of Wisconsin, and Andrew Novakovic, Cornell University, conducted a webinar early this week to walk through these changes and to assess impacts on producers who participate. The webinar was co-sponsored by Farm Credit East and can be viewed here

To view slides of Andy and Mark's presentation, click here 

To access the live Decision Tool,  visit  https://dairymarkets.org/MPP/Tool/

UGA Livestock Economist, Levi Russell, is working with GMP and extension staff to pull together a few informational meetings for producers and FSA agents the week of May 7th.  Since the changes have just been released, many USDA employees are still reviewing changes and may not know the information they need to right now.  So be patient, take the time to review changes (program is more positive this time around) and invite your FSA to attend one of our informational sessions if they need to learn more about MPP.
By Progressive Dairyman Editor Dave Natzke
  
Fourteen dairy cooperatives and several dairy trade associations filed a  formal request seeking a public hearing to consider implementing multiple component pricing (MCP) in two additional Federal Milk Marketing Orders.

The organizations filed the formal hearing request with the USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service on April 3. The USDA has 30 days from the date the request was filed to either:
* issue an action plan to complete the hearing within 120 days
* request additional information
* deny the request

The request would convert FMMOs 5 (Appalachian) and 7 (Southeast) to MCP. If successful, eight of the 10 FMMOs will utilize MCP, with only the Florida and Arizona orders retaining skim-butterfat pricing.    Read more
By Jim Dickrell, Milk Business
  
Based on current futures prices for milk and feed, it's possible dairy Margin Protection Program (MPP) payments will be made through August. Farmers would have to sign-up for $8 coverage since the current milk-feed margin projection is $7.85/cwt in August and much less February through July.

T he lowest margin being projected is $6.37/cwt in March.
 
That's according to analysis presented by Andy Novakovic, a Cornell University dairy economist and Mark Stephenson, a University of Wisconsin dairy economist, in a webinar hosted by Farm Credit East today.  
Check out the GDYF Spring/Winter E-MOOS!
GDYF released their Spring and Winter E-Moos this week highlighting the many activities that GA's 4-H and FFA dairy youth have enjoyed so far in 2018.  Thanks to the many dairy farm families that work with these groups each year.  Your support and contributions are building future dairy and agriculture leaders across GA!  Click here to view  
Milk Price in Southeast Drops Almost $3/cwt Since Last Year
By Andrew P Griffith, Univ. of Tennessee via dairyherd.com

Southeast Class I utilization was 68.06%, down 3.48% from January, and 0.42% lower than February a year ago. The Uniform butterfat price was $2.4196, down 6.27 cents from last month and 0.58 cents higher than February 2017. The February Class I price was $18.05. March Class I price is $17.16. Appalachian Class I utilization was 68.78%, down 2.35% from January, and 2.38% lower than February a year ago. The Uniform butterfat price was $2.4179, down 6.37 cents from last month and 5.87 cents lower than February 2017. The February Class I price was $17.65. Read more  
UGA Extension to host Tax Cuts and Jobs Act workshops across Georgia
From UGA CAES Newswire

University of Georgia Cooperative Extension will host a weeklong series of tax law workshops in counties throughout the state focused on the implementation of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act and its effect on farming operations.

Through these workshops, farmers and landowners will learn tax planning techniques and review how to correctly report income. The workshops will cover individual tax changes like standard deductions, business tax changes and comparisons of corporation tax statuses.

The first workshop will be held Tuesday, May 15, in Carrollton, Georgia, at the Carroll County Agriculture Center. The second workshop will be held in Lexington, Georgia, on Wednesday, May 16, at the Oglethorpe County Extension office. The Moultrie, Georgia, workshop will be held on Thursday, May 17, in the Colquitt County Extension office, and the final seminar will be on Friday, May 18, in Statesboro, Georgia, at the Bulloch County Extension office. Click here to read more and for registration 
Milk Map Math
By Sherry Bunting, Farmshine, April 6, 2018
 
BROWNSTOWN, Pa. - Dairy consolidation away from the eastern U.S. continued in 2017, aided by further losses in basis revealed in the average net mailbox milk prices.

As the state and regional variations in mailbox milk prices move closer to a national price, the losers on the map are the states encompassed by the Federal Orders with highest Class I utilization: Northeast, Mideast, Appalachian, Southeast and Florida.

Not only is fluid milk the shrinking piece of the expanding pie, it is also the segment of the market with a legacy tied to local farms, family farms, farms that are getting dropped by bottlers as the milk bottling industry is also consolidating into wider spheres of milk sourcing.

The only way to slow this trend is to work directly with consumers and retailers because they have already told the dairy industry they want: local milk. Trouble is, the industry, and the checkoff dollars paid by these significant farms in the diminishing eastern region, are not listening to consumers. They've got eyes set across the seas on exports hitting 20% by 2025, while leaving the domestic market for nature's most perfect food - milk - vulnerable and neglected.     Read more 
House Farm Bill Includes Several Major Changes For Dairy

Despite modifications to the dairy safety net earlier this year, the House version of the Farm Bill, which was released on Thursday, modifies the programs further. In addition to modifying the safety net program, the House draft changes to the formula used to calculate Class I milk prices.

According to Pro Farmer policy analyst Jim Wiesemeyer, several changes were made to the dairy safety net including more - Read here
18_wheeler.jpg
Dairy producers facing tricky challenges
  
In a presentation titled "The Changing Landscape of Dairy: Regional Perspectives" at the 2018 Heart of America Dairy Expo in Springfield, Mo.,  Mark Stephenson, director of dairy policy analysis at the University of Wisconsin, explained what's 
happening in the dairy industry is not always as it seems.
He cited one example as the decrease in Wisconsin's milk production in the 1980s. Experts initially concluded the problem was with milk prices. However, hindsight showed a different story.
"It actually was a structural problem in the state, both at the farm level and the processing level,'' Stephenson said, explaining California had much to do with the issue.  California was coming on gangbusters," he said. "They were producing a lot of milk and displacing markets that Wisconsin had had for decades."

Today's challenge in the dairy sector is though milk is still produced in all 50 states of the U.S., milk production is shifting - and not necessarily where it is needed.     Read more 
Rabobank: U.S. Domestic Dairy Demand Will Rebound in Second Half of Year
  
Domestic demand for dairy products, primarily for natural cheese, butter and premium dairy products, will likely rebound in the second half of 2018, projects Rabobank in its Dairy Quarterly Q1 Report issued this week.
 
"The stronger economic growth is projected to come mostly from tax policy change, which translates to stronger demand for dairy through increased food service and retail sales," say Rabobank economists.
 
They project Class III prices to rebound to $14.90/cwt in the third quarter, coming off a low of $13.70 in April, May and June. Rabobank sees Class III prices averaging $16.17/cwt in the fourth quarter. Class IV prices will also climb above $14 by the third quarter and above $14.50 in the fourth.     Read more
March Components Prices Improve
By John Geuss, MilkPrice Blog
  
The March Class and Component Price Announcement, showed some nice improvement.  Chart I below is positive for every dairy commodity except for Nonfat Dry Milk and Nonfat Solids.  The Class III price gained $.82/cwt. over the prior month.  This brought the Class III price to $14.22/cwt.  While this is not a great price, it is a significant gain from the prior month.  Milk Protein jumped 11.1%, on an increase in the cheese price of 5.5%.  Milk protein is now worth $1.81/lb.  Butterfat had a smaller increase of 3.3% and is now worth $2.43/lb.  Read more
When Robots Milk Cows, Farm Families Taste Freedom
By Dan Charles, NPR "the salt"
  
Robots have arrived at Bill and Carol Shuler's  farm near 
Baroda, Mich., and life has taken a turn for the better.

"It absolutely changes your lifestyle. It gives you a life!" says Bill Shuler.

For decades - for the entire time that Bill and Carol have been married, in fact - the Shuler family's routine was practically set in stone: Get up at 3:45 a.m., clean the barn, feed the cows and milk them. Then get breakfast and take care of other work around the farm. At 3 p.m., go back to the barn to feed and milk the cows again.     Read more
Two Florida Dairy Workers Sentenced for Animal Abuse
By Wyatt Bechtel, Dairy Herd Managment
  
Two workers from a Florida dairy have been sentenced to 20 days in jail following an undercover video investigation by an animal rights group.

Fernando Lopez Cruz, 44, and Naul Dorantes-Garcia, 31, were both employed at McArthur Farms in Okeechobee County and were videoed abusing cows by an undercover activist. The video was released by Animal Recovery Mission, a Miami-based animal rights group, on Dec. 14, 2017 as part of a series of undercover videos shot on Florida dairy farms.

Cruz and Naul Dorantes-Garcia are being charged with one count of misdemeanor animal cruelty after pleading no contest. They will serve 20 days in the Okeechobee County Jail, which can be done over the weekend in a work program if requested. The pair will then have a year of probation and must serve 72 hours of community service at an animal rescue.  Also, they must pay a $400 fine.
Local news reports indicate that Judge Jerald Bryant formerly worked on a dairy farm as he mentioned it during the sentencing.     Read more
AGAware Workshops Scheduled for Summer
  
AgSouth is excited 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. 

Mark Your Calendars:
Week of May 7: MPP Information Meetings - More information to come soon!
May 31 - GA Milk Producers Board of Directors Meeting, Macon - All dairymen invited to attend
June 2: Putnam Dairy Festival, Eatonton
GA Dairy Classifieds

For Sale: 40 high quality Holstein heifers bred to calf this summer and fall. Start calving in July, 40 yrs AI breeding 24,000 herd average. Ray Ward 706-473-8789.
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 SALE:  
TRIOLIET  SOLOMIX 2 1600 ZKT
  • TANDEM AXLE
  • DIGI STAR 3600V SCALE
  • RIGHT-LEFT-REAR DOORS
  • NEW HARD FACING ON AUGERS
  • NEW KNIVES
For information contact Jim Reid at 
229-924-2474 
or email at jim@reidbros.com

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

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!!