Georgia Milk Producers Weekly Enews |
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Fall District Meetings Next Week in Buckhead and Waynesboro
SEPTEMBER 20
Bonner's Triple B Restaurant, Buckhead at 7 PM - 1500 Bonner Lane, Buckhead, GA 30625
SEPTEMBER 23
Burke Co. Extension Office, Waynesboro at 7 PM - 715 West 6th St., Waynesboro, GA 30830
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!!
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Modern-day dairy crisis facing industry
By Jacqui Fatka, Feedstuffs
Between 2003 and 2020 there has been a 55% decrease in the number of dairy farms operating nationwide. Dairy farmers are facing rising costs of production and current dairy prices aren’t covering them. Congress is trying to determine the level of government invention needed to prevent a further exodus of dairy farmers.
“We are in the midst of a modern-day dairy crisis,” shares Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y. in opening up a Senate Agriculture Committee hearing Sept. 15 on the volatile milk price and federal milk marketing system.
Gillibrand and others detailed how the dairy industry’s struggles have been magnified by the fundamental change made to the Class I pricing formula in the 2018 Farm Bill, which switched from using the “higher of” Class III and Class IV to the “average of” the two plus 74 cents and applicable differential.
The 74-cent addition was based on the historic price difference between the two classes, but the historically calculated formula has failed to meet the needs of the present-day market, explains Gillibrand and echoed by producer testimony offered during the hearing. Read more here>>>
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Mark Stephenson, Center for Dairy Profitability, UW-Madison
Unfortunately, we aren’t done with COVID-19 yet . . . or maybe it’s more correct to say that COVID-19 isn’t done with us yet. Either way, perhaps we should stop and ask what we have learned from the pandemic, which alters the way our markets are working.
Many businesses and their supply chains were the envy of our modern world. Human and, more recently, machine learning has sifted through mountains of data to understand complex underlying demand relationships. This has helped us craft a culture of lean manufacturing. By cutting down on the expense of excess inventory and ordering inputs only when they’re needed, we have shaved costs out of the system. This “just-in-time” management was working like clockwork until COVID-19 gave us considerable grit in the gears.
Cobbled COVID-19 chains
Last year our highly coordinated system almost failed. We experienced serious demand shocks when we were socially isolated and staying safer at home. To be honest, there were some good things that came out of the experience. Many folks returned to their kitchens and dining room tables for meals, and our fluid milk purchases temporarily stopped their downward slide as milk and butter flew off the grocery shelves. But on the whole, isolation was not preferable.
We are trying to get back to more normal living. This year, children are in classrooms, more of us are working from our offices, and we are eating more meals in restaurants. But COVID-19 isn’t in the past yet, and it’s making some things — like price forecasting — harder than ever.
Most dairy processors have developed sophisticated demand models that help them forecast their cheese needs a year in advance. Of course, those are subject to tweaking along the way as new opportunities emerge, but the long-run forecast is a guiding principle for plants to signal just how badly they are going to want milk over the subsequent months.
A new perspective
Last year, during the first wave of COVID-19 cases, we held a few focus groups with processors and others to try to understand what they were doing to manage in the face of the biggest demand shock that we had ever seen. One of the observations was that the definition of “long-term” had declined from yearly to monthly and that short-term had dropped from monthly to daily.
We could no longer depend on demand models that were built with data from more normal times. They simply weren’t providing any insights for what the market wanted and what milk was worth.
In fact, another focus group member said that they had to put away the computer models and just fly by the seat of their pants. In other words, when clockwork wasn’t working, people resorted to the old sun dial, and we had to make do with our mental models.
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Farmers relieved stepped-up basis preserved
By Jacqui Fatka, Feedstuffs
After months of ag interests voicing concerns about suggested tax changes to the step-up in basis to help pay for the $3.5 trillion reconciliation package, farmers can breathe a sigh of relief that the House Ways and Means Committee’s draft bill released Monday preserves stepped-up basis. However, concerns remain for farmers as the package lowers the current estate tax exemption from levels passed during the Trump administration.
“We are very pleased to see that the House Committee did not include the elimination of stepped-up basis within its initial text. However, we are concerned with the provisions on the estate tax in the Committee draft that could impact family farms,” says John Linder, president of the National Corn Growers Association and farmer from Edison, Ohio.
After months of ag interests voicing concerns about suggested tax changes to the step-up in basis to help pay for the $3.5 trillion reconciliation package, farmers can breathe a sigh of relief that the House Ways and Means Committee’s draft bill released Monday preserves stepped-up basis. However, concerns remain for farmers as the package lowers the current estate tax exemption from levels passed during the Trump administration.
“We are very pleased to see that the House Committee did not include the elimination of stepped-up basis within its initial text. However, we are concerned with the provisions on the estate tax in the Committee draft that could impact family farms,” says John Linder, president of the National Corn Growers Association and farmer from Edison, Ohio.
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Long Term Trends in Milk Pricing
From MilkPrice Blog
This post will review the changes in producer milk prices since the introduction of the current Class and Component pricing system which was introduced in January 2000. After nearly 22 years, what way are producer milk prices moving? All charts in this post are based on 12 month moving averages. Since 2000, inflation has increased by 50 percent. Have dairy prices increased the same?
AN OVERVIEW
Table I shows the five-year average prices of the commodities used to price producer milk. The years 2010 to 2015 produced excellent prices for all four commodities. It could be described as the "golden years" for milk pricing. During the five years from 2015 to 2020, butter increased to extremely high prices averaging $2.45 per pound. In turn this drove down the price of milk protein. (See the prior post for an explanation of why this occurs.).
In the last 20 months, milk protein has recovered to new price highs averaging $3.36 per pound. Producing maximum protein is a strong revenue generator for those paid on the Class and Component system.
Currently dairy prices are all falling from their highs except for milk protein.
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Selling the herd: Labor woes force dairy farmer’s hand
Mitch Galloway, Farm News Media
Empty stalls inside a mostly empty barn.
A few birds chirp in the rafters.
Seventy-one-year-old Hank Choate, feeling somewhat empty himself, walks through the structure.
He just sold off his roughly 500-head Holstein dairy herd, pivoting to 1,800 acres of row crops.
It’s a decision the Cement City farmer had to make, especially after two of his workers walked away in the summer due to other job opportunities.
Labor, he said, had taken a toll on him, his family, and his employees.
Twelve-hour workdays became 16-hour workdays.
Finding additional help seemed impossible.
The Aug. 18 dairy dispersal, or auction, had to happen for Choate’s mental health. His financial health.
“I knew it was going to be a difficult task of finding somebody. Last time we had to find someone, it took five and a half months,” said Choate, who’s milked cows for 53 years. Read more here>>>
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Register Today for the 2021 Georgia Ag Labor Forum |
You don't want to miss this outstanding lineup of ag labor experts!
IN-PERSON EVENT
UGA Tifton Campus Conference Center
Tifton, Georgia
Tuesday, Nov. 9 - Wednesday, Nov. 10
This year the Georgia Ag Labor Relations Forum will be in person in Tifton, Georgia November 9-10. Hear advice from industry experts to help you comply with labor regulations and get updates about OSHA and DOL in this new COVID world.
This event is suited for all owners, operators, office managers, personnel managers and service providers for the produce, nursery, landscape, dairy, cotton, and any other agricultural professional dealing with agricultural labor relations.
Register by October 8 and save $25 on your registration!
Early Bird Price: $225
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Get Ready to Engage at the Expo!
Morning Ag Clips
The Biden administration is taking aim at major meatpackers, charging that “pandemic profiteering” is squeezing consumers and farmers alike, with a few companies that dominate the industry raking in record profits.
White House National Economic Council Director Brian Deese said Wednesday that increases in the prices of beef, pork and poultry are responsible for half the jump in food prices since late 2020, yet farmers have seen little gain in what they are paid by giant meat companies.
“It raises a concern about pandemic profiteering, about companies that are driving price increases in a way that hurts consumers who are going to the grocery store,” Deese said. What’s happened “isn’t benefiting the actual producers, the farmers and the ranchers that are growing the product.” Read more here>>>
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Other Stories to Check Out This Week >>> |
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TO ADVERTISE: EMAIL AD AND CONTACT INFORMATION TO FARRAH NEWBERRY at gamilkproducers@gmail.com
Wednesday October 6, 2021
12-1 PM ET
Bid Online or On The Phone
www.kreegerdairy.com
270 AI Bred & Sired Holstein Springers- The Last Of The Herd !
Auction Coordinator:
Clay Papoi 517-526-1917
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
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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 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
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