2021 | Sept 3 Enewsletter
Georgia Milk Producers Weekly Enews
Fall District Meetings Start Next Week in Ringgold and Montezuma

SEPTEMBER 8
  • Farm to Fork Restaurant, Ringgold at NOON - 120 General Lee Drive, Ringgold, GA 30736

SEPTEMBER 10
Dairy producers, managers and industry affiliates are invited to attend the annual Fall District meetings for Georgia Milk Producers and The Dairy Alliance this month. The meetings will be held in seven locations across the state. Our organizations will hold elections; report on industry issues and promotional efforts; and announce upcoming events. Dinner or lunch will be served at each location depending on the time the meeting is set to begin. RSVP to Farrah Newberry by email at gamilkproducers@gmail.com! See you soon!!
Dairyland Classic Dairy Show this weekend in Madison

The 2021 Dairyland Classic Dairy Show Entry will be held Sept. 3-5 in Madison, GA and will live stream on Dairy Agenda Today.

Please click the link below for more information and to view rules, regulations, and how to enter! Come show under the big tent!

LINK TO ONLINE ENTRIES AND SHOW INFORMATION:
USDA announces $350 million for Class I ‘mover’ losses
From American Dairy Coalition

According to USDA, milk handlers and cooperatives were contacted Aug. 23-27 about entering into signed agreements to distribute the approximately $350 million in Pandemic Dairy Market Volatility Assistance payments the agency announced on Aug. 19. The agreements will be to disburse funds to their qualifying producers and provide them with education on a variety of dairy-related topics.
 
Handlers and cooperatives have until Sept. 10, 2021, to indicate to USDA their intention to participate.
 
There will be no signups for this program. Payments will not be handled by Farm Service Agency (FSA) offices, and payment rates will not be published. Instead, targeted payments to qualifying producers will be determined by confidential Federal Milk Marketing Order (FMMO) data.
 
The payments will cover 80% of the calculated lost value on Class I fluid milk pounds for July through December 2020. This language suggests the payments will be limited to producers whose milk remained in the pool and was not de-pooled.
 
Eligible producers will be limited to payments on up to 5 million pounds of annual production -- even though farms of all sizes incurred these losses. The Adjusted Gross Income verification will also be required, like for the prior administration’s CFAP payments.

 
During the months covered by $350 million in payments -- July through December 2020 -- the difference between Class III and IV milk prices peaked at $5 to $10 per hundredweight. Further amplifying the impact was the 2018 Farm Bill change in calculating the Class I ‘mover’ with an averaging method instead of the previous ‘higher of’ method.
 
This change led to massive de-pooling of milk from FMMOs, creating negative producer price differentials (PPD). Several reports have pegged net lost value to producers in the billions over the past 26 months.
 
The American Dairy Coalition has been facilitating nationwide discussions with other dairy groups since last winter about the Class I ‘mover’ pricing, de-pooling, negative PPD losses and risk management impacts. ADC facilitated a letter signed by hundreds of dairy producers and organizations last spring to NMPF and IDFA seeking a seat at the table on solutions and supporting a temporary return to ‘the higher of’ until alternative methods can be vetted with a hearing process.
 
ADC’s nationwide discussions brought attention to this issue and contributed to Senator Kirsten Gillibrand and 20 other U.S. Senators sending a letter to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack seeking financial assistance for dairy farmers for these milk price value losses. A dairy situation hearing is anticipated in the Senate Subcommittee on Dairy, Livestock and Poultry that is chaired by Sen. Gillibrand in September.
DMC Margin Drops in July; Formula to Be Updated
From National Milk Producers Federation

USDA has reported the July margin under the Dairy Margin Coverage program at $5.68/cwt, a drop of 56 cents from the June margin and the lowest DMC margin since May 2020. The lower July margin resulted from a $0.50/cwt drop in the U.S. average all-milk price, to $17.90/cwt, and a six-cent per hundredweight higher feed cost. A lower soybean meal price offset a good part of a higher price of corn, while alfalfa hay prices were slightly higher.
 
USDA announced Aug. 19 that it will “make improvements to the Dairy Margin Coverage safety net program updating the feed cost formula to better reflect the actual cost dairy farmers pay for high quality alfalfa. This change will be retroactive to January 2020 and is expected to provide additional retroactive payments of about $100 million for 2020 and 2021.” Full details will be provided when regulations are published in the coming weeks, but it is expected that the price of alfalfa hay used in the DMC feed cost calculation will be changed, from the current 50-50 blend of the U.S. average price for all alfalfa and the average price of premium and supreme alfalfa hay in the five largest milk producing states, to just the 5-state average for premium and supreme alfalfa. Read more.
By Caitlin Rodgers, Georgia dairy farmer
On our farm, we have found a combination of feed rails and headlocks works best.
You might ask Farmer John, who lives 50 miles east of you, the question, “Do I put headlocks in my barn at the feedbunk?” He could answer yes, but Farmer Paul 70 miles to the west might say no. To each their own, but I can give insight as to what we think about headlocks on our farm and what we have done.

My answer to the question is yes and no. It shouldn’t be such a complicated question, but with my family, it has been that way since we built the freestall barn. Most of us agreed to not install headlocks at the feedbunk when we were milking 400 cows in a parlor. There were pros and cons to this. When we needed to work on a cow, we would have to separate her from the herd and place her into a chute area. By doing this, you weren’t necessarily disrupting the herd flow of all the cows at the bunk who would get locked in when working with one cow in a headlock system. There are many gates throughout the barn to pull a cow out, so it isn’t very hard to find the cow, walk her a few feet to a gate, and get her in the area needed.

At the same time, it takes labor to get a cow out of the pen. You are moving her out of her comfort zone. One must open and close gates rather than just walk down the feed alley to find the cow you need, get the job done, and let them go.

We took into consideration timid cows and wanted to make it easy for all to eat as much as they want, without putting their heads into a headlock. I am not knocking either system, though, because for a very long time I was the one out there wishing we had headlocks when getting a list of cows out of the barn to work on or put collars on them. Read more here>>>
BACK-TO-SCHOOL RUSH AND GOVERNMENT GENEROSITY BOOST MILK DEMAND
T.C. Jacoby Weekly Market Report

Heat, humidity, and smoke are sapping milk yields around the nation. Meanwhile, students are back in school. Most are learning in person, and all are eligible for free lunches with a carton of milk on the side. On Monday, USDA announced that it will spend another $400 million to donate produce, meat, and dairy products through the Emergency Food Assistance Program. Last week, the agency changed the formulas used to calculate the amount of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, effectively raising monthly food stamp payments 27% from pre-pandemic levels. Congress had already boosted food stamp payments by 15% during the pandemic, but this pandemic aid is set to expire next month. The 27% increase is permanent.

The back-to-school rush and government generosity have clearly boosted demand for milk. USDA’s Dairy Market News cites higher Class I sales from coast to coast. This, coupled with sweltering temperatures, has tightened milk supplies noticeably. In the Southwest, “balancing is active, but not stressed.” In the Midwest, driers are running on fumes, and “cheese makers are selling spot milk back into bottlers” for the first time in two years. Spot milk in the region is trading at a premium to Class III, Avg Price Qty Traded 4 wk Trend 8/23/2021 to 8/27/2021 $ 0.5120 1 Avg Price Qty Traded 4 wk Trend Avg Price Qty Traded 4 wk Trend $ 1.7520 5 $ 1.4660 9 Avg Price Qty Traded 4 wk Trend Avg Price Qty Traded 4 wk Trend $ 1.7010 1 9 $ 1.2755 4 CHEESE BLOCKS CHEESE BARRELS WHEY BUTTER NON-FAT CME Spot Market for the Week 1716 Hidden Creek Court P 314.821.4456 E info@jacoby.com Suite 200, St. Louis MO 63131 up from a $5 discount for most of the summer. The shift in milk supplies was most startling in the Mountain States. Dairy Market News reports, “Idaho spot milk, which was ubiquitous and discounted as recently as last week, is no longer available.” Read more here>>>
Other Stories to Check Out This Week >>>
GA Dairy Classifieds

TO ADVERTISE: EMAIL AD AND CONTACT INFORMATION TO FARRAH NEWBERRY at gamilkproducers@gmail.com

Looking for calves for 200 head calf barn with auto feeders in Arcadia
FL: Please call Brian 863-444-0060

Delaval meters, Germania entrance and exit gates with tailboards and indexing tail, Muller plate cooler, receiving jar, filter housing and lowline stainless pipeline. Serious inquiries call 864-617-5911, Iris Barham
Expanding or looking for top quality herd replacement?
Available at all times: 
Fresh two and three year old's and total herds; Also springing heifers and heifers of all ages.  Service age bulls with top genetics available all year round. All different breeds and crossbreds also available. Last two loads of fresh two and three year olds Holsteins went on the trucks averaging 115 lbs and 112 lbs! One load to TN and the other to Wisconsin.
Contact:
Les McCracken 
608-214-6484. Cell
608-879-2653. Fax

Seeking fulltime farm worker at heifer replacement farm in Eatonton, GA. If interested, please contact Mike Rainey at 706-473-0730.

Seeking Beef and dairy crossed bullcalves/heifers bottled or weaned. Please contact Victoria Rowland at 404-922-0938 or 423-946-5869

Will Raise Heifers for GA Dairy Farms: Hello we are located in Southern Illinois and have an abundance of pasture and cheap feed available looking to contract with a dairy to grow heifers for them, out location offers mild climate and we are just 558 miles from Montezuma Ga. Please contact 817-528-6645 very reasonable daily rates.

For Sale- DeLaval 84 Vacuum Pump on Stand, Oil Reclaimer, 10 HP- 3 Phase Electric Motor. New Bearings, New Oil Seal, New Belts. $2000
For more Information Call Tony Strickland , 229-254-6871; deepsouthai@gmail.com

For sale - Please contact Archie Felder for more information at 803-682-3426:
  • Dairy Tech Bay Pasturizer - $4,000
  • Tidenberg Hydraulic Hoof Table (like new) - $5,000
  • Claas Silage Choppers - 960 1875 cutterhead hours, 4WD, 600 orbis, HD300 PU - $180,000
  • Koomin John Deere Corn Header adapter for Claus Silage Chopper Used - $6,000
WANTED: Peter's Cattle Co. will buy any dairy, beef, and cross, bottle or weaned, bulls, heifers or free martins. Pick up weekly 7 days a week. Chris- 470-255-8515
 
Bull Calves WANTED:  Competitive pricing with 6 day a week pickup. Brandon Mason Cattle Company 912-632-4490

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