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April 2010 Patron Newsletter
To: FDA Members, Association Creamery Members, Employees, and Milk Haulers From: Clint Subject: FDA Update The March Class III price was announced by USDA at $12.78/cwt., down $1.50/cwt. from February, although up $2.00/cwt. from March 2009. The average five year Class III price for the month of March is $13.48/cwt. Unfortunately, Class III prices have declined significantly since December as a result of weak commodity markets during January, February, and March. The barrel cheese price bottomed out in early March at $1.25 /lb. The average barrel and block market for the month of March was $1.28/lb. and $1.30/lb. respectively. Cheese prices on the CME began increasing during the last week of March with nice ongoing positive momentum peaking at $1.455 for barrels and $1.5100 for blocks on April 8. Unfortunately, the up and down roller coaster, once again, began a downward trend on Friday April 9. As of April 14, the barrel and block market settled at $1.3850 /lb. and $1.4325 /lb. respectively. The dairy industry continues to be challenged with slow demand recovery in domestic food service and foreign exports. In addition, US milk production levels during February recorded a slight increase from one year ago along with heifer and cow numbers remaining strong nationwide. The USDA recently reported near record volumes of cheese in commercial cold storage warehouses, although, according to Dairy and Food Market Analyst, Jerry Dryer, "Commercial disappearance of milk and dairy products moved sharply higher during January and was up almost 1% during the most recently reported three months." It is hard to believe that FDA is entering the third quarter of its current 2010 fiscal year. The FDA Board of Directors and staff understand the concern, challenges, and frustration our members are experiencing with low commodity markets and extreme volatility. We want to assure our member owners that FDA staff and employees are working diligently to maximize production efficiencies, milk prices, and FDA’s financial strength. FDA produced over 12 million pounds of cheese in March and processed a record 119 million pounds of milk. FDA members produced over 150 million pounds of raw milk during March. In addition, FDA produced over 2 million lbs. WPC and 2.5 million lbs. of lactose during March. FDA is operating at record levels while keeping our employee numbers flat. Fortunately, FDA sales continue to be very strong and in good balance with production and inventory. FDA’s evaporator project is moving forward on schedule and on budget at this time. This has undoubtedly been the largest project our cooperative and staff have undertaken in recent years and we are anxiously looking forward to commissioning the new equipment in June. FDA continues to work with state and federal agencies on possible bonding (stimulus funding) for future projects with the hope that any available aid may provide additional assistance in justifying FDA growth projects, process efficiencies, long term financial strength and long term sustainability. FDA has unfortunately not been able to accept new members as a result of our limited production capabilities, at this time. On behalf of the FDA Board of Directors and myself, we sincerely appreciate the loyalty and confidence each of you have placed in your cooperative. We hope for a great planting season with excellent growing conditions in 2010! Please Be Safe!
Congratulations to FDA Members and FDA Association Creamery Members in the TOP 200 Minnesota low somatic cell count Dan & Jolene Schlangen - FDA Philip & Shereen Hauge - FDA Jerry & Deborah Schutz - FDA Felling Dairy - FDA Ralph or Karen Mueller - FDA David & Nancy Schuur - FDA Jeff & Wendy Middendorf - FDA Keith Middendorf - FDA Seven Pines Farm and Fence - FDA Todd Sieben - FDA Mandy - FDA Curt & Jackie Bekius - FDA Reuben & Janice Stommes - FDA Allen & Nancy Dauer - FDA Roger Gregory - FDA Paul Zierden - FDA Wilwerding Dairy Farm II - FDA Daniel Hallberg - FDA Mike Haglund - FDA Kuechle Dairy LLC - FDA David Lauer - FDA Michael & Nancy Hartung - FDA Beckman Farms Inc. - FDA Art & Jane Stumpf - Sunrise Ag. Gregory Dairy LLC - FDA Darrel Saehr - Sunrise Ag. Del & Cindy Euerle - FDA David Johnson - Sunrise Ag. Gary Felling - FDA Dan Mast - Nelson Cry. Wagner Dairy LLC - FDA Paul & Bonnie Middendorf - Nelson Cry. Jeff Blenker - FDA Dean Gabbert - Gilman Cry. Charles Klaphake - FDA Victor Roers - Pro-Ag. Cry. Second Notice European Union (E.U.) Certification The U.S. dairy industry was recently informed by USDA of upcoming changes regarding European Union (E.U.) certifications. E.U. certificates are requested by customers that market dairy products or food products with dairy ingredients into the European community. First District Association is currently able to supply valuable customers with E.U. certificates as long as the three month rolling geometric average of all FDA’s member milk remains below 400 SCC and 100,000 bacteria. A recent notice from USDA now states that the EU mandate will change requiring every producer to be below 400 SCC on a three month rolling average by October 1, 2010. This recent notice has come as a shock to the U.S. dairy industry. FDA along with other dairy processors and dairy industry trade associations are taking this recent notice from USDA extremely serious since most Midwest processors would NOT be able to provide E.U. certificates today under the new mandate possibly resulting in lower U.S. export sales and possibly weaker commodity prices. A meeting with USDA officials was held in Washington DC on March 30 to discuss this issue. USDA apologized for not informing the industry sooner and they did not realize the magnitude of the problem. Unfortunately, USDA has no jurisdiction on E.U. requirements and at the time of this writing, USDA will not sign E.U. certificates (beginning October 1) on product produced unless each patron’s milk which may have been used to produce the product sold has a two month geometric mean less than 100,000 bacteria and three month geometric mean of less than 400 SCC. We will keep our members informed on this issue as we continue to learn more.
Congratulations and Best Wishes to Darlene Wendroth Darlene Wendroth will be retiring with 28 years of service at FDA on May 31, 2010. Many of our members have visited with Darlene numerous times at the front desk, Ag Service, or most recently at the FDA lab, and at your annual meeting. All of us at FDA wish Darlene, and her husband, Bob, a well deserved, enjoyable, healthy, and blessed retirement. We will truly miss Darlene’s positive inspiration and ongoing commitment to FDA and FDA members. FDA Field Service Department and Retirement of Harold Shepersky Harold Shepersky currently works as a team member with FDA’s field service group and will be retiring April 30, 2010. Harold has worked in a number of important positions at FDA for over 19 years, and we sincerely thank Harold for his dedication and service. All of us at FDA wish Harold and his wife, Janine, a long, healthy, and enjoyable retirement. The FDA field service department is in the midst of organizational and regional changes. We are hopeful that our members are served well. We thank you for your patience as we transition toward improvements with less incurred cost to your cooperative and each FDA member. Young Cooperator of the Year FDA is very proud of our young progressive dairy farmers and their young cooperator (YC) program. If you are an FDA member and you or your spouse are less than 45 years old please consider filling out a young cooperator of the year application. The FDA young cooperator of the year will be announced at the First District Association YC banquet. This year’s banquet will be Saturday, September 25, at Greenwald Pub in Greenwald. In addition, the YC’er of the year may attend the National Milk Producer Federation annual conference. This year the NMPF conference will be held at the Grand Sierra Resort in Reno, Nevada, October 26-28, 2010. Be sure to check future newsletters for more details regarding the application and deadline. If you have any further questions, please contact Chad Thorsten at 320-221-3739. YC Summer Picnic Mark your calendars for Sunday, June 13 for the Young Cooperator’s summer picnic. This year’s picnic will be hosted by the Kolb Family Farm by St. Martin. Please watch May’s newsletter for further details. MILC Payment Rates and Projections 2010 Projected Payment January - February - March - April $0.2115 May $0.1755 June - July - August - September - October - November - December - Why you need to know about somatic cell counts From Lisa Hensel - Quality Assurance Manager Article by Thomas Quaife / Dairy Herd Managementhttp://www.dairyherd.com/mastitis.asp?ts=ma&pgID=724&ed_id=8719 When you get sick, your body fights the infection by producing immune cells. Cows are no different — their bodies create immune cells whenever there is infection or disease. These cells include white blood cells, also known as somatic cells. Somatic cells show up throughout the body as part of the cow’s natural defense system, which means they are in the milk the cow produces.You can measure somatic cells in the milk. It’s good if the cow has somatic cell counts of 100,000 or less — it means the cow is probably free of a particular form of infection known as mastitis. But as counts go higher, it could be a sign of mastitis.It’s difficult to keep every cow at this level. But it is possible to keep the herd average at 200,000 or below if everyone pitches in and does a really good job. That should be the goal. When somatic cell counts rise much higher than 200,000, it means two things: - The herd is not as productive as it should be.- Milk quality is suffering. Research has shown as the somatic count number goes up, the herd loses more milk. If the herd averages a somatic cell count of 400,000, it is losing approximately 3 pounds of milk per cow per day, compared to having no mastitis at all. When somatic cell count rises to 800,000, the loss increases to about 4.5 pounds per cow per day. Those losses can really add up over hundreds of cows! And, everyone down the line pays a price. The people who make cheese can’t get as much cheese out of milk that is high in somatic cell count. The taste of the milk may suffer. And, high-somatic-cell-count milk will spoil faster if it sits on store shelves too long. Some cheese plants offer more money for milk that is low in somatic cell count, or else penalize producers for milk that is high in somatic cell count. That is why the farm owner insists on keeping somatic cell count low — it really does make a difference. What is mastitis? If you fall down and scrape your arm, you may get an infection — especially if dirt and bacteria get into the wound. Cows have their own form of infection known as mastitis. It occurs when certain germs get onto the teat ends of the cow and then work their way into the udder. There are two forms of mastitis: - Environmental- ContagiousEnvironmental mastitis occurs through environmental contact. For instance, a cow may come into contact with bacteria in a free-stall barn by being around manure or contaminated bedding. Contagious mastitis usually occurs in the milking parlor when cows come into contact with milking equipment that has been contaminated by other cows. In each case, cleanliness is very important.You want to keep the teats as clean and dry as possible. So, when the boss tells you to pre-dip and then wipe off the teats thoroughly before milking, he is doing it for a reason.You may also be asked to "strip" the teats prior to milking. This is to see if cows have clinical mastitis or not. Cows with clinical mastitis have abnormal milk and signs of disease and you need to let the boss know which cows these are so they can receive treatment. FUTURES MARKET First District Association will forward contract milk based on Class III futures for FDA members and customers who desire to lock in base values for milk. First District Association also provides a valuable option for interested and qualified members to "Average Price" a portion of their deliveries. This process allows for a smooth cash flow with level prices. Market information can be obtained by accessing the FDA Internet web page at www.firstdistrict.com, calling our voice mail system toll-free at 1-866-593-4235 or locally dial 593-4235, phoning Blimling and Associates at 1-800-726-9928, or contact Glenn Kaping at (320) 593-4239.
YOUR WANT ADS Individual or team available for relief milking. Call 320-221-0597 For Sale: Net wrap, plastic twine, sisal twine, bale film, silage bags, bunker covers, oxygen barrier film and propionic acid. Call Chris at Blue Lake Plastics. 320-352-2639 For Sale: Holstein springing heifers (16) due April, May, June from 23500# DHIA herd. AI sired and bred to Select Sires. 507-964-5749 For Sale: Purebred Border Collie puppies. $125.00. Parents are good working cattle dogs. 320-221-1219 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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