Dairy Farmer articles from October 2006

Dairy Farmer archives from October 2006

COMMENT: Unity and purpose.
October 16, 2006... There was an air of expectation at this year's Dairy Event - an expectation of an announcement that some of the big buyers had overcooked their books and the recent price cuts would be annulled. Alas no such announcement was forthcoming. ...

Dismayed suppliers say they are set to review their options.(Dairy Crest Ltd.)(Brief article)
October 16, 2006... First Milk's #62m deal for the retailer cheese operation of Dairy Crest is throwing established DCD factory suppliers into a spin, particularly those in the carefully nurtured Aspatria milk fields. Already over the past couple of year's DC's...

First Milk buys part of DC's cheese business.
October 16, 2006... In a bold move that puts First Milk firmly on the processor map in its own right, Dairy Crest has sold the majority of its retailer brand cheese operations to the co-op for almost #62m, conditional on the approval of First Milk's members. ...

Haresfoot Bella 6.(interbreed championship)
October 16, 2006... Home-breeding triumphed at the Dairy Event when Haresfoot Bella 6 swept to the supreme interbreed championship for Hertfordshire farmer Duncan Hunter. Although this fourth calver had won the Ayrshire breed championship at the Dairy Event on two...

New pledge puts shine on M&S contract.
October 16, 2006... Marks and Spencer has beefed-up its farmer "Milk Pledge", originally launched in 2004, introducing a new element into its milk pricing calculations. The new "Milk Pledge" is now calculated taking into account the Actual Milk Price...

Dairy UK hits back at call for regulator.
October 16, 2006... Following calls for better industry representation, a bitter row has broken out between the RABDF and Dairy UK. This follows the RABDF's call at the Dairy Event for a new National Dairy Body which would introduce a voluntary milk regulator...

Cowmen comment: Bogged down with forms but do they make any difference?(Viewpoint essay)
October 16, 2006... This month John Trunch is convinced that form filling bureaucracy has indeed gone mad and most of it doesn't make a haporth of difference anyhow. I have just received another bill and a large form to fill in. One that always irks as it is...

Cowman comment: Be aware of what lurks behind those latest TB headlines!
October 16, 2006... The latest figures on the TB front are as fascinating in what they tell us as what they don't tell us. Pat Bird delves behind the scenes to try to uncover the cause of the latest drop in recorded cases and where she believes government policy...

Cowmen comment: Low milk prices starting to take toll in our parish.
October 16, 2006... Our Scottish correspondent Donald McColm tells us he only has to tour round his own parish to see the impact of the continued pressure on milk producers' margins as `for sale' boards start to go up. Changes are taking place in our parish...

Potter's View: How I found myself head to head with organic lady.
October 16, 2006... Last month's talk of a bout with Mike Tyson seems to have put Ian Potter in fighting mood and this month he lands himself with an equally formidable opponent on the OMSCo stand. Just sparring, perhaps? What did you make of the Dairy Event?...

EU News: Has the Commission got ahead of itself with price pressure?
October 16, 2006... Britain has some of the most efficient dairy farmers in Europe. Herd size is large and costs are well managed. The UK is also under supplied with milk and has 60 million consumers with money to spend. Yet farmers struggle with the lowest milk...

FERTILITY: Treating endometritis.
October 16, 2006... In this, the tenth in our Intervet cut-out-and-keep series, vet Steve Borsberry tells us about the devastating impact endometritis can have and how it is probably present in more herds than hitherto realised. Steve Borsberry is one of six...

Dairy Event: RABDF warns of need for fairer returns.
October 16, 2006... The grim warning from the RABDF - that it is the thinking dairy farmers who are leaving the industry - is countered by some small hope that the industry still has the opportunity to shape its own future. "Farmers need to take rational...

Dairy Event: Milkminder manager of the year.(Dennis Gibb and Richard Gibb)(Brief article)
October 16, 2006... This year's Milkminder Manager of the Year has been awarded to brothers Richard and Dennis Gibb from Northumberland. They earned the award from a potential 1500 farms using Promar's dairy management service and were said to demonstrate...

Dairy Event: Guaranteed market for dairy cross calves.(Genus ABS)(Brief article)
October 16, 2006... Genus ABS has launched a range of beef sires and will guarantee a market for their calves when crossed with a dairy breed. The price farmers will receive is said to be more than the market value. The Better Beef Scheme - said to be the...

Dairy Event: Squeeze grows despite better returns from culls and calves.
October 16, 2006... Many dairy farmers will not make money next year even if their performance is above average and even after the SP and ELS have been paid. Behind this forthright assertion from agricultural consultants, Andersons, are the recent price cuts...

Dairy Event: New launch aims to hit both fluke and roundworm problems.(Closamectin)(Brief article)
October 16, 2006... A new treatment for the control of both roundworms and liver fluke is said to be the first of its kind available to the cattle industry. Closamectin contains both the flukicide closantel - which has never before been licensed for cattle -...

Dairy Event: Vet website set to shake up medicine pricing.
October 16, 2006... A new on-line ordering service for animal medicines looks set to rock the veterinary profession and force a switch from drug charging to time charging. The new farmacy.co.uk website is being launched by vets Matt Dobbs and Rob Drysdale,...

Dairy Event: MP mail shot.(Brief article)
October 16, 2006... Visitors to the Dairy Event were encouraged to send a letter to their MPs, which urged them to join the newly formed All-Party Parliamentary Group for Dairy Farmers. A letter was made widely available throughout the show by the RABDF,...

Dairy Event: Cheshire dairy team wins Gold Cup.(Cogent, NMR RABDF Gold Cup)
October 16, 2006... The former nucleus herd for Cogent has proved its commercial credentials by winning the coveted NMR RABDF Gold Cup. Managing director Mark Roach received the award on behalf of Grosvenor Farms' Cheshire-based Hatton Heath herd at the Dairy...

Dairy Event: Wiltshire herd takes fertility award.(Nick Tyler of Kingsplay Farming Company )(Brief article)
October 16, 2006... A new award to recognise improvements in fertility management has been won by Nick Tyler, managing director of Kingsplay Farming Company in Wiltshire. He earns the title of Genus/ABS RMS Farmer of the Year. The 600-cow herd at Home...

Dairy Event: Bulk milk sample reveals extent of worm loadings.
October 16, 2006... A new bulk milk test which can assess the burden of worms in the dairy herd is likely to be available following an on-going survey. Merial have already used the test they call MOO (Milk Ostertagia Ostertagi) in a limited trial situation and...

Breeding & fertility: Shopping around for top bulls under #20 per shot.
October 16, 2006... With the autumn serving period now in full swing many of you will be looking to finalise semen purchases for the rest of the year. Angela Rhodes looks at some of the best buys for under #20. With these provisos in mind we have had a look at...

Breeding & fertility: Reaching a wider audience.(Milk Development Council releases instructional DVD on cattle breeding)(Brief article)
October 16, 2006... As the major supermarkets unveil their Polish food ranges, so the MDC has launched its `Managing Heat Detection' DVD with subtitles in Polish as well as Bulgarian, Hungarian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Russian and Ukrainian. Not forgetting, of...

Breeding & fertility: Era of repeat breeders may be at an end!
October 16, 2006... To cull or not to cull? That's one of the questions a milk producer inevitably starts to think about when a mature cow proves difficult to get back in-calf. But Cheshire vet James Allcock who is with nine-strong farm animal veterinary...

Breeding & fertility: Start to get measure of fertility in your herd.
October 16, 2006... Conventional measures of fertility should be ditched, according to Kingshay, who will recommend a new approach to the problem at their series of autumn fertility workshops. Ann Hardy reports. IN: Heat detection rate Proportion of cows...

Breeding & fertility: NZ trial offering boost to fertility.
October 16, 2006... Recent trials in New Zealand have revealed how routine checking for endometritis can offer significant benefits to herd fertility. Ann Hardy reports. Using a rapid, simple and relatively new approach to checking for endometritis, the NZ...

Breeding & fertility: Alan Swale turns to internet to improve marketing.
October 16, 2006... With dairy farm incomes under increasing pressure from low milk prices and the rising cost of inputs, any sort of cost saving measure is to be welcomed. Michael Finch reports. Cattle breeder Alan Swale, owner of the renowned Joylan herd in...

Breeding & fertility: Sorting out what figures are actually telling you.
October 16, 2006... If fertility is closely related to economic performance then calving intervals of less than 390 days should be the goal. Ann Hardy reports. High milk yields provide no excuse for failing to serve cows on time, according to vet Chris...

Breeding & fertility: Team approach is cutting days off calving index.
October 16, 2006... Improving the fertility of a high flying pedigree Holstein herd - and in turn its performance and profitability - has been possible through dedicated team work and use of a new management tool. The calving index of the 220-cow high yielding...

AI companies urged to make more use of fertility indexes.(publishing of fertility indexes for male cattles)
October 16, 2006... AI companies which fail to publish fertility indexes for bulls will cost dairy farmers dear, judging by new rankings published by MDC Breeding+. The fertility index - which was launched in May 2005 and included in PLI (Profitable Life...

Slurry tankers take step up into the super size bracket.(new and improved slurry tankers coming soon)
October 16, 2006... Slurry tanker manufacturers continue to seek new ways to boost the capacity of their machines to allow then to cover even more ground. Steven Vale discovers that a new breed of `super' tankers is in the making. The continued pressure on...

Hartington's converted stilton suppliers to get 0.25ppl above Aspatria.
October 16, 2006... Milk price analyst Stephen Bradley comments on the latest milk industry developments. With First Milk having agreed the acquisition of Dairy Crest's Aspatria and Haverfordwest cheese operations, DC has announced a 0.25ppl premium above the...

Milk prices: Price cuts hit cheese suppliers.(Brief article)
October 16, 2006... Milk price cuts on manufacturing contracts continue to filter through. Following a small reduction of just 0.15ppl from Feb'06, Caledonian Cheese has caught up on the times by cutting its direct supply milk price by firstly 0.5ppl from Jul'06,...

Milk prices: Claymore suppliers have Asda bonus cut.(Claymore Dairies)(Brief article)
October 16, 2006... With 5mltrs of Asda business due to be transferred from Claymore Dairies in Nairn to Arla's new dairy at Lockerbie from October 1, producers supplying Claymore have been notified the current Asda premium of 0.62ppl is to be cut by 0.15ppl. The...

Milk prices: United's auction prices 2.3p down.(United Dairy Farmers Inc.)(Brief article)
October 16, 2006... United Dairy Farmers September milk auction (for deliveries starting October 1) sold a total of 37mltrs for an average of 19.61ppl, 2.37ppl down on last year - breaking the 3ppl deficit reported over recent months - but 1.19ppl up on last...

Milk prices: DFB members signing up to new supply contracts.
October 16, 2006... Dairy Farmers of Britain claim that nearly 1000 producers (nearly 38% of total membership) have signed and returned the new supply contracts launched earlier this summer. The new contract is the result of the Group's successful...

Milk prices: Defra UK farm gate price down 0.9ppl.
October 16, 2006... THE Defra UK farm gate milk price (including retrospective bonuses) of 17.17ppl for Jul'06 was 0.9ppl down on the same month last year. Average protein for Jul'06 of 3.19% compared with 3.27% last year. Copyright: CMP Information Ltd.

Workshop tips: Cutting feeding routine down with adjustable barriers.(farm equipment)
October 16, 2006... Mike Donovan is a respected machinery columnist who will be giving us some useful tips on building or modifying our own farm equipment. Routine work such as milking, feeding, cleaning, and scraping occupies a large chunk of each day and can...

Good Evans: You can be too hasty sometimes.(perils of managing a dairy farm)
October 16, 2006... This month Roger Evans is none too happy with things and in particular with his cull cow assurance where his #80 fee has gone missing in action, or not, as the case may be. Read on. I can't think of what to write about this month, which is...