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| Dairy producers still waiting on distribution of government aid |
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Do you remember that emergency aid lawmakers wanted dairy farmers to have to help them through these grueling hard times? The holdup has been USDA’s decision on how to distribute the $290 million approved in the fiscal year 2010 ag appropriations bill and signed into law by President Obama in late October.
The program now has a name; the Dairy Economic Loss Assistance Payment (DELAP) Program, but other details are still sketchy, according to Dairy Profit Weekly’s Dave Natzke.
USDA’s Farm Service Agency sent instructions to county and state offices on Nov. 18, in preparation for administration of the program.
According to the instructions, the Milk Income Loss Contract (MILC) program will serve as the basis for determining the amount of payments individual dairy farmers will receive, Natzke reported, although provisions pertaining to eligibility, payment formula, payment rate, and processing were not announced. USDA said DELAP regulations have not received final clearance and won’t become official until they are published in the Federal Register.
The instructions to FSA officials gave no timetable as to when dairy farmers will be able to receive the funds, according to Natzke, although top USDA officials have said they anticipate the money will be available in mid-to-late December. “In the meantime, dairy farmers suffering through one of the worst financial years ever will have to wait a little longer,” Natzke concluded.
Demand for dairy, improves
On a brighter note; rising world demand for dairy products and lower than expected milk production, both internationally and in the U.S, will lead to tightening stocks and rising milk prices for the remainder of 2009 and into 2010, according to the USDA’s latest Livestock, Dairy, and Poultry Outlook.
Dairy cow numbers are expected to continue to decline throughout 2010. The U.S. dairy cow herd is expected to average about 2 percent smaller in 2010 than 2009; this contraction comes on the heels of an expected 3-percent herd reduction in 2009 compared with 2008 and year-over-year milk per cow is expected to move toward trend level increases, as a result of a gradually improving milk-feed price ratio.
The improving returns outlook show support for rising yields per cow over the course of 2010, raising production per cow to 20,950 next year after increasing to a projected 20,570 in 2009. On balance, however, there will be less milk next year as production is forecast at 187.7 billion pounds, an 0.8-percent slide from the expected 189.1 billion pound production in 2009. Production in 2009 is forecast to decline from 2008 and will be the first decline since 2001.
An independent economic analysis of the CWT program shows a return on investment of $1.54 per cwt. so far in 2009 for farmers, according to a CWT press release. National Milk’s Chris Galen said “It’s the answer to the bottom line question of what has CWT done to help dairy farmers in 2009.”
CWT’s local impact on farmers
Galen reported that, as in the past, Dr. Scott Brown, professor of ag economics at the University of Missouri, and an expert on how various farm programs affect farmers, was commissioned to assess the voluntary program’s impact on dairy farmers across the U.S.
The $1.50 does not include the current ongoing CWT herd removal, according to Galen, who also reported that the cumulative impact of CWT’s export program and herd retirement has added $2.4 billion to farm level milk receipts this year, a year where dairy income is expected to be down more than $10 billion because of the global recession. “It would have been far worse,” Galen said, “Had we not had CWT in place.”
CWT’s impact is much greater this year, according to Galen, because this has been the most aggressive year of CWT’s six year history.
CWT has removed about 200,000 cows in the past 12 months, he said. The important thing to keep in mind, Galen said, is that when Dr. Brown does his analysis, he shows a linger impact going into the forward years. We conducted two herd retirements in 2008 so part of the reason we have $1.50 per cwt. enhancement in milk prices is because of those herd retirement last year in addition to the two that were conducted earlier in 2009. For more information, log on to www.cwt.coop
Cows fed well, milk well
The calves you’re feeding today are the cows you’ll be milking tomorrow, so it’s important to feed them the best, according to Land O’ Lake’s young animal technical manager, Dr. Susan Day. Speaking in Wednesday’s DairyLine, Day updated listeners on a product they hear a lot about, AMPLI-Calf milk replacer. She reported that AMPLI-Calf technology is now available throughout the United States, though field trials are still underway.
Users have seen better growth in their calves, according to Day, and better health. Land O’ Lakes makes no health claims on AMPLI-Calf, she said, but health data from field trials shows calf health to be improved from feeding it.
She reported that Land O’ Lakes has seen a lot of interest by registered cattle producers and many show calves are being fed AMPLI Calf technology. Day is herself a registered dairy producer with her husband and feeds AMPLI Calf.
She said they have had great success in getting their calves to eat it and “they grow like champs.” She admitted that her husband and his father refuse to feed their calves anything else and “they’re not known for jumping on a band wagon,” so “that means more to me than even seeing the technology work itself.”
Producers are watching their budgets closely these days but Land O’ Lakes is helping in that regard, Day said, by offering producers some cost saving tips, such as encouraging them to think long term so as not to stunt the growth and the health of their “future herd” by trying to cut corners now in their calf program. |
| 11/25/2009 |
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