 DV Management News
How is your 2050 plan coming along?
Director, Global Research and Marketing
Diamond V
It's always good to step back from time to time and look at the big picture. Doing so can help us take stock of what our day-to-day work as agricultural producers--and those who supply them--really means beyond the everyday tasks of planning, managing, measuring, trouble shooting and just plain getting stuff done.
We all know that the world population by 2050 is projected to be 9.6 billion people, compared to 7.2 billion today. That means total agricultural production must increase 1.75% each year in order to double by 2050, to satisfy total estimated food demand. Current estimates of 1.84% show we actually may be surpassing that annual figure right now. Can we keep it going?
In particular, protein consumption--meat, poultry, dairy--will increase by two-thirds, especially as developing countries advance and demand more high-quality protein in their diets.
These daunting projections are combined with the reality that crop land and land for livestock production certainly will not expand at the same pace, if at all, for a variety of economic and geopolitical reasons.
So, with that in mind, everything we can do together to safely and efficiently bolster production using finite resources is the order of the day. At Diamond V, our research, field trials, consultation, product development and partnerships with producers are all aimed toward this single goal. And, as current trends and production metrics are indicating, by this time 37 years from now, we will hopefully be accomplishing this heady global imperative.
As always, we appreciate your readership of DairyAdvisor and always welcome your input.
Kind regards,
Mike
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| Producer Spotlight
The numbers tell the story
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Jason Dores, Arlan Vander Woude and William Vander Woude
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Who: Arlan Vander Woude
What: Vander Woude Dairy, with 3200 cows and a staff of 20, in partnership with his brother, Simon.
Where: Merced, CA
When: Built in 2005
Always measuring. Always changing: The Vander Woude dairy is a study in change management, all in pursuit of greater efficiency and productivity. "We're always changing something," said Arlan.
Some examples include a recent focus on genomics, reduction in calf mortality rates and greater attention to milk components.
Show me the numbers: With Diamond V Original XP in the ration several years ago, the dairy opted to remove it in order to reduce ration costs. However, with Vander Woude Dairy heavily committed to production metrics and analysis, it was agreed to allow Diamond V to conduct a 45-day on-farm trial on late lactation cows.
The trials tracked daily feed intake and milk production of a control group vs. a group fed a TMR including Diamond V. The findings were presented to the Vander Woude team: Income Over Feed Cost (IOFC) was $0.24 /cow/day greater for the Diamond V group over the control group. Now the entire herd is fed a Diamond V-inclusive ration.
The future: It's simple, according to Arlan: "We're always looking for efficiencies."
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See us at these industry events
AFIA Liquid Feed Symposium
Sept. 10-12
St. Louis
AABP
Sept. 19-21
Milwaukee
ADSA Discover Conference - Feed Efficiency
Sept. 23-26
Naperville, IL
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 Diamond V
The Trusted Experts in Nutrition and Health™
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2525 60th Ave. SW
Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52404
1-800-373-7234
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