Jenni directs a wide variety of communications, public relations, promotional activities, and educational initiatives for the American Dairy Association of Indiana and the Dairy & Nutrition Council, both divisions of MPSI.  The organizations represent the state's dairy farmers and its dairy industry.

She previously worked at a Muncie-based physical therapy and wellness company where she served as their business development coordinator.  Previously, she was the corporate wellness director of the Muncie YMCA and served as a clinical dietitian for Community North Hospital in Indianapolis.

Is Raw Milk Healthier?

The Fraser Health Authority obtained a permanent injunction against Home on the Range Farms owner Alice Jongerden in March, ordering her to stop packaging and distributing raw milk for the members of her Chilliwack cow-share operation. Jongerden distributed her raw dairy products, including cream, yogurt and milk, to members through various depots in Metro Vancouver.

Health officials pressed the matter in July, saying Jongerden was still packaging the products for her customers but sidestepping the order by labelling the product "not for human consumption."

Paul Nieffer, the Farm CPA, offer these tips as you make plans for your year-end purchases.

• Make sure it's not considered a deposit. Make sure there are specific terms for the specific product and amount you're prepaying.
• If the company you pre-pay to goes out of business, you are an unsecured creditor and getting that money back is not a sure thing.
• If you make equipment purchases at the end of the year, the equipment must be in your possession to take advantage of tax benefits.
   

AgWeb Tax Tips and Information

Taxes on gifting rise in 2011

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It's true that cows enjoy the cooler weather, but, as the temperature drops, so does the cow's ability to maintain skin moisture. Chapped skin isn't just painful for us, it's equally irritating for cows. "Cracked teats create the ideal environment for bacteria to hide and proliferate; these bacteria have the potential to migrate into the udder where new infections may emerge," says Beverly Cox of Virginia Tech Extension. In light of winter, Cox has offered some tips to preserve your cows' teats.

1. Provide clean, dry housing and protection from wind to reduce the number of new environmental infections.

2. Restrict access to potentially muddy areas to keep udders clean and reduce damage from prolonged wetness.

Read more...

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By Dairy Herd news source

Friday, December 03, 2010

The National Milk Producers Federation is applauding the U.S. House of Representatives for passing the Child Nutrition Reauthorization Act (S. 3307) on Thursday. The bill will go to President Obama to be signed into law.

"The health of the nation's school children will be enhanced by the bill's requirement that milk be served with each school meal," said Jerry Kozak, president and chief executive officer of NMPF. "School meals provide an important venue to help assure that children are consuming three servings of low-fat or fat-free milk products that are recommended by the U.S. Dietary Guidelines. We are pleased that the bill will improve the nutrition environment in schools by encouraging consumption of healthier foods like milk and milk products."

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Jackie says that priorities for DFA include making sure new legislators are familiar with the needs of dairy farmers. She says the industry lost some long time supporters in the recent election. Looking ahead she says that dairy farmers need farm policy reform quickly and cites margins as the biggest challenge facing them.

The guide is available by going online. Download the 2011 Purdue Crop Cost and Return Guide here.

While prices for corn, soybeans and wheat are up from this past spring, farmers will need those higher returns to offset a spike in variable crop production costs, said Bruce Erickson, Purdue's director of cropping systems management and a crop guide contributor.

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Holiday traditions run deep in most families. Traditions may vary depending on a family's particular heritage and culture, but many generally involve the consumption of some type of animal protein.

What we all should be thankful for during the holiday season is that here in America, the main thing limiting the size of our celebrations is the size of our tables and the number of chairs we own. This is not the case worldwide.

If you want to lose weight and keep it off, reduce starches and eat all the lean meat, low-fat dairy and beans that you want. In what is being called the largest controlled random diet study in the world, the Faculty of Life Sciences at the University of Copenhagen set-out to compare official European dietary recommendations with the latest dietary knowledge.

More than 900 overweight adults from eight European countries followed a stringent 800-calorie-per-day diet for eight weeks attempting to lose an average of 24 pounds or eight per cent of their body weight. About 770 of the participants were able to lose the required weight. They were then randomly assigned to follow one of five different low-fat diets, they were told which foods to eat and which to avoid but were not told to restrict caloric intake.

After 26 weeks, 548 adults completed the study with an average weight regain of 1.1 pounds. However, the people on a low-protein, high-glycemic index diet gained an average 3.68 pounds while those on a high protein, low-glycemic diet maintained or even lost a little more weight. It was also noted that a higher percentage of the people on the high-protein, low GI diet completed the study.

In conclusion, the researchers say that by avoiding high GI foods and eating more lean meat, low-fat dairy and beans, dieters can eat as much as they like without gaining weight.

The results of the study were published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

• Opportunities to network with other professional dairy producers from around the state.
• Encourage open exchange of ideas and learn new approaches to the most challenging dairy farm management decisions.
   
• Allow you to get on the "ground floor" in determining relevant topics facing dairy managers and securing appropriate speakers to tackle those topics at educational meetings
• Notify you through IPDP newletters of upcoming events and educational opportunities that will help you to be a better dairy producer.
• Be a sounding board to solving key problems that face Indiana dairy producers.

• Indiana Creamery License Division 
• Indiana Board of Animal Health
• Indiana Department of Environmental Management
• Indiana State Department of Agriculture
• Indiana Beef Cattle Association
• Milk Promotion Services of Indiana
• Growing Indiana Ag (GINA)