California Dairy Cow Confirmed Positive BSE

from KSTP.com writen by Jennie Olson

The California dairy cow found to have mad cow disease had been euthanized after it became lame and started lying down, federal officials revealed in their latest update on the discovery.
    
A spokesman for U.S. Rep. Devin Nunes of California had said Wednesday that the sick cow was 5 years old. It came from a dairy farm in Tulare County, the nation's No. 1 dairy-producing county.
    
The USDA didn't elaborate on the cow's symptoms other than to say it was "humanely euthanized after it developed lameness and became recumbent." Outward signs of the disease can include unsteadiness and incoordination.
    
Routine testing at a transfer facility showed the dead Holstein, which was destined for a rendering plant, had mad cow disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy. The results were announced April 24. It was the fourth case of mad cow disease ever discovered in the U.S.
    
Animals at greater risk for the disease include those with symptoms of neurological disease, "downer" animals at slaughterhouses, animals that die at dairies or cattle ranches for unknown reasons, and cows more than 2 1/2 years old, because BSE occurs in older cows.
    
U.S. health officials say there is no risk to the food supply.
Read the full article here.

For a very interesting opinion piece on BSE in the media by Dr. Richard Raymond, MD, click here.

In a surprising move that elated farm groups of all shapes and sizes, the US Department of Labor announced last Thursday evening (4/26) that they would withdraw the proposed rules on farm youth labor. Indiana Senator Dan Coats had this to say about the withdrawal, ""I am pleased to hear the Obama administration finally has acknowledged the absurdity of its proposed rule to block young men and women from working on family farms. This rule was another outrageous example of government intrusion in the lives of Americans. Rather than hand down extreme federal regulations from a building in Washington, the administration should have consulted with farmers and ranchers from the beginning to promote commonsense safety measures for young workers."

The Indiana Professional Dairy Producers organization joined thousands of others in submitted official comments on this rule last fall, and we are delighted that it has been withdrawn. The administration acknowledged that those comments made a huge difference when they said this, ""The decision to withdraw this rule including provisions to define the 'parental exemption' was made in response to thousands of comments expressing concerns about the effect of the proposed rules on small family-owned farms. To be clear, this regulation will not be pursued for the duration of the Obama administration."

The administration committed to working on farm safety through educational measures with organizations like American Farm Bureau, National Farmers Organization, 4-H and FFA.

However, before we get complacent and think that regulations within agriculture are no longer an enormous challenge, please click here to read a wake-up call by Truffle Media with specific information on the Environmental Protection Agency.

Penn State offers Free Webinar on Bovine Lameness Issues May 8

Lameness is a critical animal health, profitability, and well-being issue. There are numerous risk factors associated with lameness - including conditions that originate inside the hoof, and stresses and challenges from the environment in which the cow lives. The design and management of both the flooring and the resting area in a dairy have a direct influence on the overall hoof health of the dairy herd. The Penn State Extension Dairy Team is hosting a webinar that will show producers how lameness develops, and how to design and manage dairy facilities to help promote healthy hooves.

 

Offered online, free of charge. Get details and online registration information here.

The 8th annual Indiana Dairy Youth Conference was held on Saturday, April 21, 2012 at the Bartholomew County Fairgrounds in Columbus, Indiana.  This year's theme was "Year of the Dairy Cow" in recognition of Dairy Cows being featured at this year's Indiana State Fair.  Nearly 100 4-H members and their parents attended the day-long event.  When youth were not participating in activities like Dairy Family Feud and Dairy Minute to Win It, they had the opportunity to learn from speakers about a wide variety of topics.  Students learned about farming in Egypt, Austria, and Romania (Essam Abd El-Fattah, Martina Kalteis, Dr. Mike Schutz; West Lafayette Campus); they learned how to appreciate differences in cheeses from around the world (Shannon Franklin, Ohio County CES); what should be in your show box (Micah Matlock and Julie Carrell, Dairy Ambassadors); cow and heifer behavior (Dr. Candace Croney, West Lafayette Campus); proper use of drugs for treating cattle (Dr. Jon Townsend, West Lafayette Campus); and the new dairy showmanship scorecard (Kelly Heckaman, Kosciusko County).  The junior members also had the opportunity to promote the year of the dairy cow with a poster contest, and all of their creations were exceptional.  Following a pizza, milk, and yogurt lunch, students had the opportunity to practice how to "Fuel up to Play 60" with Jenny Purcell and Kimmi Devaney Milk Promotion Services of Indiana.  At the end of the day, all participants were rewarded with a T-shirt and official Indiana Dairy Youth Conference Feed Scoop.  The Indiana Dairy Youth Conference is held by Purdue University Cooperative Extension and supported by many dairy industry sponsors, including Indiana Professional Dairy Producers. Click here to watch a photo slideshow of the event! Thanks to MPSI and Kimmi Devaney for taking pictures!

Elanco Animal Health is sponsoring a free mobile app for the dairy industry. Dairy Source is the only app of its kind, offering real-time market prices, industry news, local weather and product information. It can be downloaded for free on iPhone, and Android devices.

 

Dairy Source was designed to give producers and others in the industry access to critical, up-to-date information 24 hours a day, no matter where they are. Market reports include milk futures, spot cheese, corn, soybean and crude oil prices. The industry news is to-the-minute, with a continually updated feed. Weather conditions, forecasts and reports come from the National Weather Service. The app also offers information about how Elanco products can benefit dairy businesses.

 

"Elanco is committed to the dairy industry and is pleased to sponsor this free technology tool as another way to support our customers," says Dennis Schaffler, director U.S. Dairy Operations for Elanco.

 

Find Dairy Source in the App Store and Android Market. For more information, contact your local Elanco sales representative.

 

 

Federal dairy policy reforms with their roots in the National Milk Producers Federation's Foundation for the Future (FFTF) program are headed for full U.S. Senate consideration. On April 26, the U.S. Senate Ag Committee approved the Agriculture Reform, Food and Jobs Act of 2012, a bipartisan Farm Bill authored by U.S. Sens. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), committee chair, and Pat Roberts (R-Kan.), ranking member. The panel approved the bill on a 16-5 vote. Voting against the bill were Sens. Kristin Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Thad Cochran (R-Miss.), John Boozman (R-Ark.), Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.), and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). An amendment previously offered by Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), which would have struck the Dairy Market Stabilization Program (DMSP, usually referenced as "supply management") from the bill, replacing it with a stand-alone dairy producer margin insurance program, was withdrawn. That left the dairy title portion of the bill similar to the Dairy Security Act, introduced in the House by Rep. Collin Peterson (D-Minn.) The committee approved two amendments, without making major changes to the dairy title draft. One, offered by Sens. Johanns (R-Neb.) and Casey (D-Pa.), authorizes a DMSP review at the end of the five-year Farm Bill. A second, offered by Gillibrand, extends the Milk Income Loss Contract (MILC) program through June 2013, at a reduced rate, to provide a safety net while USDA implements the Dairy Producer Margin Protection Program (DPMPP, or margin insurance program). To view a copy of the bill and amendments, visit www.ag.senate.gov/legislation. 

Earlier in the week, dairy company members of the International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA) held a Capitol Hill press briefing, urging the Senate to remove DMSP from the Senate bill. Participants included Miriam Erickson Brown, Anderson Erickson Dairy; Jon Davis, Davisco Foods Int.; and David Ahlem, Hilmar Cheese. They described potential negative impacts on consumer prices and dairy product exports. Audio and written copies of remarks are available at www.idfa.org.

Not far away from the Senate Ag Committee meeting, U.S. Rep. Thomas J. Rooney (R-Fla.), chair of the House Ag Committee's subcommittee on livestock, dairy and poultry, also held a hearing on dairy policy in the 2012 Farm Bill on April 26. The full House Ag Committee is expected to write its version of a 2012 Farm Bill later this spring. Five people provided testimony at the hearing:

* Scott Brown, University of Missouri. Brown provided economic analysis of potential outcomes if DMSP and DPMPP were implemented.

* Patrick Joseph "Joe" Wright, V&W Farms, on behalf of South east Milk, Inc. He supported almost all provisions of the dairy title except DMSP, due to the milk deficit environment in the Southeast.

* Tom Barcellos, Western United Dairymen (WUD). He urged inclusion of feed costs at the point of use (rather than a national average price) in determining margins under DPMPP. WUD's proposal would use the average feed costs from the 10 highest milk-producing states when determining margins. He also spoke against elimination of payment limit exemptions, which would make the margin insurance program less size neutral. And, he said, recent voluntary efforts by California cooperatives to reduce production should not be used to determine milk volume bases under a supplemental margin insurance program, which uses a one-year history, rather than a three-year history under the basic margin insurance plan.

* John Davis, Davisco Foods Int., on behalf of International Dairy Foods Association. Davis spoke against DMSP, urging a margin insurance program without supply management.

* Jerry Kozak, National Milk Producers Federation. Kozak spoke in favor of the dairy title, which is based on NMPF's FFTF program, saying it had produced more consensus within the U.S. dairy producer community than previous dairy policy proposals.

 

Free Hoards Webinar on Long-Term Impacts of Calf Feeding May 14

The Hoard's Dairyman webinar series is brought to you by Hoard's Dairyman and Mike Hutjens of the University of Illinois. They are held the second Monday of each month, and broadcasted from noon until 1:00 p.m. central time (1 PM - 2 PM EST). Once registered, you can join the webinar up to 15 minutes ahead of the start time. This will allow you time to check for sound levels and screen dynamics.

The next webinar will be held on May 14 is covering the topic of "Long-term impacts of calf feeding." The webinar will be presented by Dr. Mike Van Amburgh from Cornell University, and the event is sponsored by Merck Animal Health.

IPDP Corporate Sponsors

There is a growing list of companies that recognize IPDP's value to Indiana's dairy industry. Please visit our list of companies that have become Corporate Sponsors for only $100. If you know of a company that may have an interest in supporting IPDP at some level, please download a brochure here.