Tomorrow's the last day of March, spring winds are doing their job in the Mesilla Valley in NM. Blowing 30 mph with gusts to 60 mph. Cows are miserable and milk production is down. Cows that don't eat, don't milk. Still having some cool mornings, currently it's 65 degrees at 10:45 am.
Good news? Maybe, government going to release 200 million pounds of NFMP, to help the poor, school lunches, WIC, and etc. Sounds like a lot of milk powder, but consider this. If 50 million people receive this NFMP it's only 4 pounds per person. Not sure on the amount of powder to water to make a gallon, but lets say it's 1 pound powder to make one gallon of milk, that's enough milk for maybe two weeks for a family of four.
I guess it's better than nothing for now, I guess this could fall in my "too little, too late" comments from a few days ago.
Monday, March 30, 2009
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
The Public vs the Farmers
Just read the article Will Gilmer posted from USA Today and the comments posted.
http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/food/2009-03-24-dairy-farms_N.htm?loc=interstitialskip
It's amazes me that most people expect 2% of the population (farmers, all types) to provide food and fiber to the rest of the nation at breakeven prices or below without complaint. Most people work for businesses and never have to meet any business expense. They want their check and vacation time and nothing else.
They say "if you can't make a profit as a farmer, why do you stay in that business?" It's not the same as working for a business and changing jobs whenever you feel like it. Believe it or not, American's enjoy the cheapest and safest food in the world.
One comment from oldnavy1 shows that a little knowledge is dangerous and can be misleading.
"This article is misleading in that it does not account for Class I milk prices, which represent the bulk of what is sold by the farmers."
While this might be true for dairy farmers in the east and/or near large population areas, the average for the nation is 33% Class I, 33% Class III, and the remaining 34% split between Class II and Class IV sales.
I'll wrap this up now with the current weather here, 75 degrees and windy.
http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/food/2009-03-24-dairy-farms_N.htm?loc=interstitialskip
It's amazes me that most people expect 2% of the population (farmers, all types) to provide food and fiber to the rest of the nation at breakeven prices or below without complaint. Most people work for businesses and never have to meet any business expense. They want their check and vacation time and nothing else.
They say "if you can't make a profit as a farmer, why do you stay in that business?" It's not the same as working for a business and changing jobs whenever you feel like it. Believe it or not, American's enjoy the cheapest and safest food in the world.
One comment from oldnavy1 shows that a little knowledge is dangerous and can be misleading.
"This article is misleading in that it does not account for Class I milk prices, which represent the bulk of what is sold by the farmers."
While this might be true for dairy farmers in the east and/or near large population areas, the average for the nation is 33% Class I, 33% Class III, and the remaining 34% split between Class II and Class IV sales.
I'll wrap this up now with the current weather here, 75 degrees and windy.
Monday, March 23, 2009
Too little, too late
Just read the Arkansas story on milk price aid to the remaining 140 dairies (down from 2,000 dairies in 1985) I'm afraid it might be too little, too late. The aid might start in July, that's still four months away! All dairy farmers have already lost money for the past three month (at all time record milk price drop) and for them to hang on four more months will be a incredible effort.
Anyway, here in southern NM on the first Monday after Spring will be WINDY! Winds will gust to 40 to 50 mph today. Just what the cows need to enjoy their day. Production will suffer, but maybe that will help the "overproduction" and increase our pay prices.
Anyway, here in southern NM on the first Monday after Spring will be WINDY! Winds will gust to 40 to 50 mph today. Just what the cows need to enjoy their day. Production will suffer, but maybe that will help the "overproduction" and increase our pay prices.
Saturday, March 21, 2009
DMI Eastern Forum
Just returned from the lovely Orlando International Airport Hyatt where I attended the Eastern Forum Conference held by DMI. One attendee commented that the view from the hotel's lobby overlooking the food court and airline gates "it looks like the movie "The Terminal" which starred Tom Hanks."
Even though every dairy farmer there had stories of not enough money coming in to cover expenses on the farm for the third straight month, there was good new in the promotion efforts
underway by all the S/R's and DMI. Everyone there wants to remain in the business they love, but realize that some will fail, and cows will be sold off to reduce the overall cow numbers in the nation.
Even though every dairy farmer there had stories of not enough money coming in to cover expenses on the farm for the third straight month, there was good new in the promotion efforts
underway by all the S/R's and DMI. Everyone there wants to remain in the business they love, but realize that some will fail, and cows will be sold off to reduce the overall cow numbers in the nation.
Monday, March 16, 2009
Waiting for Milk Check
Another cool morning (37 degrees) but it's 47 degrees now at 09:30am, waiting for a high of 70.
Speaking of waiting, looking for direct deposit of February final milk check to hit account sometime tonight or tomorrow morning.
Downloaded copies of checks from co-op website and faxed to FSA office to start MILC calculations for February payment. This will be the first and last MILC check for the year, bummer.
Will be traveling Wednesday to Orlando, FL airport for DMI forum meeting, will return Friday night. Will have to work all day Saturday (instead of half day) to catch up on the week's work.
Speaking of waiting, looking for direct deposit of February final milk check to hit account sometime tonight or tomorrow morning.
Downloaded copies of checks from co-op website and faxed to FSA office to start MILC calculations for February payment. This will be the first and last MILC check for the year, bummer.
Will be traveling Wednesday to Orlando, FL airport for DMI forum meeting, will return Friday night. Will have to work all day Saturday (instead of half day) to catch up on the week's work.
Saturday, March 14, 2009
March 14, 2009
February's pay price was $9.64 per hundredweight, barely 55% of production costs! This truly is the worst! I'm at a lost for words to say more. Now I need to wait for my MLIC payment to be processed. Picked February just because it's the shortest month.
Windy day again and very cool, 1pm and it's only 60 degrees, cows are really enjoying the cool dry weather.
Windy day again and very cool, 1pm and it's only 60 degrees, cows are really enjoying the cool dry weather.
Thursday, March 12, 2009
March 12, 2009
Very cold this morning, 35 degrees, but expect a high of 63 degrees. This is after last week's beautiful weather where we broke record high temperatures for March.
Still no relief in sight for on farm milk prices, hard to pay 100% of the bills when dairymen are receiving 50% of milk income needed to break even.
Finished weight day yesterday, ran the list of cows below 35 pounds of milk and at least 100 days in milk. Going to have to cull any cow that's not pulling her weight and covering feed costs.
Still no relief in sight for on farm milk prices, hard to pay 100% of the bills when dairymen are receiving 50% of milk income needed to break even.
Finished weight day yesterday, ran the list of cows below 35 pounds of milk and at least 100 days in milk. Going to have to cull any cow that's not pulling her weight and covering feed costs.
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
March 11, 2009
Had slight rains this week, .05 (trace) on Monday & Tuesday for a whopping total of 0.10 rain for the year to date. Weight day testers here today (03-11-09) for the monthly check of milk production per cow. Going to take a hard look at the underachievers in the herd and send them packing to someplace else.
Saturday, March 7, 2009
March 07, 2009
Windy sunny day here in Southern Dona County, NM. Morning temp is already at 70 degrees.
Need to read and study other blogs and get some idea how I what to do my blog. I usually have no problem talking too much, but writing things down really slows me down, too thoughtful I guess.
Need to read and study other blogs and get some idea how I what to do my blog. I usually have no problem talking too much, but writing things down really slows me down, too thoughtful I guess.
March 07, 2009
Windy sunny day here in Southern Dona County, NM. Morning temp is already at 70 degrees.
Need to read and study other blogs and get some idea how I what to do my blog. I usually have no problem talking too much, but writing things down really slows me down, too thoughtful I guess.
Need to read and study other blogs and get some idea how I what to do my blog. I usually have no problem talking too much, but writing things down really slows me down, too thoughtful I guess.
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