TheDairySite Newsletter - 31 July 2009

Friday 31st July 2009

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Welcome to this week's newsletter

Editorial: A New Way Forward

After months of struggle and speculation, the European Commission has proposed a new way forward for European dairy farmers. The Commission says it will continue to use instruments such as intervention, private storage aid and export refunds to ease the crisis, but it will allow direct payments to farmers to be paid early and has just launched a new round of dairy promotion programmes.

Other potential measures include using levies on producers who exceed their quota to finance voluntary retirement from milk production, and the extension to farmers of the Temporary Crisis Framework for state aid.

The recent expansion of EU market management mechanisms has also come as welcome news for many. This decision follows separate announcements in June to twice increase export refunds for butter, skimmed milk powder and whole milk powder and to accept into intervention extra quantities of butter and skimmed milk powder.

However, Agriculture Committee MEPs and producer representatives said that the measures are insufficient and many advocated readjusting quotas decided as part of the common agricultural policy (CAP) health check.

But Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Brendan Smith TD, dismissed as "an entirely flawed argument, the suggestion that EU quota increases are the cause of the current low prices for milk, not least when EU production is already more than four per cent under quota."

However you side, some good news is surely better than none.

Adam Anson

In the Shop

Blackwellâ€™s Five-Minute Veterinary Consult: Ruminant
Blackwell's Five-Minute Veterinary Consult series, the most trusted and well-known quick-reference resource available to veterinarians, now includes this new volume on ruminants.

This Week's Feature Articles

We have 4 new features this week:

Freshening The First Calf Heifer: Opportunities And Challenges
The first-calf heifer must successfully adapt to numerous physiological and behavioral changes at calving. Strategies that reduce stress prior to calving should optimize the chance for success, says Noah Litherland, Dairy Nutritionist, University of Minnesota, Dairy Extension.

Cycling of Phosphorus in Grazing Systems
Before addressing soil phosphorus levels under pastures it is important to gain a better understanding of the phosphorus cycle operating in our soils supporting pasture which is grazed by livestock, writes Fiona Leech, District Agronomist, NSW DPI. This report is a Primefacts publication.

Summer Pneumonia in Calves
One of the most frustrating things that can happen to a cow/calf producer is to have a set of healthy growing calves start developing pneumonia during mid-summer while the calves are still nursing the cow, writes Larry C. Hollis, D.V.M., M.Ag., extension beef veterinarian, K-State University.

Infectious Bovine Keratoconjunctivitis (Pinkeye) Study
Infectious bovine keratoconjunctivitis (IBK), commonly known as pinkeye, is a contagious bacterial disease that affects cattle worldwide, write Jose E. Rodriguez, Abebe Hassen and James Reecy, Iowa State University.

Company News

Sanofi-aventis to Acquire Merck's Interest in Merial
GLOBAL - Sanofi-aventis and Merck & Co., Inc. today announced that the companies have signed a definitive agreement under which Merck will sell its 50 per cent interest in the companies' current animal health joint venture, Merial Limited (Merial), to sanofi-aventis for $4 billion (US) in cash.

Boehringer Sees Sales Rise
GLOBAL - The pharmaceutical company Boehringer Ingelheim saw sales rise by 8.3 per cent in the first six months of 2009 compared to the previous year and because of a positive exchange rate this translated into growth of 15.7 per cent.

Global Dairy Cattle Industry News