Dairy Farmer articles from November 2007

Dairy Farmer archives from November 2007

COMMENT: Putting house in order.
November 9, 2007... The marriage proposal between First Milk and Milk Link certainly caught us by surprise. If successful, this would create the largest UK cheese maker with the added bonus of a healthy stake in Robert Wiseman Dairies - plus the potential of...

Co-ops optimistic of getting OFT approval.(First Milk and Milk Link)(Brief article)
November 9, 2007... First Milk and Milk Link are both optimistic that the Office of Fair Trading will not refer their proposed merger to the Competition Commission. "We don't think there will be an issue. We are operating in a world market where we face...

Defra consults on farm waste.
November 9, 2007... Defra has launched the long awaited, and longer feared, NVZ consultation exercise, covering the revision of NVZ designations and the NVZ action programme. And this has now been extended to December 13. According to the NFU the implications...

Pressure on membership.
November 9, 2007... Dairy Farmer of Britain members, already being wooed by Meadow Foods and other middle ground buyers, are believed to be in the front line for DC's and Arla's attentions as it is thought unlikely many First Milk or Milk Link producers will leave...

Lancashire couple are Gold Cup winners.
November 9, 2007... Lancashire-based Ian and Sally Macalpine rose to top spot to take the prestigious NMR/RABDF Gold Cup with their 200-cow pedigree Ribblesdale Jersey herd at Laneside Farm, Waddington, near Clitheroe. The move from Holsteins to Jerseys was...

Four years on.
November 9, 2007... It was once seen by farmers as the worst of all dairying crimes - sharing costs of production data with, at best, a processor and, at worst, a retailer. But for four years that's exactly what farmers supplying Waitrose have done as part of...

Milk prices could hit 31ppl by turn of year.
November 9, 2007... Milk prices could be on the up again! Arla Foods Milk Partnership chairman Jonathan Ovens is due to begin negotiations soon which if successful would take the core Arla supplier price to 30p and the Arla/Asda farmer price to 31p. Robert Wiseman...

Clash of opinions whether badger cull effective.
November 9, 2007... At last the Government's chief scientist has come to the conclusion all practical cattle farmers have known for years - TB can't be controlled unless the disease is tackled in wildlife. However a row over Sir David King's view immediately...

Localchoice success at IGD awards.
November 9, 2007... Ever since Tesco and Dairy Farmers of Britain launched localchoice milk it has courted controversy, most notably attracting the attention of the BBC and Trading Standards over just how local, localchoice was. But there's some positive news this...

Cowmen comment: Contrary to rumour, I have not given DFB notice to quit.
November 9, 2007... Despite our Yorkshire correspondent Tim Gibson having some deep felt frustration and annoyance with his milk buying co-op, he has now calmed down and is looking forward to better things to come. I've just had an info pack from Delaval about...

Defra is now looking to recoup more of its money from producers.
November 9, 2007... With all the latest revelations surrounding virus escape, Sally Leaney thinks it may not be the most opportune moment for Defra to be thinking of charging livestock keepers more for disease control. I think it all went wrong when the...

We seem to have run into bit of a problem with our cell counts!
November 9, 2007... Unlike most other producers, our Warwickshire correspondent Paul Higgins has not been enjoying all the benefits of higher milk prices owing to an ongoing mastitis storm depressing his milk price. Let me start with the frustration I have...

Potter's View: Italian producers have their own way of balancing supply.
November 9, 2007... Fresh back from his Italian trip, Ian Potter marvels at the power of the Italian co-ops and at producers' keenness to produce more milk - with or without quota. My main business over the past 20 years has been to scratch a meagre living...

Breeding: Searching out the top bulls with sexed semen on offer.
November 9, 2007... Sexed semen has met with a mixed reception from producers over the years with cost, conception rates and the quality of the bulls on offer limiting the uptake. Angela Rhodes takes a look at the bulls now available. The current export...

Breeding: Five US proven bulls from Dairy Daughters.
November 9, 2007... Dairy Daughters has added five new very competitively priced US proven sires to its line-up just in time for the autumn serving period. Of the group the Bellwoood Marshall son, Rauscher Marchall Master, is most likely to appeal to the pedigree...

Breeding: Specialist cross-breeding company.
November 9, 2007... A new semen company specialising in bulls for cross breeding has been launched. The Alternative Semen Company has been set up by two enterprising women, Gill Derryman and Adela Booth, who have identified a niche market for specialist...

Animal Health: Making case for fermented yeast.
November 9, 2007... The feed additives market is awash with products which often only serve to confuse the user, and even amongst yeasts words such as stabilized, fermented and live can all be perplexing. Ann Hardy asks Agri-Lloyd - who have brought one of the...

Letter: Don't get your wires crossed!(Letter to the editor)
November 9, 2007... From Stephen Temple, J F Temple & Son Ltd, Mrs Temple's Cheese - Quality Norfolk Produce. (Barn Owl Instruments and Controls). I am a regular reader of Dairy Farmer, and enjoy the majority of the articles, including the Workshop...

Cows can suffer heat stress as humidity rises in the winter period.
November 9, 2007... Strange as it may seem but cows can become heat stressed in winter leading to increased mastitis levels. This was just one of the many topics discussed at this year's British Mastitis Conference at Stoneleigh, as Angela Rhodes reports. ...

Animal Health: Teat end scoring valuable tool for reducing mastitis.
November 9, 2007... Teat end scoring is a valuable mastitis control tool which more farmers should be using on a regular basis, according to Tim McKendrick from the ADAS Dairy Group. Teat end damage or hyperkeratosis is a thickening of the skin that lines the...

Animal Health: Tackle those cows in middle of listing.
November 9, 2007... The first thing most producers do when their milk records turn up each month is to have a quick look at the individual cell count results for the herd. But according to specialist cattle vet Andy Biggs, too much attention is paid to the...

Animal Health: Will adding yeast help lift feed conversion efficiency?
November 9, 2007... While most producers are now benefiting from an improvement in milk price, high feed costs mean no let-up in the drive for greater feed efficiency. Angela Rhodes reports on whether yeast products can help. A 5% improvement in conversion...

Animal Health: Protected fat taking on wheat this winter.
November 9, 2007... With milk prices tempting farmers to push for higher production, the focus inevitably turns to increasing the energy density of rations. Volac International says new trials from Reading University indicate that rumen protected fats could...

Animal Health - ADF: does it live up to its early claims?(automated in-cluster teat dipping and liner flushing device)
November 9, 2007... With dairy farmers under greater pressure than ever and cow numbers per person rising relentlessly, any device to cut time from the milking routine has to be welcomed. So we asked several producers whether automated teat dipping and flushing...

HOW DOES ADF WORK?(milk contamination)(automated in-cluster teat dipping and liner flushing device)(Brief article)
November 9, 2007... * ADF is triggered by the ACR or milk meter at the end of milking. A measured amount of teat dip is dispensed into the head of each liner on removal of the teat cups. * As the cluster is removed, the dip evenly coats the teat while skin...

Animal Health: Producers are quizzed over mastitis cure.
November 9, 2007... Knowledge of mastitis and its causes has been put to the test by Intervet who surveyed farmers at a series of meetings earlier this year to launch a new mastitis tube containing an anti-inflammatory. Here we bring the results together to reveal...

Animal Health: Non-protein N without any of the drawbacks.
November 9, 2007... Getting non-protein nitrogen into the cow's rumen has many beneficial effects, but in the past its rapid conversion to ammonia has sometimes had harmful results. Ann Hardy talks to David Wilde from Alltech about the company's new product which...

Danger of acidosis by trying to lift yields with more cake.
November 9, 2007... This winter will pose feeding challenges unlike those of previous years. The drive for increased production could be thwarted by poor quality forage and a move to lower range concentrates in a desire to keep costs down. Ann Hardy talks to Mark...

Milk prices: Milk Link shows ready to bid up for more milk.
November 9, 2007... Milk Link has certainly started to pull its milk price around over the last few months, thanks mainly to further cost control and buoyant commodity markets. Confirmation of a further 1.2ppl increase in its producer milk price from Nov'07...

Milk prices: DFB 2.45ppl across board.
November 9, 2007... Although no November price increase had been confirmed as we went to press, DFB has increased its conventional milk price for Oct'07 (the fifth consecutive monthly increase) by a flat 2.45ppl across all its contracts. This takes our standard...

Milk prices: Wyke Farms launches its new contract with tempting 27.5p.
November 9, 2007... Wyke Farms has grabbed the initiative with its launch of a new direct supply contract offering an immediate wallet busting 27.5ppl to any producer prepared to settle into a longer-term closer trading relationship with the company. While...

Over supply at Waitrose.
November 9, 2007... Waitrose has confirmed a 5.65ppl milk price increase to its 65 Select Farm Milk Producers taking our standard litre up to 28.44ppl, backdated to September 11. However, producers have also been informed that due to over supply within its own...

Workshop tips: Humane fox trap that will catch one a day!(wildlife control)
November 9, 2007... With no hunting and a general disapproval of any form of wildlife control, there are now more foxes around than many farmers have ever seen in their lives. Mike Donovan offers one simple solution. As the days get colder foxes get bolder and...

Hands up if you would like to chip into my bull calf kitty.
November 9, 2007... What with bull calves back to #2 again, Roger Evans feels that much as he would like to align himself with Defra exhortations to share the pain of FMD restrictions, he is having great difficulty in finding anyone to help share his. There...