Eat, drink and use dairy!

Everyone’s favorite holiday treats include dairy. Whether its homemade Christmas cookies and milk left for Santa or egg nog shared with the family, many of our favorites include dairy this season. But, are you ever looking to try something new? Check out these recipes from 3-A-Day for a fresh dairy spin on the holidays.

Baked Pears with Vanilla Yogurt and Granola, at only 240 calories per serving this desert may come in as one of your lower calorie holiday treats.

Cheddar Fondue, if you haven’t had fondue before, this is way to try it. This fondue is not only cheesy delicious, but its fun to eat with friends and family!

Fresh Berry Stuffed French Toast with Vanilla Yogurt Sauce. Have the house full? Wow your family with this great breakfast.

Grilled Chicken Cheddar Casserole with Mushrooms. Everyone loves a homemade casserole. And let’s face it, some of our old favorites could use a fresh take.

Do you have any family favorite holiday dairy recipes? Share them below!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from all of us at Hoard’s Dairyman!

A better way to classify?

On December 18, we classified the Hoard Farm Guernsey herd. It was a cold, blustery day outside and equally chilly in the free stall barn. The thermostat for the curtains read 13 degrees when we started at 8 a.m. and peaked at 21 about 4 p.m. We currently have 328 cows on test with about 271 in milk.

We began scoring in the 2-year-old pen. The classifier and Hoard's editor assisting with classifying moved through that pen quickly, thanks in part to 54 first-calf heifers that were classified two months earlier as part of an effort to get a group of young sire daughters in the January USDA sire summaries. Since 90 days hadn't passed, none of those cows were eligible to be rescored. Next, we moved to the fresh cow pen where most cows weren't quite in condition for classification day. Then we went to the high group where 90 percent of the cows needed to be rescored. It was quite fruitful; many cows were looking good and had about 10 hours of milk in them at the time we scored the group. By the time we were done in that pen it was 1:30, and we took a break for lunch. We were on a brisk pace thanks to the diligent work of our appraiser.

After a 30-minute break, we moved to our second-lactation-and-older group . . . by far the largest pen on the farm. We scored for about an hour, cherry picking our best cows an hour before milking. Then it was decision time. We had a pending snowstorm — should we try to finish classifying or use the time we set aside Friday to finish. That storm eventually dumped 12 inches the next day which made our decision to finish classifying the right one, in our mind. So, we scored older cows in the holding pen, then set up the electronic sort gates to capture the unscored cows. We did get all the cows scored, but we created quite a bottleneck. We had cows backed up the return lane at one point and put the overflow in the thankfully empty sick pens. We greatly disrupted the routine of our cows, and it showed up in dry matter intakes and milk production the ensuing days.

That begs the question . . . is there a better way to sort and classify cows in a free stall barn. The Hoard Farm does not have headlocks, but we do have electronic ID. As our farm team discussed this issue, one solution was a more frequent classification schedule for the entire herd. At the present, our breed association has a 10-month rotation. This is the second time we classified the entire herd, and we are still in search of a better system. What are your thoughts?

What's next for dairy?

It’s no secret that our world has become increasingly connected. Use of computer, email, web tools, electronic devices, and so forth no doubt have changed your life in the last two decades. But when it comes to dairy farming, have you kept up, or is it even worth the cost? If you thought robots or automatic milking systems were the end of the line, think again. Further automation and integration of systems throughout the farm is where DeLaval sees dairy going. At the recent Smart Farming Seminar in Tumba, Sweden, hosted by DeLaval, research, development, and sales specialists described just some of the systems they believe can be integrated further to make you a better manager, and make you more profits. Stefan Bergstrand of DeLaval opened his presentation on Smart Feeding Management with the following note: “Dairy farming as a lifestyle is fading away. The ultimate objective of most dairy farms is to produce maximum profits per cow.” In-line forage testing, robotic rotaries, and automated feeding systems that have been integrated and send data to your computer were just some of the topics discussed. Cost analyses were not given, and no products were launched to the U.S. or given a timeline. To better explain their perspective, they used the integrated dairy farm illustration below. Is this the future, or will the maintenance of these systems not be cash flow-friendly? Comment and discuss below with your thoughts.

Bleckenstad: A European organic point-of-view

In the United States, the organic milk market holds just over 2% of the total market. In Sweden, the Johansson brothers of Bleckenstad farm estimate that between 15-20% of milk produced is organic. We recently had the opportunity to visit Bleckenstad Farm in Mjolby, Sweden as part of a DeLaval Smart Farming Seminar. The farm is owned and operated by brothers Magnus, Gunnar, and Mats Johannson (pictured above) and home to just over 300 cows. The brothers operate their farm and raise all of their cows in the European form of organic. But that hasn’t come without assistance. The European Union currently subsidizes approximately $592 per acre annually for farmers using organic practices. Organic standards in Europe versus the U.S. are not parallel either. Cows with mastitis can be treated with antibiotics, unlike the U.S., but farmers voluntarily have doubled a milk withdrawal period. In Sweden, all cows are required to be on pasture for three months per year while organic farms are required to offer four months of pasture. When Bleckenstad first transitioned, the process took 1 year compared to the three-year transition period for United States farmers. And while some may associate organic with little use of technology, the Johansson brothers won’t be part of that assumption. The farm is home to 320 cows and uses the DeLaval Voluntary Milking System (robots) along with automatic feeders. The farm also has an on-farm store in which they sell their own cheese, homemade preserves (their popular carrot variety is shown above) as well as traditional Swedish crafts. Bleckenstad is happy with their transition and says their cows are lasting longer and they are receiving about 20 percent more for their milk.

Dairy industry remembers Ivan Strickler

Ivan K. Strickler, known locally and recognized worldwide for his leadership in the dairy industry, died Tuesday afternoon at Allen County Hospital in Iola. He was 87.

Strickler was on the first board of directors and named the first chairman of the National Dairy Research and Promotion board. He spent 14 years on the National Milk Producers executive committee, where he served as chairman of the export committee. In the Midwest, he served 27 years on the board of directors of Mid-America Dairymen, Inc., during which time it grew to become the nation’s largest milk marketing cooperative. His last 13 years on the board were as its president.

Locally, Strickler operated Strickler Holstein Farm, a predominantly registered Holstein operation, milking just under 400 cows with around 1,000 animals total. Strickler Holsteins is a world-wide marketer of genetics, having produced bulls, cows, or embryos for virtually every market and country open to U.S. Holsteins. While working mainly with Hosteins, Strickler has judged all breeds of dairy cattle and judged national shows in Columbia, Brazil, Argentina, Ecuador, Australia, and Mexico. Strickler served eight years on the National Holstein Association board followed by two years as vice-president and two years as president.

A 1947 graduate of Kansas State University’s dairy science program, Strickler was awarded the school’s Alumni Medallion Award in 2000, the highest honor bestowed by K-State.

Other recognitions include being named: Man of the Year in 1978 at the World Dairy Expo, National Dairy Shrine Guest of Honor in 1983, and inducted into the Alpha Gamma Rho Hall of Fame.

In 1996, he wrote the book, “Wholly Cow: We Did It!” which was an autobiographical memoir. More than 3,000 copies of the book were sold here and abroad, raising more than $10,000 for scholarships for youth interested in pursuing careers in the dairy industry.

CWT accepts 184 bids representing 61,000 cows

Cooperatives Working Together announced today, December 10, that it has tentatively accepted 184 bids in its second herd retirement of 2008, representing 61,078 cows and 1.2 billion pounds of milk. In addition, CWT has accepted bids for 1,548 bred heifers in this herd retirement program.

Together, CWT’s two herd retirements this year account for 85,663 cows that produced 1.637 billion pounds of milk, along with another 2 billion pounds, milk equivalent, that CWT’s Export Assistance program has removed from the market.

Farmers in 40 states submitted a total of 471 herd retirement bids in late November to CWT, reflecting “the continuing financial stress that many farmers are facing as milk prices plunge below the cost of production,” said Jerry Kozak, president and CEO of NMPF, which administers CWT. Kozak noted that, although the costs of dairy feed and diesel fuel have dropped, milk prices have fallen faster.

Starting next week, CWT field auditors will begin visiting the 184 farms whose bids were accepted checking their milk production records, inspecting their herds, and tagging each cow for processing. All farmers will be notified no later than January 12, 2009, as to whether their bid was among those accepted in this sixth herd retirement round that CWT has conducted since 2003.

“In this retirement round, the bids were more competitive and came from larger dairy operations,” he said. “Still, we were careful to expend CWT funds on bids that were commensurate with current overall market prices for cows.”

Wisconsin Governor champions dairy

Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle announced to those attending the ninth annual Dairy Business Association (DBA) meeting in Madison, Wis., that the state's agriculture exports stood at $1.5 billion for the first nine months of 2008. That's a 7 percent jump. Of that total, dairy exports grew by 39 percent, up from $126 million in the first nine months of 2007 to $176 million in the first nine months of 2008. Exports were driven by a healthy demand for cheese and butter. Cheese exports set a record value of $75 million for the first nine months of 2008, a robust 47 percent gain. Governor Doyle also noted that 34 dairy plants have opened in the state since 2004, and 54 existing plants have undergone expansion during the same time.

"Dairy is one of the fastest-growing parts of our state's economy," reported Govenor Doyle. He reported to producer members of DBA who have been responsible for the state's expanded milk production. The state will no doubt count on the thriving dairy industry for growth as the state begins tackling the projected $5.4-billion budget deficit.

Doyle, a Democrat, was one of the first governors to support President-elect Obama. Some have speculated that Doyle may be heading to Washington. He ended that speculation when he told DBA members, "I am going to be here," when asked if they could book him for next year's meeting.

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