November 20, 2015
CapitalPress.com
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11
Dairy/Livestock
Cheese falling, Washington in tariff crosshairs
butter holding
By DAN WHEAT
Capital Press
Cash cheese prices in
Chicago dropped the second
week of November, ending
two weeks of gain. CME
block Cheddar closed Friday
the 13th at $1.62 per pound,
down 8 cents on the week
and 32 1/4-cents below a year
ago when they tumbled al-
most 26 cents. The Cheddar
barrels plunged 18 1/4-cents
last week, to $1.4675, 44
3/4-cents below a year ago.
Six cars of block traded hands
last week at the CME and 38
of barrel.
The blocks were un-
changed Monday but dropped
a nickel Tuesday, slipping
to $1.57 per pound, lowest
block price since September
21, 2015, as traders absorbed
Tuesday’s additional drop
in the GDT and anticipate
Thursday’s October Milk Pro-
duction report. The barrels
lost 2 3/4-cents Monday but
inched up a penny Tuesday,
to $1.45, lowering the spread
to 12 cents but still well above
the normal 3-5 cents.
FC Stone broker, Dave
Kurzawski, warned in his
Nov. 9 Early Morning Update
that “hefty supplies matched
against only good, but not
remarkable, domestic cheese
demand in October gave way
to a somewhat lower trajecto-
ry to spot pricing to end last
month. From a historical per-
spective, if the price of cheese
is falling, even modestly so,
at the end of National Pizza
Month, it stands to reason
more price weakness could be
in the cards for the balance of
the year.”
Dairy Market News
(DMN) reports that Midwest
cheese production is steady.
Food service and pizza de-
mand is robust. Many cheese
Dairy
Markets
Lee Mielke
makers are seeing natural
cheese varieties leave their fa-
cilities without going into in-
ventory. A new barrel cheese
facility is scheduled to come
online in Southwestern Wis-
consin within the next month.
Western output is active
with milk readily available.
Retail and food service de-
mand for block cheese is
strong. Cheese makers say
they are not building invento-
ries of these types.
After gaining almost 47
cents in four weeks, spot but-
ter traders must have taken
last week off. There were no
sales, bids, or offers all week.
The price continues to defy
gravity, holding at $2.8850
per pound, hauntingly un-
changed on the week, but an
eye-catching 89 3/4-cents
above a year ago.
The spot butter was un-
changed Monday and Tues-
day, marking the seventh con-
secutive session of silence.
Cream availability for but-
ter production in the Central
region is steady to somewhat
tighter, according to DMN.
Western butter making is
steady.
Spot Grade A nonfat dry
milk finished Friday at 80
cents per pound, down a pen-
ny on the week and 38 cents
below a year ago. Three cars
were sold last week.
Monday’s trading saw the
powder give up another penny
and lose one Tuesday and dip
to 78 cents per pound, lowest
spot price since August 31,
2015.
Zeolite filter shows results
in capturing ammonia, odor
By CAROL RYAN DUMAS
Capital Press
BUHL, Idaho — Prelim-
inary results on the use of a
zeolite filter to reduce ammo-
nia and odor emissions from
a dairy’s manure flush pit is
showing promise in a Univer-
sity of Idaho research project.
Trials on a working, 4,000-
cow dairy recorded a 90 per-
cent reduction in ammonia
emissions and a 45 percent
reduction in odor emissions
using a pressurized filter box
containing racks of zeolites,
minerals mined in Idaho.
While the results are posi-
tive, further analysis is needed
to draw a definite conclusion,
Mario de Haro-Marti, Good-
ing County extension dairy/
livestock environmental ed-
ucator and project lead, said
during a Nov. 10 tour of the
demonstration site.
The filter targets emissions
coming from the flush pit,
where ammonia and odor are
most concentrated in the ma-
nure-handling system, but has
the potential for application
on an entire lagoon, de Ha-
ro-Marti said.
The research is being
conducted on Dean Swager’s
dairy to demonstrate whether
use of a zeolites filter can be
an alternative for managing
ammonia and odor emissions
in specific settings on a work-
ing farm, not just in a model,
he said.
The idea was to reduce the
impact of a dairy if emissions
are effecting neighbors or ex-
ceeding regulatory thresholds,
but it won’t change the dy-
namics of the manure system.
It is reducing air emissions
from the effluent but not tak-
ing nitrogen or ammonia out
of the manure, de Haro-Marti
said.
Background levels of am-
monia in air around the filter
were taken, and ammonia
concentrations were measured
at the filter inlet before treat-
ment and the filter outlet after
treatment.
Running the filter for three
days in July reduced ammo-
nia emissions 92.04 percent.
Running it for six days in
September showed a 90.17
percent reduction. Emissions
reduction decreased to 53.15
percent after running the filter
for 57 days, the data shows.
De Haro-Marti said he as-
sumes the decreased reduc-
tion was due to the saturation
of zeolites in the filter and
calculates complete satura-
tion would occur in about 120
days if the filter continues per-
forming at the current level.
In addition to ammonia
reduction, odor emissions as
measured in European Odour
Units (OUE) by an olfactom-
eter showed a 45 percent re-
duction, he said.
The researcher didn’t
know how well the zeolite
would work or if they needed
to be wet, as they work better
in a moist environment. But
the dry zeolites rocks per-
formed well receiving only air
moisture, he said.
The palm-sized rocks are
showing positive results. Fur-
ther research will test differ-
ent unit sizes of the minerals,
such as powder, which could
have a different effect on am-
monia absorption or air flow
in the filter, he said.
“Now that we see they
(rocks) work so well, we’ll
start monkeying around” with
size, he said.
“Another step will be
to see if we can wash them
(rocks) out and use them
again,” he said.
If not, the researchers will
spread them in a field, per-
haps breaking them into a fin-
er size, and test if plants will
take up the nitrogen from the
saturated zeolites, he said.
The project is being fund-
ed by a $66,202 Conservation
Innovation Grant through
Natural Resources Conser-
vation Service, with funding
received in 2012.
The grant will also fund
research in the use of zeolites
on compost piles to reduce
ammonia emissions, de Ha-
ro-Marti said.
Other research on Swa-
ger’s farm includes the use of
a new centrifuge to separate
manure solids, and manure
subsurface injection using a
drag hose and injection sys-
tem coupled with a floating
pump.
CLE ELUM, Wash. —
Washington state could be
“significantly impacted” by
Canadian tariffs on various
commodities including apples
and wine, a representative of
the Canadian Cattlemen’s As-
sociation warns.
A final ruling from the
World Trade Organization
is expected the first week of
December clearing the way
for 100 percent tariffs on U.S.
exports to Canada in Decem-
ber, said John W. Masswohl,
director of government and
international relations of the
Canadian Cattlemen’s As-
sociation. He spoke at the
Washington Cattlemen’s As-
sociation annual meeting at
Suncadia Resort near Cle
Elum, Nov. 12.
The Canadian government
will strategize with the Cana-
dian cattle and pork industries
in determining how to maxi-
mize impacts of tariffs, Mass-
wohl said.
“The eventual list will be
strategic in terms of who the
U.S. senators are who have
resisted or opposed repealing
COOL (country-of-origin la-
beling) and what commodities
are in their states,” he said.
Washington’s
senators,
Patty Murray and Maria Can-
twell, are both for keeping
COOL so Washington will see
“significant impact,” Mass-
wohl said.
Canada is estimating the
U.S. will lose $3.1 billion an-
nually in trade of beef, pork,
Dan Wheat/Capital Press
Ben Smith and Thomas Gilliom, state Department of Agriculture veterinarians, left, talk with WSDA
Director Derek Sandison, right, at Washington Cattlemen’s Association annual meeting at Suncadia
Resort, Cle Elum, Wash., Nov. 12.
tree fruit, wine and many
other agricultural and non-ag-
ricultural goods over the dis-
pute, he said. That’s about the
same amount annually Cana-
da claims to be losing because
of COOL, he said.
Under COOL, it costs Ca-
nadian beef producers over
$100 more per head to have
cattle slaughtered in the U.S.
because feedlots and slaugh-
ter houses have added expens-
es in tracking cattle to label
the beef by country of origin,
he said.
Also at the meeting,
Charles McElligott, manag-
ing director of Pacific Terri-
tory for Rabo AgriFinance,
said the prime interest rate,
low and stable for so long,
likely will rise a quarter per-
cent in December. The sup-
ply of cattle will remain tight
through the first half of 2016
and wholesale beef prices
could reach $1.50 to $1.75 per
pound by late April, he said.
The World Health Organi-
zation walked back its warn-
ing about processed meats
causing cancer, but the media
didn’t pick up on it, McElli-
gott said. Risk is very low, he
said.
Dereck Sandison, director
of the Washington State De-
partment of Agriculture, said
the state’s population will
likely grow from 7 million to
8.3 million in 2030 creating
more pressure on land and
water resources and potential
for conflict.
“Some of the challenges
you face are pretty daunting
and we will work with you to
keep a vital cattle industry in
Washington,” he said.
State officials gave updates
on wolf management and said
there’s not enough documen-
tation yet to say whether or
not there’s a new wolf pack
in the Loup Loup Pass area of
Okanogan County.
Ranchers are coming up
short cattle in the area which
could be from wildfire but
some say it’s from wolves,
Vic Stokes, Twisp rancher
said.
Milk board to enter float in Rose Parade
By TIM HEARDEN
Capital Press
MODESTO, Calif. — A
California dairy group is
making a big splash in 2016
with a float entry in the iconic
Tournament of Roses Parade
in Pasadena.
The California Milk Advi-
sory Board’s first-ever New
Year’s Day parade float will
have the theme, “Adventures
in Real Food” and depict var-
ious favorite foods “floating”
down “rapids” made of milk.
The float will give the Cal-
ifornia dairy industry some
national exposure as the milk
board embarks on a new ad
campaign dubbed “Return to
Real,” communications direc-
tor Jennifer Giambroni said.
“It’s about real food from
real people, kissed by the
California sun,” Giambroni
said. “We wanted to use this
as a platform for talking about
that. It’s a great tradition.”
The float will follow the
127th Rose Parade’s theme,
“Find Your Adventure,”
which is designed to cele-
brate the National Park Ser-
vice’s centennial in 2016.
Award-winning documentary
filmmaker Ken Burns will be
Courtesy of CMAB
The California Milk Advisory Board is entering a float in the Tour-
nament of Roses Parade in Pasadena. An artist rendering shows
a concept for a float which plays off the theme of CMAB’s latest ad
campaign touting California milk.
the parade’s grand marshal.
Riders on the CMAB’s
55-foot-long float will ma-
neuver a “flowing river” of
milk rapids cascading over
California’s rolling hills and
valleys while rafting atop
a grilled cheese sandwich,
a baked potato topped with
butter and sour cream, and a
pizza pie.
At the back of the float,
a premium cheddar cheese
wheel will represent Califor-
nia sunshine, and a banana
split “satellite” car will pre-
cede the float.
As the Rose Parade re-
quires floats to be made of
all natural materials, the milk
board will use such materials
as cotton seed, whole bar-
ley and whole corn, along
with roses and other flowers,
Giambroni said.
A typical float costs about
$250,000 to build and oper-
ate, and the milk board’s float
will be funded as part of the
checkoff program’s commu-
nications budget, Giambroni
said.
Volunteers are working on
the structure now, and they’ll
start to build the shapes on
which the natural materials
will be applied, she said. The
float will be decorated Dec.
27-30, she said.
“Many of our volunteers,
including dairy farmers, will
go down and work on the float
itself,” she said.
The float has to be tested
on the parade route several
times to make sure it doesn’t
get stuck under bridges or
have any other problems, she
said.
“It’s a big endeavor,”
Giambroni said. “We’ve
learned a lot this year. The
Rose Parade organizers are
extremely helpful. They’ve
been doing this for over 100
years.
“It’s very precise as well,”
she said. “If you delay the
parade in any way, your float
builder gets fined. They are
a national broadcast ... They
have a schedule they have to
keep to.”
The CMAB is far from be-
ing the first agriculture-relat-
ed entry for the Rose Parade,
which features dozens of
horse entries each year as well
as floats and marching bands.
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