On August 28, 2014, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced details for a long-awaited and much-improved safety net for dairy farmers. Developed by the National Milk Producers Federation and five years in the making, the new Dairy Margin Protection Program, or MPP, is the most significant rewrite of dairy policy in more than a generation. Sign-up started September 2, 2014, and continues through November 28, 2014.

Very soon, IDP will be announcing dates for several informational meetings, to be held in November. We will be partnering with the Farm Service Agency and Purdue University Extension to bring these valuable resources to Indiana dairy farmers. In the meantime, you can participate in a margin protection calculator and learn much more about the program by visiting National Milk Producers Federation website, here.

Indiana's Farm Service Agency Director, Julia Wickard, has posted a press release about MPP here.

The 2014 World Dairy Expo will be here before you know it! Why not get it on your calendar, make some hotel reservations and plan to attend an educational seminar or two? With their expanding trade show, this is probably your best opportunity this year to research major or minor purchases for your dairy operation. Also, this is the first year for the brand-new livestock facilities, the New Holland Pavilions! Click here for more details!

 

Dr. Temple Grandin will participate in a public discussion at Fair Oaks Farms' The Farmhouse Restaurant.  Grandin will discuss reducing fear and stress in animals, breeding, handling stress in livestock, and gestation stalls.   A question and answer session will follow Dr. Grandin's presentation. The event is October 21 from 2pm to 4pm Central Time. Check out Fair Oaks Farms Website for updated information about this event as it becomes available. 

October 6th, 2014, 12:00 PM Central time

Click here for webinar details. 

 

Phil Durst and Stan Moore will discuss the results of phone interviews with 158 employees from 11 dairy farms, including:

• Employee turnover rate and employee engagement
• Management makes a difference
• Focus employees on achieving performance standards
• Providing opportunities to learn and develop
• Language and cultural barriers

 

There are a lot of exciting things happening in dairy promotion right now. A dairy farm kid from Indiana is starring in a video created by Disney! Ten-year-old Jenna Kelsay stars in this video talking about her family's dairy farm and giving farm tours.  

Jenna, a Dairy Farmer | Citizen Kid by Disney

 

Domino's is a partner of your dairy checkoff program and the company continues to grow more excited about connecting pizza with dairy farming. Watch the commercial here:  

Domino's TV Commercial

 

The American Dairy Association Indiana celebrated another successful year at the Indiana State Fair in 2014. The Dairy Bar, run by your dairy checkoff, is the State Fair's only permanent concession stand and is often touted as the "best value on the fairgrounds". This year, the Dairy Bar sold about 68,000 milkshakes, 38,000 grilled cheese sandwiches, and 15,000 glasses of milk.

      For at least the past 3 years, the beef check-off has seen income reduced requiring significant budget cuts. In Indiana, we believe that 50% of the beef check-off dollars now come from dairy culls and calves.  A national working group has been meeting, attempting to reorganize the beef checkoff. They have been discussing issues like raising the checkoff from $1 to $2 per head, and trying to come to consensus on who controls how policy is determined.
     Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said Sept. 15 that he is so frustrated with the inability of the working group to come up with a proposal for the beef checkoff program that he may use his own authority to make changes.

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Canola meal - Canola as a protein source is a major player this year for a lot of dairies. Some new to the ingredient, others have used it for years. With soybean meal difficult to source and a very high priced protein, the advantage is showing its colors to use canola meal in the diets. This product is both in meal and pellet form available. This month has raised a little tightness recently but we do have a good supply available, give ZFS a call for shipments to IN/MI/KY/OH/WI as our warehouses are stocked. The crop will harvest this month, late, though processing margins are not good, which may give more strength in the basis vs. soybean meal. There are contracts with Basis only or Priced offerings available thru 2015 with a good spread holding to soybean meal.

Cottonseed - the crop seems to be getting bigger as time goes on with good weather playing a large part of that growth. South TX has started harvest and ginning slowly. We anticipate the SE U.S. to start ginning on the first of Oct. to begin shipments to the Midwest region thereafter. Prices have tumbled for new crop offers along with the oilseed market and sbm futures.  This protein/fiber/fat source may play back into some rations that have pushed it out the past year.  

Citrus pulp pellets - this product still finds its way into diets as a sugar, energy, fiber source and is available thru Dec., then new crop offers start Jan-May and so forth. Prices have held strong with the drought in CA still ongoing. We have prices available for spot and new crop contracts.

Beet pulp pellets and Wet pulp - Sugar beet harvest began last week, and there is a good offering on beet pulp pellets thru Aug. 2015. A good fiber source for the diet, it is also available in wet form, 75% moisture now thru Feb. only.

Gluten feed -  The gluten feed market is highly fragmented. As we move from one crop year to another there seems to be a lot of uncertainty in the market.  With quiet export markets at this time, look to gluten moving more towards a similar values in comparison to corn versus the last couple of years of inflated values.  Most processors are not looking to book a full clock value due to the export uncertainty.  That said, soon they will need to keep things moving along with new crop corn harvest and sweetener sales on the horizon.  Nearby gluten has seen some softening at $10-15 decrease.  Wet and dry are available.

Hominy - processors are showing new crop offerings thru December. This product works similar to ground corn would, but comes ready to feed. With corn showing weaker basis levels into harvest, pressure is on for these processors to come off their offers as well to keep it in the dairy diets.

Soyhulls  - as soybean processors creep along with few beans, and some have been on shutdown this month, soyhulls have tighted up in the market. We look for them to loosen as beans roll north into plants as harvest begins in other states. There are good offerings for new crop pellets and shall get a little more pressure at harvest time to coincide with other ingredients.

More details coming, but save the date!