The First Annual MILK BOWL

A little outreach can go a long way, as evidenced in an article in the most recent Western DairyBusinesss issue. Recognizing that local dairy businesses and families provided huge financial support to their schools’ sports teams, student athletes from Central Valley Christian High School(CVS) in Visalia competed with their rival Bakersfield Christian High School in the first annual MILK BOWL. The day-long event featured the dairy industry while visitors could watch sports competitions in volleyball, football, cross country and tennis. CVS won the competition taking home the first milk can trophy, and all participants finished the day with ice cold chocolate milk.

There are many ways you can get involved with your local school district. Like any business, schools are feeling the economic pressure, so any help, whether it be purely financial, or providing milk for an event, would be greatly appreciated. Talk with your son or daughter’s coach, call a school board member or talk with the superintendent about how you can support schools in your area.

Looking Upward

Charlotte Bronte said, “I try to avoid looking forward or backward, and try to keep looking upward.”

Progressive Dairyman’s Nov. 2 issue carried an article by Scott Steward that was devoted to optimism. They tracked news articles written in the past year and found that 80 to 90 percent focused negatively on the dairy industry. With the amount of financial distress many dairies are in, it’s easy to see why. However, Steward wrote some valid points regarding why it’s time to put away the negativity in the dairy industry and start looking upward.

You're Not Alone

At Lely, it’s not just about business. It’s about the people who have built our industry. We recognize that recently, many producers have faced challenge upon challenge trying to keep their operations afloat, and the financial burden is more than one can bear alone. Dairy Star ran an article in their Oct. 10 issue with the many resources available to producers. Remember, you aren’t in this alone. And when you’re ready to talk, there are people ready to listen.

USDA Launches Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food

In one of our posts last week, we mentioned how more and more, consumers are interested in knowing where their food comes from. And, consumers trust producers to tell them about their food more than anyone else. The USDA recently launched the Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food initiative. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said, “Reconnecting consumers and institutions with local producers will stimulate economies in rural communities, improve access to healthy, nutritious food for our families, and decrease the amount of resources to transport our food.” To learn more, view the press release distributed by the USDA or visit the Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food website.

Eastern DairyBusiness Features Lely

The September issue of Eastern DairyBusiness featured an article on Alan Simons, a Michigan dairy producer who recently installed a Lely A3 Astronaut. Click here to read the article and learn how robotic milking changed not only the Simons’ dairy business, but their personal lives as well.

Social Media Advances Our Industry

We know that consumers are becoming more interested in where their food comes from. It’s up to us, as an industry, to let consumers know the actions we take on our farms have a foundation in quality animal care, food safety, and a wholesome, nutritious final product. Dairy Herd Management ran a great story recently on how we can use social media to spread the positive story of agriculture to consumers.

The Oct. 14 addition of Dairy Herd Alert contained some information about someone who is doing just that. Will Gilmer is telling the story about his dairy, and the dairy industry, through multiple social media mediums. Click here to learn more and to see one of Gilmer’s YouTube … ahem, excuse us … MooTube videos.

Ig Nobel prize for study showing cows with names produce more milk

From The Times

October 2, 2009

Daisybell, Buttercup, Maybelline or even Norma. Giving cows a name increases their milk yield.

This surprising insight into bovine motivational psychology by scientists at Newcastle University has been rewarded with one of this year’s Ig Nobel prizes, an institution that rewards “research that makes you laugh and then makes you think”.

While the concept sounds somewhat farcical, the study was intended as a sincere investigation into cow welfare. “You’re laughing in the face of science!”

Catherine Douglas, who led the study, said. “The whole study was about how stress and fear can have a biological effect on milk yields.”

However, she conceded she was thrilled to be sharing the Ig Nobel award for veterinary medicine with her co-investigator, Peter Rowlinson.

The study involved 516 dairy farmers in the UK and revealed that the average amount of milk produced by a cow over its annual ten-month lactation period is 13,198 pints (7,500 litres). Cows with names had an average higher milk yield of 454 pints.

Nearly two thirds of farmers in the UK said they “knew all the cows in the herd” and 48 percent agreed that positive human contact was more likely to produce cows with a good milking temperament.

Almost 10 percent said that a fear of humans resulted in a poor milking temperament.

“The most important thing is for cows to be treated as individuals,” said Dennis Gibb, a dairy farmer who owns Eachwick Red House Farm near Newcastle upon Tyne with his brother Richard.

“We have got more than 300 cows, and they’re all named after flowers or trees.” However, he said there were limits to their originality when it came to naming, admitting that one cow was called “Holly the 15th”.

The Ig Nobel ceremony took place at Harvard University.