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No light at the end of the tunnel on feed costs and pay-price

Added May 8, 2012. Horizon Organic announced at the end of April that their MAP will be maintained at $3 or $3.50 /cwt (depending on geographic location) until the end of September 2012. Organic Valley pay price continues to be the highest of the national brands but some of the regional processors are currently paying more. The costs of  inputs have remained high, and farmers are struggling to break even. Producers across the country are still requesting another $3 per cwt to reach a breakeven point for 2012 based on sound economic analysis from independent sources using data from farmers in all area of the US. For more information please click here:

www.nodpa.com/payprice_
update_05082012.shtml

The costs of feed continue to remain high with soy starting to climb rapidly. Some of the feed dealers are importing corn and soy or mixing pelleted feed with “green protein” (alfalfa) to lower costs. For more information ple3ase click here:

www.nodpa.com/feed_
prices_05_08_12.shtml

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Check Out All The Businesses Supporting NODPA's Work
Over 20 businesses have signed up for our business membership directory, helping support our newsletter, web site, advocacy work, and more. Check them out.

Recent Classifieds

Added in May

Want to submit your own farmer classified? Click here >

Animals

Fly Parasites:  Fly parasites prevent adult fly emergence. These tiny beneficial insects kill fly pupae and use the killed pupae as “nurseries” to grow new parasites. Natural! Reduces Chemical Use!
IPM Laboratories, Inc.
Email:  orders@ipmlabs.com
Phone:  315-497-2063

Forage & Grains

Certified Organic HAY - Round 4 1/2 X 4, 650# bales. Timothy, and Alfalfa/grass mix - stored inside and out. Also Organic TIMOTHY SEED. Contact Jeff @ 607-566-8477 (Avoca, NY)

Certified organic dry round bales, unwrapped, approximately 550# and stored inside. Cost is $40/bale at the barn. Located in Barnard, VT. Contact Joe Ladouceur, Email: ladouceurlj@aol.com, Phone: 802-763-7454.

Approximately 100 bales of baleage for sale. Mostly grass, harvested the first week of June, 2011. $55/bale, Twin Oaks Dairy LLC, Truxton, NY, Phone: 607-842-6631, Email: randkarnold1@JUNO.COM.

Wrapped Round Bales, certified organic by VOF, 1st, 2nd and 3rd cut round bales available , $40 each. Contact Jack Lazor, Butterworks Farm: 802-744-6855 or cell: 802-999-7722 or email: Jack@butterworksfarm.com

Open Pollinated Corn Seed - Silage, Grain, Wild life plots * Available Certified Organic * Early Varieties, Wapsie Valley 85 Day, Dublin 87 Day MN (13) 87 Day, Reid Yellow dent 90 Day, Silver King 100 day Reid Yellow Dent 100 day and Lancaster sure crop 120 Day, Golden Bantam Sweet corn, Black Jack pop corn, Japanese Hulles Pop corn*Free Catalog * Green Haven Open Pollinated Seed Group 607 566 9253, www.openpollinated.com

Employment:

Part time help needed on an organic dairy farm in Randolph Center,Vermont. Work will include some vegetable production, and there is the potential for full time employment. For more information, contact Chet Abbot at 802-279-3276 or email: cdabbot@gmail.com

Equipment:

Covar Drag (weed tiner for corn crop), located in East Central Wisconsin, Dodge County. For more information call Gordy Giese at 920-904-4962

Organic Dairy Herd, Parlor, Computerized Milking System….
If some brave family with unpaid family labor or an R.N. or preferably a doctor would like to move to Beautiful Maine and ship organic milk, the Horizon and Organic Valley trucks go by every other day. We will sell you an excellent herd of approximately 80 Holsteins and 30 bred heifers, presently milking over 70 lbs per day and are Fall claviers. We have oceans of excellent haulage and corn silage. Also a double 6 Herringbone parlor, 12 units, computerized automatic take-off, Boumatic, nice milk room, and free stalls. If you have the desire to do things right and neat, contact me. No harm in having natural gas money burning a hole in your pocket. First class school system 1.5 miles away. Contact at 207-754-3871 or caldwellfarmsmaine.com or rvccow@megalink.net.

Events

For additional information on the events below, click here.

May 12, 2012
Grass Fed Beef Workshop, Hardwick, Massachusetts

May 16, 2012
Rural Vermont's 2012 Annual Celebration,
The Wilder Center, Wilder VT

May 18-19, 2012
Foraging Ahead Grazing Workshop, Sequatchie, Tennessee

May 20-23, 2012
Holistic Management Grazing Planning: An Intensive Workshop for Mobs, Partial Mobs & Non-Mobs
Ligonier, Pennsylvania

May 22-25, 2012
National Organic Standards Board Spring Meeting
Albuquerque, New Mexico

June 5-11, 2012
52nd Annual Convention of the American Society of Dowsers
Lyndon State College, Lyndonville, VT

June 8th, 2012
Adding Income Streams to a Small Dairy, Bloomville, NY

June 8, 2012
Rodale Institute Farmer Training: Transition to Organic Farming
Kutztown, Pennsylvania

June 20th, 2012, 1-3pm.
Staying Small Through a Century of Dairy Farming
Brooktondale, NY

June 21-23, 2012
NFU Women's Conference: Empowering Farm Women
NFU Education Center, Bailey, Colorado

June 30th, 2012, 11 am – 2 pm
Achieving Low Somatic Cell Count on Small Herds
Ancramdale, NY, (Hudson Valley)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Feature Farm: Grass based, no grain Grazing Acres Farm, Chetek, WI

Added May 8, 2012. With almost 20 years of farming and investing resources into their land base, grass-based dairy genetics, and growing a competent workforce, Cheyenne and Katy Christianson have made a name for themselves in the organic dairy community. The Christiansons operate a grass-based, no-grain organic dairy consisting of 325 acres (280 is owned, 40 rented); 240 tillable acres are designated for pasture and hay with about 15 acres in ‘wooded pasture’. Their farm has grown from a nutrient-poor conventionally managed farm to a vibrant biological system that is practically self-sufficient, needing only a little seed and fertilizer for their forage system.

For more on Cheyenne and Katy’s operation please go to: http://www.nodpa.com/ff_may_2012.shtml

Added May 8, 2012

NODPA Field Days

Cheyenne is the key-note speaker at the 12th NODPA Fields Days on September 27 and 28, 2012 in Brattleboro, VT. In a year of grain shortages, high feed prices and dramatic weather patterns, the meeting’s theme is: ‘A nutrient and energy dense agenda to help farmers be more self-reliant by growing more of their own feed in healthy, rich soil’. For more information, or if you have questions about sponsoring or exhibiting at the NODPA Field Days, contact NODPA Field Days Coordinator Nora Owens anytime at: noraowens@comcast.net  and 413-772-0444 or go to:

http://www.nodpa.com/fielddays_2012_may8_
announcement.shtml

OTA’s proposed Organic
Check–Off program ...

... is it a technical correction to allow all organic products an exemption from paying into a commodity program enough or do we need a Federal Commodity program under USDA administration and rules? Learn more >

Commentary: Low milk prices driving producers to the ground

Organic dairy cows losing production, condition, or leaving the farm for beef, says Ralph Caldwell, ME Organic Dairy farmer

“Horizon Organic threw us a bone last month that will take effect this month (March), with the addition of a couple dollars per hundredweight.” “The real reason they are running out (of organic milk) is because the milk companies have paid less than the cost of production for several years and the Northeast is getting over a million pounds of milk per month less month after month, even though the dairy processors are signing up new farmers all the time.” Read more of longtime organic dairy farmer Ralph Caldwell’s commentary on the state of organic dairy farming:

http://www.nodpa.com/commentary
_low_milk_prices_05082012.shtml

Open Letter to Governor Cuomo
About Fracking

As the federal government looks at the issue nationally and recommends that drilling companies have to report what chemicals they use after the fact rather than seek permission before polluting the environment, Kathie Arnold looks at the issue of fracking locally in New York. “There are far too many unanswered questions and a lack of in-depth study of what the health effects will be of widespread shale gas drilling to not invoke the precautionary principle at this point in time. We don’t really know, although there are many cases and mounting evidence from areas where shale gas extraction is in full swing that raise big red flags. First, we must do no harm. That can’t happen by drilling first and researching later.” Read more of Kathie Arnold’s open letter to New York Governor Cuomo:

http://www.nodpa.com/commentary_cuomo_
fracking_05082012.shtml

Filler Forage: Extending the
Grazing Season

Perennial pasture production is an integral part of dairy and livestock grazing operations. Understanding the growth patterns of perennials, helps match forage production needs with cows’ requirements. Joshua Baker, the Assistant Marketing Manager of Kings AgriSeeds, Inc. lays out ways to extend the grazing season and various options to increase the productivity and yield from annual forage crops. For a highly informative and well-illustrated article please go to:

http://www.nodpa.com/production_forage_
filler_forage_050812.shtml

No light at the end of the tunnel
on feed costs and pay-price

Horizon Organic announced at the end of April that their MAP will be maintained at $3 or $3.50 /cwt (depending on geographic location) until the end of September 2012. Organic Valley pay price continues to be the highest of the national brands but some of the regional processors are currently paying more. The costs of  inputs have remained high, and farmers are struggling to break even. Producers across the country are still requesting another $3 per cwt to reach a breakeven point for 2012 based on sound economic analysis from independent sources using data from farmers in all area of the US. For more information please click here:

http://www.nodpa.com/payprice_
update_05082012.shtml

The costs of feed continue to remain high with soy starting to climb rapidly. Some of the feed dealers are importing corn and soy or mixing pelleted feed with “green protein” (alfalfa) to lower costs. For more information ple3ase click here:

http://www.nodpa.com/feed_prices_05_08_12.shtml

ADDED April 2, 2012

Feed Price Update

Organic dairy farmers are still suffering with ever higher corn and soybean prices and, at least in the northeast, there is so sign of any useful pasture. Future prices for corn and soybeans hold little hope for a drop in price. For more details please click here.

The Benefits Of Using Fish and Seaweed Products To Feed Your Forage Crops
Why does Fish work so well as a Fertilizer? What are the benefits of cold-processed hydrolyzed fish vs. a fish emulsion? What can farmers expect when they use hydrolyzed fish on their hay and pasture? Why does Seaweed work so well on fields and pastures? What is the cost? These are all timely questions as you plan out your year’s program or perhaps experiment with different inputs. For a concise analysis please click here.

Need increased assistance with Nutrient Management Implementation?

If you are in Vermont you can get help from Kirsten Workman who comes to Vermont from Washington State. During her time in Washington, Kirsten facilitated farmer participation in watershed cleanup plans, started the very successful Poultry Processing Equipment Lending Program, revitalized a local farmers market, and advocated for farmers across the region. She also taught classes for farmers on a wide array of topics including pasture management, composting, poultry processing, livestock management practices, whole farm planning and business planning for agricultural entrepreneurs. Find out about the many opportunities to learn good nutrient management by clicking here.

Goals and Strategies for a vaccination program for Organic Dairy

As the topic of vaccines gets raised yet again by the NOSB, this article from Guy Jodarski, illustrates the importance of a good vaccination program and the challenges with choosing the right vaccines. Hopefully the NOSB will agree to leave the situation as it is with vaccines at their next meeting and encourage more uniformity amongst certifiers with what can and cannot be used. To read his articles please click here.

Fly Management on Your Organic Dairy
Thursday, April 19, 2012, 10 am to 2 pm, The Essex Resort, Essex, Vermont

Learn from nationally known entomologists who will share their research and experience on fly control management strategies for your organic dairy farm. A panel discussion will follow the speakers’ presentations. For more information please go to: http://www.nodpa.com/cal_april.shtml  

Odairy discussions – don’t like to tweet
but want to stay up to date?

Odairy is the resource that allows organic dairy farmers and many, many others to network with each other – or just gossip!

Last month, discussions continued on problems farmers were experiencing associated with the lack of profitability in 2011. Discouraged farmers shared their frustration as they talked of getting jobs in town, selling out, and the recent difficulty of getting financing from lenders. A farmer asked about cost and availability of kelp. Another producer responded by saying that all kelp is not created equal.

For Liz Bawden's summary of Odairy happening in the last few months please go to: http://www.nodpa.com/
odairy_april_1_2012.shtml

5 Ways You Can Support NODPA
Eight and a half years ago NODPA was formed in response to a threat of a drop in milk price. In 2009 NODPA is the only organization whose mission is to represent the interest of organic dairy producers no matter who they sell their milk to.

Click here for a summary of the many ways you can support NODPA and the farmers it represents.

Check out the 20 new entries in our business directory ...
... and consider adding your own business. MORE