WISCONSIN

Groups ask for Senate hearing on farmers’ co-op
Organizations are alleging the nation’s largest dairy cooperative has engaged in unfair business practices.

The 25 agriculture and consumer groups are asking the U.S. Senate for immediate public hearings on the cooperative, Dairy Farmers of America.

The cooperative had record revenue of $11 billion in 2007, up $3.6 billion from 2006. But dairy plant closures and the revaluation of the cooperative’s past investments resulted in charges of nearly $145 million and a net annual loss of about $109 million.

The Wisconsin groups asking the Senate for greater oversight of the cooperative include Family Farm Defenders, The Cornucopia Institute and the American Raw Milk Producers Pricing Association.

Co-op president Rick Smith says they don’t believe they’ve violated any laws.

—From AP newswire report

CALIFORNIA

Almost 5,000 California cows to be slaughtered to control bovine tuberculosis
More than 4,800 dairy cows at risk of carrying tuberculosis (TB) are being slaughtered in central California, where nearly 16,000 cattle in the country’s largest milk-producing region have been quarantined, federal officials said.

Undersecretary of Agriculture Bruce Knight met privately with local dairy operators along with the state veterinarian and other industry officials monitoring three new cases of TB recently discovered in Fresno County dairies.

One dairy owner has accepted a USDA buyout of up to $3,000 a head, and his cows are headed for slaughterhouses. The two other dairies are weighing whether to operate under quarantines that could last for years.

One of the affected dairies milks more than 10,000 cows and sells semen and embryos from high-production cows and bulls internationally. The operation faces losing 50 years of genetic development if the dairy operator chooses to slaughter his cattle, said Michael March, chief executive of Western United Dairymen.

A routine inspection of a slaughterhouse cow in January found TB lesions on its lymph nodes, prompting the California Department of Food and Agriculture’s inspection of 150,000 cattle so far. Ninety percent of infected cattle do not show symptoms, which include weight loss, cough and rough coats.

California had been free of the disease since 2005, two years after cases detected in Kings and Tulare counties prompted the testing of 876,000 cattle and the slaughter of more than 8,000 animals.

—From AP newswire report

CANADA

Canada confirms new mad cow case
A new case of mad cow disease has been confirmed in Canada, its 13th case since 2003. It’s the third case in British Columbia in the last three years.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency said recently that the latest case of mad cow disease is not an indication of a widespread epidemic. The inspection agency also says no part of the animal entered the human food system.

Agency veterinarian George Luterbach says Canada has been assessed by the World Organization for Animal Health and given a controlled-risk status, indicating it has the proper checks and balances to control the disease.

—From AP newswire report

VIRGINIA

Dairy industry distributes animal handling guidelines
In an effort to reinforce the importance of caring for dairy cattle at all stages of their lives, the National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF), along with Dairy Management Inc. (DMI) and the American Association of Bovine Practitioners (AABP), unveiled a basic educational poster that will be distributed to all dairy producers across America. The poster is printed on a barn-safe plastic sheet in both English and Spanish.

The legal-sized poster, entitled “Top 10 Considerations for Culling and Transporting Dairy Animals to a Packing or Processing Facility,” will serve as common industry guidelines for dairy producers to follow when they need to handle, transport, or cull their dairy animals. The document was developed by NMPF’s Animal Health and Welfare Committee, and will be distributed during the month of July through dairy cooperatives to their members. Producers who are not part of a cooperative can order a copy by calling 703-224-1381 or sending an e-mail request to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . A copy of the poster can also be viewed at www.nmpf.org.

—From NMPF news release

TEXAS

Thieves target farm diesel supplies as prices soar
With the price of diesel skyrocketing, farmers and ranchers around the country are being targeted by ne’er-do-wells armed with siphon hoses and pumps.

West Texas cotton producer Mark Schoepf said that with the price of diesel above $4.15 a gallon, he’s decided to protect his investment. He recently bought 10 padlocks to affix to tanks that fuel the diesel motors irrigating his fields.

Many of those tanks are visible from a highway bordering his fields, making them easy targets.

Schoepf isn’t alone. As more motorists buy locking gas caps for their vehicles, farmers and ranchers are also having to take steps to protect fuel.

The cost of farm diesel is less than the diesel used by truckers and the general public, and thieves either sell it or use it themselves. Some diesel thieves sometimes even use pumps built into vans that roam wide-open fields at night.

Some farmers have had their entire tanks stolen and later found them elsewhere – empty.

Diesel designated for non-highway purposes costs about 60 cents per gallon less and contains a red dye that distinguishes it from regular diesel.

Regular diesel is also getting ripped off. In May, a small, rural school district near Waco was hit by a diesel thief who absconded with about 260 gallons, Hallsburg schools superintendent Kent Reynolds said.

—From AP newswire report

TEXAS

Texas governor trying to slash ethanol production
Texas Gov. Rick Perry, supported by livestock producers concerned about rising feed prices, stepped up his effort recently to pressure the federal government to cut ethanol production requirements in half.

The Republican governor told a roomful of mostly supporters at the National Press Club that requiring increases in ethanol production and uses of it as motor fuel is “no longer a good idea. It’s hurting America. It’s hurting our families.”

Perry is one of a number of politicians and others who have been calling for a reversal of the Renewable Fuel Standard that Congress approved last year. Opponents of the standard say the push to turn more corn into ethanol is raising food prices and the cost of feed for livestock.

The clamor has elevated as flooding of corn and soybean fields in the Midwest delivered another jolt to already higher grain prices. There are fears that the corn crop, which had risen because of higher demand from developing countries and U.S. ethanol producers, could be smaller because of the floods.

Matt Hartwig, spokesman for the Renewable Fuels Association, said it is too early to speculate on the corn crop. He said farmers already are replanting, and increased global production also should help.

Corn and peanut growers want the EPA to reject Perry’s request, while dairy and beef producers are lining up behind it. Those opposing Perry’s effort say his oil-producing state would benefit from a drop in ethanol production because it would have to be replaced with gasoline, further increasing gas prices. But Perry argues his plan would reduce gasoline prices, particularly diesel.

—From AP newswire report

WISCONSIN

Stratford business to make ethanol from whey
A business aided by state clean-energy grants plans to use whey, a waste product from cheese-making, to produce ethanol.

Gov. Jim Doyle visited Dubay Ingredients and Grand Meadow Energy of Stratford last month and praised the enterprise while promoting Clean Energy Wisconsin, part of a plan to grow the state’s economy with environmentally friendly business development.

“This is the kind of scientific, entrepreneurial homegrown innovation that will lead this country into energy independence,” Doyle said. “For us to succeed and grow, we need to be a leader in renewable opportunities.”

Whey’s popularity as a high-protein commodity for human and animal food products has limited earlier attempts to use it for ethanol production.

Joe VanGroll said he and Clay Boeger, co-owners of Dubay Ingredients and Grand Meadow Energy, have developed a secret recipe using waste that already has the protein removed.

The remaining permeate has water and some lactose. The lactose is used to make ethanol and the water becomes purified drinking water, VanGroll said.

—From AP newswire report

MINNESOTA

Minnesota farmer turns manure to power
With energy prices skyrocketing and global climate change a major concern, Jerry Jennissen’s dairy agreed to participate in a pilot project sponsored by the nonprofit Minnesota Project along with several governmental bodies and power companies, to test whether manure digestors can be profitable for an average-sized dairy farm.

Jennissen said he’d been aware of digester technology but never seriously thought about installing one because of the hefty price tag. But he jumped at the chance when the Minnesota Project, which makes grants to foster green technology, asked him to be the test site.

About 60 percent of the electricity produced by the digester is in use at Jennissen’s farm, while the rest is sold back to the utility company. As more bacteria grows the system should become more efficient, Jennissen said, who hopes to increase his herd to 170 cows and eventually produce 430 kilowatts of electricity per day – selling back 70+ percent.

—From AP newswire report

VERMONT

Dairy farm pollution oversight lax?
A new report says Vermont isn’t doing enough to stem water pollution coming from dairy farms. But state officials say they’re acting “aggressively” on the problem.

In a 17-page report, the Conservation Law Foundation said its review of records on file with the state Agency of Agriculture found that several large and medium farms have illegally discharged waste. On a number of farms, inspectors found manure or other pollutants running into streams, and the records show there was inadequate follow-up on the problems, according to the report.

The Conservation Law Foundation says the state Agency of Natural Resources should become the agency responsible for oversight of water pollution issues on farms, and that the state needs to spend more money to help farmers install pollution control measures.

—From AP newswire report

WASHINGTON, D.C.

Coalition urges president to suspend import tariff on ethanol
The National Milk Producers Federation and other food and agriculture organizations concerned about the skyrocketing price of corn, sent a letter to President Bush urging him to exercise emergency authority and immediately suspend the duties and quotas on imported ethanol used as a motor fuel additive. The signatories pointed out that the combination of the federal mandate requiring the use of ethanol in motor gasoline and a steep tariff designed to keep out foreign ethanol, has sharply increased the pressure on domestic corn stocks, contributing to increasing corn and food prices in the U.S.

Suspension of the tariff will help producers, processors and consumers who are being directly and immediately affected by rising feed and food prices due to the government mandate to convert nearly 30 percent of the domestic corn crop into fuel, the letter said. The president can immediately suspend the tariff using the authorities provided by the Constitution, the National Emergencies Act, Tariff Act of 1930, Trade Expansion Act of 1962 and the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, the letter added.  PD

—From Western United Dairymen