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| Dairy industry hones in on wellness of dairy cow |
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“Dairy wellness” is not just a slogan. It’s a way of doing business, according to Jim Brewer of Pfizer Animal Health. Brewer talked about the concept in Wednesday’s broadcast, stating that it has three tenants.
First is the health of the cow, which is the first thing on one’s mind when you think of Pfizer.
The second tenant is the profitability of the dairy itself. The idea is to be more efficient, according to Brewer, finding the most efficient means to produce milk and find how to make a bigger difference for tomorrow as economics change.
The third tenant is the appropriate use of Pfizer’s products, with the consumer in mind. The goal is to build the ultimate dairy products that are going to be healthy and quality products for consumers so we need to be future looking as well.
The areas that Pfizer works the most in, he said, is assisting producers and their local veterinarians in the areas of reproduction and reproductive efficiency to milk quality, from prevention to appropriate treatments in getting cows back into productivity again. They also focus on fresh cow disorders and making sure that cow is freshened appropriately and gets back to peak milk as rapidly as possible. For more information, log on to www.dairywellnessplan.com
McDonald’s prepares to roll out new milk-friendly coffee drinks
California dairy producer and Dairy Management Incorporated board member, Ron Koetsier was back on Monday’s “DMI Update” in another interview recorded at the recent World Ag Expo in Tulare, Calif. He talked about a new partnership with McDonald’s in the roll out of their new Espresso coffee drinks.
He reported that McDonald’s will spend about $100,000 per restaurant on 14,000 of them installing the new equipment. There are some 60,000 McDonald’s in the U.S., according to Koetsier, where these milk-based beverages could be made available and use about 100 million pounds of product to meet the demand so the potential is great for McDonald’s and for the dairy industry.
Advertising and promotion has begun and the checkoff was involved in helping research and developing the flavors, Koetsier concluded, and “McDonald’s is just going to fly with it.”
Milk production declines over 13B pounds in Feb.
February milk production in the top 23 states totaled 13.65 billion pounds, down 2.5 percent from February 2008 however, last February had an extra day so, when making the adjustment, February 2009 output was actually up 0.9 percent.
Extrapolated the 50 state total was 14.75 billion pounds, down 2.8 percent from a year ago or up 0.6 percent when factoring in the extra day. Revisions added 52 million pounds to January’s estimate, up 1.1 percent from January 2008.
February cow numbers in the 23 states totaled 8.49 million head, down 16,000 from January, but 31,000 more than a year ago. Output per cow averaged 1,608 pounds, down 48 pounds from a year ago. California milk production was down 5.8 percent from a year ago, not factoring the extra day. Cow numbers were down 16,000 head and output per cow was off 90 pounds. Wisconsin was down 2.5 percent, on a 45-pound per cow drop, but cow numbers were up 5,000 head.
New York was down 3.6 percent, on a 50 pound drop per cow and 3,000 fewer cows. Idaho was down 1.9 percent, on an 80 pound drop per cow but cow numbers were up 15,000. Pennsylvania was off 3.3 percent, on a 50 pound drop per cow. Minnesota was down 1 percent. Cow numbers were up 5,000 head but output per cow was off 30 pounds. The report added Utah to the monthly estimate and dropped Kentucky.
The biggest increase occurred in Texas, up 7.4 percent, on 26,000 more cows and a 15 pound per cow gain.
Kansas was next, up 5.8 percent, despite a 30-pound loss per cow. Cow numbers were up 9,000 head. The biggest decline was in Vermont, down 8.6 percent, followed by Washington State, down 6.9 percent.
Meanwhile; USDA announced Friday in its monthly Livestock Slaughter report that an estimated 243,500 dairy cows were slaughtered under federal inspection in February, down about 37,600 head from January 2009, but 29,200 more than February 2008. (There was one additional weekday in February 2008 due to Leap Year.) For January-February 2009, cull cow slaughter totaled about 524,600 head, up about 74,600 from January-February 2008.
The April Federal order Class I milk price saw a 93 cent recovery Friday morning as the Agriculture Department announced the base price at $10.36 per cwt. That’s still $8.25 below April 2008. The Class I average so far in 2009 is just $11.56, down from $18.99 at this time a year ago. The NASS-surveyed butter price averaged $1.1211 per pound, up 4.8 cents from March. Nonfat dry milk averaged 81.52 cents, virtually unchanged from March. Cheese averaged $1.2545, up 11.3 cents, and dry whey averaged 16.32 cents, up almost a penny. Alan Levitt, editor of the CME’s Daily Dairy Report, predicts the MILC payment will be around $1.50, not including the feed cost adjustor.
Alan Levitt said that the cash markets saw “an encouraging broad-based rally in the first half of March” but he warned that “We’re not completely out of the woods yet. We have a long way to go before we can really say that the bear is in hibernation.”
He reminded us that a month ago the cheese price made a run above $1.30 but orders slowed and buyers moved off to the sidelines and prices fell so he warned that before we get too excited about this rally we have to see demand sustained beyond the $1.30 mark. Buying has to continue at the level, he said. Weak export demand and lower prices are expected to push milk output lower in 2009, according to the latest Livestock, Dairy & Poultry Outlook. However, lower dairy product prices have prompted stronger-than-projected domestic use, and tighter supplies have firmed price forecasts.
Lower prices will lead to lower milk production in 2009, according to the Outlook. While output per cow will be fractionally higher this year, the total cow herd is expected to contract. For the year, the herd will average nearly 1.3 percent smaller than 2008. The contraction began in January but the steepest declines are expected in the third and fourth quarters and the forecast assumes no additional herd buyouts through CWT. |
| 3/25/2009 |
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