TheDairySite Newsletter - 11 September 2009

TheDairySite Weekly Newsletter

Friday 11th September 2009

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Welcome to this week's newsletter

Editorial: Crisis in European Dairy Sector Deepens

Representatives of the European Milk Board have this week called on the European Parliament and the Commission to change the agricultural policies to have a flexible, demand-driven supply controls.

They want action to bolster prices and ease the problems of oversupply of milk.

Romuald Schaber, President of the EMB and President of the German Dairy Farmers' Association described the current EU dairy policy as superficial.

And now the crisis that is being felt across the Continent is festering revolt amongst probably the most volatile of the European farming community - the French farmers.

The problems still persist, despite the intervention of a group of 15 EU ministers calling for a temporary increase in intervention prices and careful management of the disposal of intervention stocks, export refunds for dairy products and aid for milk powder for animal feed.

The Scottish farmers have also warned that its dairy sector will continue to lose numbers unless stable prices can be achieved.

The latest figures from the Scottish Dairy Cattle Association show a downward trend in the number of businesses, with just 1,124 dairy farms operating at present.

However, problems of pricing have been felt around the world and a crisis meeting was held in Tasmania this week to address the needs of the impoverished dairy farmers and find a solution to the mental strain the situation is having on them.

Chris Harris

This Week's Feature Articles

We have 5 new features this week:

Worldwide Impact of Drought on the Cattle Sector
Worldwide droughts are having a serious impacts on global agriculture. TheCattleSite Junior Editor, Charlotte Johnston, looks into what effects drought has had on agricultural systems and economies and the cattle sector in particular.

Animal Productivity and Genetic Diversity
Possibilities through cloning and transgenic technology have both their strengths and weakness as well as technological limitations, writes TheCattleSite Junior Editor, Charlotte Johnston.

What Interest Rate is Your Pasture Paying?
Most pasture plants are in debt this year as the dry conditions and cold spring put most plants behind in their spring "loan payments" to their root systems.

Managing Through a Recession
After several years of favourable hay prices and generous margins, forage producers are facing a 2009 that looks less than rosy, writes Iowa State Extension Economist, William Edwards.

Effect of Cloprostenol Sodium on Postpartum Reproductive Efficiency of Dairy Cattle
India accommodates 17 per cent of worldâ€™s population but the total cultivable land available with us is merely three per cent write Prabhat Pandey, A. Pandey1, A.K. Sinha and B. Singh of the Department of Animal Reproduction, Gynaecology and Obstetrics College of Veterinary Science and A.H., Ranchi, Jharkhand.