Dairy Farmer articles from December 2007

Dairy Farmer archives from December 2007

Asda drawn into OFT enquiry.
December 14, 2007... The Office of Fair Trading's investigation into milk price fixing is focussing on "a seemingly innocuous email sent after a meeting between Ben Gill and one of Sainsbury's senior executives" and that "Asda will blow the whistle in the OFT...

COMMENT: Got the tee shirt.
December 14, 2007... Having survived the November trough, milk buyers are feeling a little less panicky about securing supplies and prices are starting to ease back ever so slightly. But they don't want to ease back too much as galloping feed costs are eating...

Market eases back as costs spiral upward.
December 14, 2007... Hopes that the milk price will be over 30ppl by the New Year were dashed this week by a leading industry commentator. Market factors alone will not deliver it, according to independent consultant and market analyst Mike Bessey. "Those who...

Organic sector under pressure.
December 14, 2007... The latest firms to capitalise on the rise in demand for organic dairy products are The Cheese Company and Yeo Valley, who have launched a new range of family-sized packs of organic cheddar. But the growth of the organic milk market is under...

EC wants 2% quota increase.
December 14, 2007... The European Commission is minded to increase milk quotas by an extra 2% from next April, equivalent to a total of 2.84m tonnes, on the back of predicted rising demand for dairy products. But David Dobbin warned a 3% increase in EU...

First Milk makes small profit.
December 14, 2007... First Milk made a small profit in its first year as a major processor - some #1.5m (profit on ordinary activities before tax and excluding exceptional charges). This was down from #3.5m in 2005/6. Turnover was #484m compared to #476m in 2005/6....

Revised contract proposals are met with cool reception.
December 14, 2007... The NFU and NFU Scotland's report designed to shake-up milk contracts has been met with "defensive indifference" by milk processors, with all of them choosing to rely on Dairy UK to give the only official response. But it said: "It will be up...

Scottish Stewartry milk group heads for Lactalis.
December 14, 2007... Members of the breakaway Stewartry milk group in south-west Scotland, who handed in their notice to Wisemans in favour of supplying the new brokerage set up by David Barnes and cheese maker Peter Willis, have egg firmly on their faces after the...

Localchoice premium now equates to 1.5ppl.
December 14, 2007... DFoB claims a major promotion, which started at the end of October in Tesco stores across the country, is set to double the current annualised volume of Localchoice milk sold over the next two months. It is promised this will further...

Could all this UHT talk just be a ruse for importing milk?
December 14, 2007... This month John Trunch is feeling pleased that his prediction of 28ppl has nearly been achieved, but nevertheless he still has one or two words of caution to offer us. Not that long ago we were in the doldrums but now the climate is very...

Cowman comment: In brave new world we'll be growing both food and fuel!
December 14, 2007... This month Pat Bird turns her attention to the problem of poor quality forages and the impact our commitment to biofuels will have on wheat production and other commodity feedstocks. When it comes to formulating winter rations we're only...

Cowman comment: Why our second cut silage is proving bit of a headache.
December 14, 2007... As we get on to full winter rations our Scottish correspondent Donald McColm is finding it tough going to keep yields up when faced, as he is, with a pile of indifferent second cut silage. A year is a long time in milk pricing and milk...

Interview: DFB fights back by taking on its critics.
December 14, 2007... Farmer co-op Dairy Farmers of Britain has been pitched into the limelight lately by talk of unsatisfactory results and excessive salaries. Chris Walkland speaks to chief executive Andrew Cooksey about the justification behind these allegations....

Thank you Mr Jones from Weston super Mare for your letter!
December 14, 2007... Among all this month's hot topics of OFT, quotas, DFB and the like, Ian Potter has a little surprise up his sleeve which means we will no longer have to arrange a collection for him afterall! So bring on the buglers... Another year ends!...

Letter: Now is the time to make sure we're all set to face the future.(Letter to the editor)
December 14, 2007... From: Robert Fisher, International Federation of Dairy Producers, Ardgillan House, 24 Melton Green, Wath, Rotherham S63 6AB. The European Milk Board (EMB) and its constituents eg Germany's BDM, have now launched their Fair Milk campaign....

Letter: Potter has got it wrong on interpretation of DFB figures.(Letter to the editor)
December 14, 2007... From: Alistair Clark, Farmington Business Services Limited, 9 Farmington, near Northleach, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire GL54 3NQ. As an independent company financial specialist working in the dairy industry, amongst others, I really must...

Letter: Defra consultation on farm waste proposals.(Letter to the editor)
December 14, 2007... From: Sally Tuer, The Dairy Group, New Agriculture House, Blackbrook Park Avenue, Taunton TA1 2PX. Re your piece on Defra consulting on farm waste in your last issue, the article states "the closed period banning the spread of slurry would...

Winter feeding: How small change can make big difference to your margin.
December 14, 2007... Cows at Cross Fell Farm, Kirkby Fore, Cumbria, didn't seem to be producing to potential but, after a careful reformulation of the diet, margins increased by a very impressive #6000 a month. Achieving significant improvements in milk...

Can we lift yields without feed costs gobbling up our margin?
December 14, 2007... Although feed prices have rocketed lately there's never been a better time to be pushing yields provided it can be done cost effectively. KW nutritionist Ian Pickles discusses tactics for increasing output this winter. In many cases,...

WINTER FEEDING: KUHN.(Brief article)
December 14, 2007... The latest addition to the Kuhn vertical mixer wagon line-up is the Euromix 1870. The 18cu m capacity wagon requires 5hp per cubic metre due to the shape of the hopper and the position of the augers. The auger speed is 29rpm for quick...

WINTER FEEDING: JF-STOLL.(wireless weighing system)(Brief article)
December 14, 2007... Danish manufacturer JF-Stoll claims to be the first to offer a wireless weighing system as standard on its range of complete diet mixers. With the display placed in the tractor loader, the driver is provided with a constant readout of the...

WINTER FEEDING: STRAUTMANN.
December 14, 2007... Mixer wagon developments from Strautmann include new versions of the self-propelled Verti-Mix models. Now known as the 1100SF (11cu m), 1300SF (13cu m) and 1500SF (15cu m), and replacing the former VM 1050, 1250 and 1450, major new features...

WINTER FEEDING: RS AGRIBUSINESS.
December 14, 2007... Allowing for an accurate and in depth report of feed usage, times of feeding, cost of ration and basic milk production costs, the Feed Navigator is a new feed management system from RS Agribusiness. Suitable for fitting to any RMH mixer...

WINTER FEEDING: TRIOLIET.(planning to sell diet feeders)(Brief article)
December 14, 2007... The big news surrounding Trioliet is that it is to sell its diet feeders direct to the British market from January having previously been handled here by Redrock Engineering. Product news centres on the new self-propelled mixer. First seen in...

WINTER FEEDING: KEENAN.(diet feeder)(Brief article)
December 14, 2007... Offering a capacity of 16cu m the Kompact 160 is the latest diet feeder from Keenan. Using features from the 28cu m feeder, Keenan have been able to keep within the length and width of the 14cu m Klassik 140 by extending the mixing chamber...

WINTER FEEDING: RS AGRIBUSINESS.
December 14, 2007... With increasing herd sizes and the desire to feed less loads per day, average mixer wagon size is on the increase. That is the message from RS Agribusiness, which has launched three new triple auger machines - the WAV35, WAV40 and WAV45. ...

WINTER FEEDING: HARRY WEST.(Brief article)
December 14, 2007... Harry West is currently completing final tests with a brand new mixer wagon ahead of full commercial production from the start of 2008. Offering a capacity of 16cu m, and designed to satisfy the current demand for larger capacity units with...

WINTER FEEDING: SHELBOURNE REYNOLDS.
December 14, 2007... One of the issues facing most dairy managers in the UK today is trying to quickly and efficiently feed large numbers of cattle spread around numerous older buildings, many of which have narrow access or inaccessible troughs that have to be...

DFB falls into line to meet its target year end price expectation.
December 14, 2007... Dairy Farmers of Britain has confirmed it is to increase its milk prices across the board (with the exception of Tesco localchoice) by 1.5ppl from this month. The company says it would have preferred to have made the increase a month...

Milk prices: United breaks through 30p price barrier.
December 14, 2007... Currently working on our Oct'07 milk price table, our calculations show United Dairy Farmer's have come true to their word with their producer price breaking through the 30ppl barrier for Oct'07 milk supplies. With the group's October base...

Milk prices: Dairy Crest increases its manufacturing price.
December 14, 2007... Dairy Crest has increased both Hartington and Davidstow milk price by 0.7ppl from Nov'07. With the increase split between adding 0.25ppl to the base price and the remaining 0.45ppl via higher constituent payments, it takes our standard price up...

Milk prices: West Lakes declares an average payout of 27.67ppl.
December 14, 2007... In their first payment run to its new group of Cumbrian suppliers, West Lakes has confirmed it paid out an average milk price of 27.67ppl for its Oct'07 milk supplies (total sum of money paid divided by total litres), with an average milk...

Defra farm gate price.
December 14, 2007... Defra's provisional farm gate milk price (including retrospective bonuses) for Sept'07 at 23.15ppl is not only 4.68ppl up on the same month last year, but the highest monthly price since Aug'97 and the highest September price since 1996. ...

Workshop tips: Two plate coolers are twice as good as one.(Brief article)
December 14, 2007... With the high cost of electricity, cooling big volumes of milk is expensive and any temperature drop that can be had before the milk hits the tank is worthwhile. Mike Donovan shows how we can reduce the tank loading. What's the second most...

Workshop tips: Handling molasses.(Brief article)
December 14, 2007... Feed experts are saying that molasses is worth a hard look at the moment to supplement low energy silage. But storage and feeding of molasses are a big drawback as the viscous, sticky material is not easy to handle. A few years ago I saw a...

Good Evans: Young people need a little time to work things out.
December 14, 2007... Because of the flapping gown and leggings, Roger Evans' young AI man maintains a rather distant relationship with his farm dog - in fact the greater the better. But all is not lost in recovering this missing canine harmony. The young AI...