TheDairySite Newsletter - 16 December 2011

TheDairySite Weekly Newsletter

Friday 16th December 2011

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Welcome to this week's newsletter

Editorial: Dairy Farming Delivers Environmentally & Economically

The outlook for New Zealand dairy farmers is a good one.

Fonterra has increased its payout forecast range for the 2012 season. Fonterra farmgate milk price will be NZ$6.50 per kilogram of milksolids (kgMS), up from NZ$6.30 kgMS.

Fonterra Chairman Sir Henry van der Heyden said the new forecast reflected a modest recovery in global dairy commodity prices over the past two months.

This increased payout is something that will help dairy farmers invest back into the farmed environment.

NZ Federated Farmers says that environmental compliance is improving. Infringement notices are down 13 per cent nationally and in 18 months time stock exclusion will be a condition of supplying Fonterra.

Furthermore, the number of dairy cattle in New Zealand is increasing, peaking at 6.2 million in June 2011. This is the first time the number of dairy cattle in New Zealand has exceeded six million.

The herd is now double what it was 30 years ago.

This is all an indication that New Zealand's dairy industry is moving forwards with a confident foothold on global markets.

Charlotte Johnston

This Week's Feature Articles

We have 8 new features this week:

The Robots Are Coming
The principle of an automatic milking system (AMS) requires a significant change in approach to herd and farm management (from that in a conventional system) for two main reasons: (i) cows volunteer themselves for milking and (ii) milking is distributed over a 24h period, writes Stephen Fitzgerald and Bernadette O'Brien from Teagasc, Ireland.

Funding Dairy Expansion
The abolition of milk quota's in 2015 will present obvious opportunities for Irish dairy farmers to increase milk production from present levels, writes Sean Farrell, Head of Agriculture at the Bank of Ireland.

Feeding Management Strategies For Growing Heifers
Replacement heifers are the future of the dairy herd, but very little research is focused on these animals.

World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates - December 2011
The forecast for total red meat and poultry production in 2012 has been reduced as lower expectations for broiler production more than offsets a higher pork production forecast, while estimates for beef and turkey output are unchanged, according to the latest World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) report.

US Cattle Outlook - December 2011
Beef exports will continue to grow, whilst dairy exports are expected to fall next year, according to the latest Livestock, Dairy, and Poultry Outlook from the USDA's Economic Research Service.

Rabobank Outlook 2012 - Demand To Remain Strong
US cattle prices are expected to continue their strong performance into 2012, whilst hog prices are expected to flatten as supply increases, according to Rabobank's Outlook 2012 - Agri Commodity Markets Research.

South Korea Dairy and Products Annual Report 2011
Korea‟s per capita consumption of dairy products is expected to grow about 15 per cent over the next decade reflecting a strong economy, Koreans‟ exposure to a Western diet, a rise in fast food outlets, and a growing appetite for pizza and pasta, according to the USDA Foreign Agricultural Service.

Feed Outlook - December 2011
World 2011/12 corn production is forecast up 8.5 million tons this month to a record 868 million tons, mostly due to a large increase in China's production based on recently published government estimates, according to Tom Capehart and Edward Allen in the latest report from the USDA Economic Research Service.