TheDairySite Newsletter - 27 November 2009

TheDairySite Weekly Newsletter

Friday 27th November 2009

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Welcome to this week's newsletter

Editorial: Free Market vs Controlled Market?

A report by the Conference Board of Canada has suggested that the dairy supply chain is detrimental to producers. The report says that the supply chain discourages the industry from addressing long-term challenges, reduces competitiveness and prevents producers from seizing global opportunities.

However, Dairy Farmers' of Canada has hit back, arguing that the supply management system in place is the only reason the Canadian dairy industry has survived the recent economic crisis and has done so better than other countries. They argue that over the last two years, the free market principles have failed agriculture and food around the world.

To cope with the economic dairy crisis, last month the US Secretary of Agriculture announced direct aid for US dairy farmers. This week, a US Senator has urged the Secretary to ensure that the US$290 million funds are distributed by the end of the year.

In China, two men were executed for their part in the melamine-tainted milk powder scandal which killed six and made around 300,000 people ill.

Charlotte Johnston

This Week's Feature Articles

We have 4 new features this week:

Harmonising E.coli Monitoring Across Europe
The European Food Safety Authority is to review the way the E.coli is monitored and reported and harmonise methods across EU countries, writes TheCattleSite senior editor Chris Harris.

Grass Forage Research Update - Minnesota
Well-managed perennial grasses can provide good agronomic, economic, and nutritive complements to alfalfa on Minnesota dairy farms, writes Paul Peterson, Extension Forage Agronomist.

Recommendations To Optimise Calf Health
Calf pneumonia is a common problem in calves housed in individual pens in modern ventilated calf barns. A study by Kenneth Nordlund, DVM at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, has identifed the key housing factors associated with reduced prevalence of respiratory disease in these calf barns during the winter months.

Genetic Marker Technology In The Dairy Industry
Bennet Cassell, an Extension Dairy Scientist, Genetics and Management at Virginia Polytechnic looks at new information regarding the genetic merit of the dairy cows called "dense SNP arrays".