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VOLUME XVIII, NO. 4 |
TEXAS DAIRY REVIEW |
APRIL 2009 |
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No Joke: “7th CWT herd retirement program kicks off on “Fool’s Day
Southwest Dairy Day to exhibit modern trends Nonfat dry milk to be utilized Strong faith, determination and resolve shape dairy woman’s outlook and future Trichomoniasis interstate rules effective April 1 NMPF amends USDA proposal with “grandfather” exemption
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No Joke: “7th CWT herd retirement program kicks off on “Fool’s Day |
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The good news dairymen have anxiously been awaiting is no April Fool’s Day joke. Cooperatives Working Together (CWT) has begun its latest herd retirement round starting April 1 through May 1, 2009. This is the seventh herd retirement round since CWT began operations in the summer of 2003. News of CWT’s actions is a much-needed step intended to help relieve the plight of America’s dairy farmers who have been tremendously suffering from rock bottom milk prices. “We all recognize that 2009 is shaping up to be among the toughest years on record for dairy farmers, but CWT will help shorten the price plunge farmers are facing, and speed the recovery,” said Jerry Kozak, president and CEO of National Milk Producers Federation, that manages CWT.
As in recent herd retirements, Kozak said CWT has no set target for the volume of milk or the number of cows to be removed in this round. Participating dairy farmers will have the option of offering all of their bred heifers at a flat price of $700 per animal. This offer is considerably lower than in the 5th round, ending June 30, 2008, that for the first time offered a flat fee for bred heifers of $1050. The price increased to $1,225 per animal in the 6th round that ended Dec. 30, 2008, but has dropped to nearly half of that for the 7th round. In addition, there are two program rule changes in this round: 1. Members of CWT whose bids were accepted in a previous round may bid again in this round. This is a one‐time exception to the exclusion affecting prior participants in the program. 2. Producers whose bids are accepted in the next and future herd retirements will be paid in two installments: 90% of the amount bid times the producer’s 12 months of milk production when it is verified that that all cows have gone to slaughter, and the remaining 10% plus interest at the end of 12 months following the farm audit, IF both the producer and his dairy facility – whether owned or leased – do not become involved in the commercial production and marketing of milk during that period. As always, CWT staff will continue to use the program’s funds wisely,” Kozak said. “Dairy farmers hoping to have their bids accepted should fully recognize the competitive nature of the bidding process and be realistic in determining the value of their cows when preparing their bids,” he said. “Whether CWT will remove a significant number of dairy animals will depend on the number of bids received and the price level of those bids. CWT will not pay more for cows than what they are currently worth in the marketplace.” Detailed information can be found at www.cwt.coop, including bid forms, an interactive bid calculator to help estimate a farmer’s bid, and answers to frequently‐asked questions. All bids must be postmarked by Friday, May 1st, in order to be considered. All dairy producers submitting bids to sell their herds must be members of CWT effective January 2009, either through their membership in a fully participating cooperative, or as an independent member of CWT. For more information, call 888-Info-CWT (888-463-6298). Cooperatives Working Together is being funded by dairy cooperatives and individual dairy farmers, who are contributing 10 cents per hundredweight assessment on their milk production through December 2010. The money raised by CWT’s investment is being apportioned between two supply management programs that strengthen and stabilize the national all milk price. For more on CWT’s activities, visit www.cwt.coop. |
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Southwest Dairy Day to exhibit modern trends |
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Southwest Dairy Day, provided by Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service and the Alan VanderHorst family, is coming next month so mark your calendars to make plans to attend. This one-day event, patterned after the previous southwest dairy field days that occurred up through the year 2000, has been brought back with enthusiasm and zest by Dr. Todd Billby, dairy specialist for TAMU AgriLife Extension and Research in Stephenville, and other extension personnel. Billby said he expects the event will draw more than 500 people and approximately 50 vendors. The activity-filled show will be at Sierra Dairy, owned by Alan VanderHorst, in Dublin, on May 8, from 10 a.m. until 3 p.m. Dairymen will earn 2 DOPA credits for attending the event. Dairy Max and Southwest Dairy Farmers are sponsors for the event with additional sponsors welcomed, Billby said. Booth spaces are available under a large tent for industry suppliers and vendors. An 8X10 space booth is $500, with an additional booth for $250. Tractors, feed trucks and other equipment space are available outside the tent for $100. The deadline for reserving booth space is April 8. The VanderHorst facility is a large multifaceted complex that includes three dairies. Sierra Dairy is a 3500 cow operation that includes a 60 stall rotary parlor. Spectators will be allowed to view a freestall barn and learn about a 3-way cross breeding program. Guest speaker Dr. Saquib Mukhtar will give a talk on the weeping wall that includes a manure separation system followed by Dr. Sam Feagley who will discuss manure spreader calibration. Both professors are from Texas A&M University at College Station. Bus tours will be available for the 2300 cow Windmill Farms operation that includes a cross-ventilated cow barn. Sequoia Dairy is a 960 calf raising facility that will host the newest information for cow comfort and cooling. Lunch will be served by Cook’s Fish Barn and a jumping castle is available for children. For additional information, call Choyia Holley at 254-968-4144, ext. 211, or email c-holley@tamu.edu. |
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MILC payments are on the way |
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Because of low dairy prices across the country, producers participating in USDA's Milk Income Loss Contract (MILC) program will begin to receive payments. USDA Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack said the MILC payments are to ensure dairy producers have the financial assistance they need and the action will also stimulate local economies. USDA makes MILC payments on a monthly basis when the Boston Class I milk price falls below $16.94 per hundredweight as adjusted for feed costs. USDA determines the per hundredweight payment rate for the applicable month by subtracting the Boston Class I price for that month from the $16.94 MILC payment trigger price, established in the 2008 Farm Bill, as adjusted for feed costs, and multiplying the difference by 45 percent. The monthly Boston price along with final MILC payment rates are posted online at: http://www.fsa.usda.gov/FSA The MILC payment trigger price of $16.94 is adjusted upward when the National Average Dairy Feed Ration Cost for a month is greater than $7.35 per cwt. USDA's National Agricultural Statistics Service released the data for determining the Average Dairy Feed Ration Cost for the month of February on March 30, 2009. Using this information and the formula contained in the 2008 Act, the MILC payment trigger for the month of February has been adjusted to $17.33, for a final MILC payment rate of $1.5132. Beginning April 1, USDA expects to issue approximately $150 million to dairy producers for milk produced in February. USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service announced the Boston Class I price for the month of March on Feb. 20, 2009 and for the month of April on March 20, 2009. In both instances, the Boston Class I price was below the MILC payment trigger price of $16.94 per cwt. USDA expects to issue MILC payments on milk produced in March in early May and MILC payments on milk produced in April in early June, after USDA has adjusted the MILC payment trigger price for feed costs and determined the final payment rate for those months. MILC payments may also be triggered in future months if the MILC payment trigger price is below $16.94 per cwt. Farm Service Agency (FSA) makes payments up to the maximum eligible pounds of milk produced and marketed by each operation per fiscal year. The annual maximum eligible pound limit per dairy operation is 2,985,000 pounds per fiscal year. For more information about the MILC program, please visit your FSA county office or http://www.fsa.usda.gov. |
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Nonfat dry milk to be utilized |
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With a flailing dairy industry at hand, a necessary and positive step has been taken by USDA’s Secretary Tom Vilsack, who has directed 200 million pounds of nonfat dry milk to the federal school lunch program and to food banks. Additional quantities of powdered milk may also be directed for use in foreign food aid programs. The movement of the powdered milk out of USDA storage will eliminate a source of surplus dairy products that could overhang commercial markets and delay a recovery of dairy farm prices, which were on average, below $1 per gallon in March. “This is an important first step taken by Secretary Vilsack to use the resources of the USDA to help address the economic crisis facing dairy farmers, who right now are suffering from punishingly low milk prices. Using government surpluses in a way that doesn’t displace commercial dairy sales benefits everyone served by these programs,” said Jerry Kozak, president & CEO of National Milk Producers Federation. Kozak thanked the many members of Congress who also weighed in with the USDA, urging the agency to move aggressively to confront sagging dairy prices. Kozak said USDA should consider using other available tools such as purchasing additional quantities of consumer‐ready dairy products, like process cheeses and infant formula, for use in feeding programs through the so called Section 32 program. Kozak also renewed the request NMPF made in January to resurrect the USDA’s dormant Dairy Export Incentive Program, to help boost overseas sales of U.S. dairy products in certain markets. “We recognize it takes time for the government to implement a multi‐pronged approach to deal with the price depression confronting dairy farmers,” Kozak said. “We look forward to continue working with the Obama Administration, and those in the USDA and other agencies, identifying more tools that the government can use.” |
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Strong faith, determination and resolve shape dairy woman’s outlook and future |
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Unsuspecting “curve ball” When life throws a “curve ball,” it sometimes becomes a true test of faith, willpower, and determination. Although no one will ever know why such “tests” occur, Hedy Leyendekker understands fully how life must go on, no matter how bad the situation. “I sometimes feel cheated because he was taken so young,” Hedy said, deep in thought about her husband, John, who died at age 47. “But, all you can do is believe there is a good reason, and go on.” As an upbeat, positive-minded person whose sincere aura of goodness seems to shine through, it is obvious John’s death is still painful for her. But, between brief moments of sadness, she is still able to laugh freely and does not seem to mind sharing her thoughts about John as a husband, father and dairy producer. Hedy’s world stops
Married for 21 years, Hedy’s world stopped in 2005 when John was suddenly diagnosed with cancer. The Leyendekkers had worked hard to fulfill their dream of raising their four children and owning their 750-cow dairy in the small and quiet community of Selden near Stephenville. The Leyendekkers were a husband and wife team who worked alongside each other every day. After John’s prognosis that determined he had only a short time to live, he spent endless hours talking to Hedy about the children and the dairy operation, trying to prepare her for what would follow after his death. “I took pages and pages of notes,” Hedy said. “He even told me what kind of oil to use in the tractor,” she said with a smile. But, there was never a question about whether she would keep the dairy. Hedy lived in the moment During his last months, Hedy said she lived “in the moment,” treasuring the time they had left together and making him as comfortable as possible. “I was more worried about his pain than the dairy or anything else,” she said. But, as the mother of four children and with dairy responsibilities to be carried out daily, life had to go on as John progressively grew worse. Hedy spent her days and nights nursing John at home while going through the motions at the dairy and trying to comfort her children who were taking their father’s illness as badly as she. Wedding plans put off At the time, Nelly, their oldest child and only daughter, now 23, was engaged to be married but put off her wedding so she could spend time with her father. She and her brother, Sidney, now 21, took turns being with their father so he was never alone, as well as her brothers Steve, now 19, and Cody, 15, who was only 12 when John died in April 2006. When Nelly married Rusty Diciccio, about a year later, Hedy proudly but sadly walked her daughter down the aisle. “That was so hard to do,” Hedy said. The moment of truth Hedy said the dairy was a major part of her life and with the strong support of her children, she felt secure she could manage it. But, when the moment of truth arrived, she described it as “a very scary feeling” to know she would be going on alone as the sole provider for her family. She gives credit to her faith in God and church, the help of close friends and family, and her children for giving her the strength she needed to make it through the rough times and to take care of business. “John and I had always discussed everything and when I realized he would not be there to help me make decisions, it was heartbreaking,” she said. Hedy and John both came from dairy backgrounds. She was one of ten children who had grown up on a dairy in Holland and when she married John there was no question they would pursue dairying as a way of life. John’s dream was to move to the U.S. and in 1984, after being married only a year, they packed up and made their way to California to work for his uncle. “I was so homesick,” Hedy recalls. “It was a new country. It was all different and strange and I said I’d give it one year. But, I stuck it out,” she laughed. The Leyendekkers in Erath County In 1986, the Leyendekkers moved to Erath County to become part of a booming dairy population. After initially dairying at the Whitis Dairy near Lingleville, they began building their own dairy at Selden. In 1994, their dairy was completed and they anxiously moved in. The dairy is situated on 320 rolling acres atop a hill. The milk parlor is a double 12 Herringbone where the cows are milked twice a day and housed in a 700 cow free stall barn. The Leyendekkers grow their own hay and currently have about 200 acres planted in Tifton. A day in Hedy’s life
With no idle time allowed, a day in the life of Hedy begins at 6 a.m. with a strong brew of coffee. “I have to have my coffee,” she laughed. Then, she goes outside to feed John’s prized and beautiful Friesian horses. “I’ve been asked why I don’t sell them, but I just can’t,” she said, “because they were John’s.” Hedy’s morning is spent going to the barn where she checks the dry cows, gets the fresh cows out, feeds the baby calves, checks the sick cow pen, pushes the feed up with a tractor, sometimes mows, periodically goes back into the house to make phone calls for feed price shopping, maintains the dairy records, and in between times handles the household chores and oversees the needs of her children. “It never ends,” she said. “But, John taught me a lot and when I have to make a decision, I always think ‘what would John do?’ “ Hedy does not view her massive workload as more burdensome than what many other dairy women do. “But, you have to love it,” she said. “If you don’t, you couldn’t make it work.” Family support The Leyendekker children were taught family values at a young age. They support their mother’s efforts in every way. “There is no ‘that’s your job,’ or ‘this is my job,’” Hedy said. “The kids were always with us at the dairy and we all know what has to be done, and we do it.” Sidney, the oldest son, lives at home and attends Tarleton State University (TSU). He also works part time as a tractor mechanic but helps on the dairy when needed. Steve lives at home and works on the dairy alongside Hedy. Steve is a 2008 graduate of Stephenville High School. Cody is a freshman at Stephenville High School and enjoys spending time at the dairy. Nelly and Rusty have made their home in Dublin. Nelly is a TSU graduate and is currently working on her master’s degree. One of Hedy’s proudest moments recently is when she earned her U.S. citizenship. “I wanted to get it since all my children are American citizens and I wanted the privilege to vote.” “I didn’t want to let go.”
Hedy was John’s partner in life and on the dairy. She holds on to John’s memory strongly but also knows that life must move on for her and her children. “There’s a time to cry and a time not to cry,” she said. “I didn’t want to give him up. Sometimes, I may be smiling on the outside, but my heart is still broken.” She said she will always wonder why his life was cut so short. “But, you learn to deal with it,” she said softly. “You never know what’s going to happen.” As for her children, Hedy said she will not force them to continue dairying if they choose to do something different. As for their mother, no matter what path Hedy may take in the future, the Leyendekker children said, “We just want her to be happy.” |
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Trichomoniasis interstate rules effective April 1 |
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The interstate, or state-to-state movement phase of the trichomoniasis regulations, began April 1, 2009. The second phase of the program that addresses in-state movement of Texas breeding bulls will go into effect January 1, 2010. State health officials report cattle trichomoniasis is not a human health issue. In the first phase of the program now in effect, breeding bulls entering Texas must be officially identified, and may come certified as virgins, provided they are 24 months of age or younger, and have not commingled with female cattle. A breeder’s certificate must accompany the virgin breeding bull, signed by the breeder, and the information also must be included on the certificate of veterinary inspection. Routine documents also are required including the certificate of veterinary inspection and other applicable tuberculosis or brucellosis entry requirements must be met, depending on the state of origin or if the bull is a beef or dairy animal. Non-virgin breeding bulls or bulls older than 24 months of age entering Texas on and after April 1 must be tested negative for trichomoniasis within 30 days prior to entry. During the test period and prior to shipment, the bulls must have no contact with female cattle. Like virgin bulls, the non-virgin bulls must be officially identified with a breed registry tattoo or brand, a USDA metal ear tag, official RFID tag, official trichomoniasis ear tag from the state of origin, or other official identification. The animal must be accompanied by a completed trichomoniasis test document, certificate of veterinary inspection and other routine health documents. The entry requirements are part of a regulatory package adopted by the commissioners for the Texas Animal Health Commission (TAHC), the state’s livestock and poultry health regulatory agency, to address trichomoniasis, a venereal disease of cattle that causes infertility and abortions and results in extended breeding seasons and diminished calf crops, costing livestock producers valuable income. The regulatory components of the Texas’ Cattle Trichomoniasis Program will focus only on breeding bulls, which, even when infected, continue to appear and act normally. Under the new regulations, Trichomoniasis also becomes a reportable disease in Texas, which will give us more information on where and how much infection already is in the state,” explained Dr. Bob Hillman, executive director of the TAHC. “There is no effective treatment or vaccine for bulls, and as they age, the surface of their organs becomes more hospitable to the protozoa, perpetuating the infection.” Hillman said although the primary impact of the disease is on cows, which can become infected during breeding and lose the fetus, the cow herd is not included in the regulations. “The majority of infected cows will clear the infection, if they are given 120 – 150 days of sexual rest. A vaccine also can be administered to infected cows to help control the disease in the cow herd.” The majority of producers who commented on the proposed rule and members of the working group recommended the disease in the cow herd be managed through information and education efforts. Producers with infected herds should consult with their veterinarian to determine the most appropriate measures to employ to eliminate the disease from their herds. In-State Breeding Bull Regulations Begin Jan. 1, 2010 The second phase of the Texas Cattle Trichomoniasis Program will begin January 1, 2010, and will require Texas breeding bulls offered for sale, lease, exchange or otherwise change possession for breeding within the state be certified as virgin bulls or be tested negative prior to selling, loaning, exchanging, giving or otherwise changing the possession of a breeding bull. (No test or certification is required for bulls shipped or sold directly to slaughter.) “The TAHC Commissioners delayed the implementation of the intrastate, or in-state movement requirements, to January 1, 2010, to provide time to certify veterinarians to perform all components of the Trichomoniasis program, and to ensure producers are familiar with the disease, its implication to herd health, and the requirements for testing or certifying the virgin status of Texas breeding bulls undergoing change of possession,” noted Dr. Hillman. |
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NMPF amends USDA proposal with “grandfather” exemption |
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National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF) on Jan. 30 submitted a petition to the USDA to eliminate the producer-handler exemption in all Federal Milk Marketing Orders. In the proposal by NMPF and International Dairy Foods Association, large producer-handlers bottling more than 450,000 pounds of milk per month would no longer be able to circumvent minimum pricing and region-wide pooling provisions. The USDA said in February, it would consider initiation of a formal rulemaking proceeding that could include a public hearing to collect evidence regarding the proposed changes. NMPF had expressed its belief that all milk bottlers across the country should be regulated under the same rules, based on their impact on the market, and the rules need to be adjusted in light of the growing number of huge mega-farms that can exploit a loophole in milk pricing regulations. Still supporting its original proposal, NMPF most recently proposed to amend exempt handler provisions in the Federal Milk Marketing Orders to provide a “grandfather” exemption from pooling for current producer-handlers up to 3 million pounds per month. NMPF proposes route disposition and sales of packaged fluid milk products by such plants may be no more than 3,000,000 pounds per month and most of the current conditions for producer-handlers must be met. In addition, the provisions are tightened to disallow ownership of other farms or other distributing plants by the owner of a plant exempted under this proposal. This may also require conforming language similar to that now used to classify receipts of and from producer-handlers. This proposal, implemented simultaneously with NMPF’s previously proposed elimination of the producer-handler provision, would reduce the regulatory impact on numerous small businesses. Regulatory risk is a part of doing business, and NMPF said it believes that USDA has a clear right to regulate any and all distributing plants, provided that such regulation meets the objectives of the Federal orders. NMPF said it believes it is crucial to regulate all large producer-handlers and to stem the proliferation of middle-sized producer-handlers, either of which will disorder marketing through their large volumes of non-pooled Class I milk. However, NMPF stated it also believes the benefits to orderly marketing of regulating smaller existing producer-handlers, whose volume is presently limited, are outweighed by the negative impact on those businesses, and will trust to time to further reduce the impact of this proposed exemption. |
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