14 CapitalPress.com
May 8, 2015
Dairy/Livestock
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Western teams have good showing at dairy challenge
By MITCH LIES
For the Capital Press
Jim Krahn knew he had a
strong team in the four Ore-
gon State University students
that entered the North Amer-
ican Intercollegiate Dairy
Challenge in Syracuse, N.Y.,
in April. But against far larger
university programs, he won-
dered just how well the team
would fare.
He need not have worried.
OSU’s Dairy Challenge
Team placed second among
the eight teams in its draw,
topped only by the University
of Tennessee.
“This was a huge accom-
plishment for them when you
compare the size and vol-
ume of some of these other
schools,” Krahn said. “And
these girls worked hard at it.
They put a lot of time in on
their own.”
Krahn began coaching the
team in 2014 after retiring as
executive director of the Or-
egon Dairy Farmers Associa-
tion, a role he served in for 22
years. The university previ-
ously didn’t have a team. The
April 9-11 Dairy Challenge in
Syracuse marked the first time
OSU entered a team in the na-
tional competition.
The team was financially
supported by ODFA.
In all, 32 teams compet-
ed in four randomly selected
sections, with eight teams in
each section.
Other West Coast universi-
ties also fared well: Washington
State University and California
Polytechnic State University
each won their section. OSU
joined Cornell University, the
University of Illinois and Penn
State in claiming seconds. The
University of Guelph was the
other section winner.
The North American Dairy
Challenge involves students
working as teams managing
real-world dairy farms. In the
competition, students tour
farms, are provided informa-
tion on individual farm issues,
then develop recommenda-
tions for nutrition, reproduc-
tion, milking procedures,
animal health, housing and
financial management.
With financial management
a major part of the challenge,
Krahn believed the OSU team
had a good chance to score
well, considering that two of
the team’s four competitors,
Mieke DeJong and Rebecca
Thomas, interned with finan-
cial institutions last year.
Andrea Smaciarz, who
like Thomas and DeJong is
a senior, interned at Land
O’Lakes, and all three grew
up on dairies.
Sophomore Danielle Bull,
the fourth member of the team,
is a former Oregon Dairy Prin-
cess who was involved in dairy
through 4-H and FFA while she
was growing up.
“These four young ladies
are massively sharp,” he said.
“And I knew we’d be real tough
on the financial part because of
these girls’ experiences.”
Nonetheless, with the fire
power behind some of the oth-
er university dairy programs,
Krahn said he was delighted
when he learned the team fin-
ished second.
“It was a tremendous ef-
fort by these young ladies and
a great achievement,” he said,
“especially when you consid-
er that half of those schools
we competed against have
more dairy professors than we
have dairy students.
“Cornell had three Ph.D.
professors there as coaches,”
Krahn said. “That’s for four
kids.”
In addition to providing
the students a sense of ac-
complishment, Krahn said
the challenge also provides
an opportunity for top dairy
students to meet prospective
employers, many of whom
annually attend the event.
“My objectives (for taking
the team back there) was to
make it something that was
practical for them and for
them to make connections and
meet people,” he said.
It’s a good bet that placing
second didn’t detract from
that, however.
CDFA sets hearing on 4b milk pricing Cash dairy prices holding steady
By CAROL RYAN DUMAS
C
Capital Press
The California Depart-
ment of Food and Agricul-
ture has set a June 3 hearing
on its own motion to consider
proposed amendments to the
pricing formulation for Class
4b milk, used to manufacture
cheese.The hearing will ad-
dress the value of whey in the
4b formula.
That value has been a
point of contention with pro-
ducers for the past few years,
as the gap between that value
in California’s pricing and
pricing in federal milk mar-
keting orders began to widen.
The issue led to numerous
petitions to CDFA for hear-
ings to consider an adjust-
ment to the value and is now
behind a producer effort to
establish a federal milk mar-
keting order for the state.
“While the industry must
continue to work towards
long-term structural reforms
to address these issues, I am
concerned that the current
conditions impacting the pro-
duction of milk and the mar-
keting of dairy products may
warrant short-term adjust-
ments to the current pricing
levels, CDFA Secretary Karen
Ross stated in a press release.
The meeting is set for 8
a.m. at CDFA auditorium,
1220 N Street, Sacramento.
Tim Hearden/Capital Press
Cows lounge in a pen at VanderWoude Dairy near Merced, Calif.
The California Department of Food and Agriculture has set a June
3 hearing on its own motion to consider proposed amendments to
the pricing formulation for Class 4b milk.
Alternative proposals to
the whey value in the cur-
rent pricing formula can
be submitted to the agency
by 4 p.m. May 20.
For information, contact
Hyrum Eastmen of Candace
Gates at (906) 900-5014.
ash cheese ended April
and began May in a
stronger than expected
position. The Cheddar blocks
closed Friday, May 1, at $1.61
per pound, unchanged on the
week but 46 cents below a
year ago when they tumbled
14 cents, to $2.07 per pound.
The blocks were unchanged
Monday and Tuesday and have
been at $1.61 since April 22.
The Cheddar barrels fin-
ished at $1.6175, down a
quarter-cent on the week and
43 3/4-cents below a year ago
when they rolled 16 1/2-cents
lower, to $2.0550. The barrels
jumped 6 cents Monday, setting
a new high for 2015, and then
gave it back Tuesday, dropping
6 1/4-cents, to $1.6150. Only
four cars of block traded hands
last week and none of barrel.
Spot butter saw a fourth
consecutive week of gain,
closing Friday at $1.85 per
pound, up 2 cents, but 22
1/2-cents below a year ago
when the spot blasted 16
1/2-cents higher, to $2.0750
per pound. The spot price
dropped 2 cents Monday but
gained pack a penny Tuesday,
closing at $1.84. Only three
cars of butter traded hands last
week at the CME.
Cash Grade A nonfat dry
milk finished the week at 93
3/4-cents per pound, up three
quarter-cents on the week but
85 cents below a year ago when
Dairy
Markets
Lee Mielke
it was trading at — better sit
down for this — $1.7875 per
pound. The powder gained a
penny and a quarter Monday
but inched back a quarter-cent
Tuesday, closing at 94 3/4-cents
per pound. No powder was sold
last week at the CME, the gains
all came on unfilled bids.
Global auction down
3.5 percent
Tuesday’s Global Dairy
Trade auction saw the weight-
ed average for all products
offered drop 3.5 percent, fol-
lowing a 3.6 percent decline
in the April 15 event and a
10.8 percent drop April 1.
This is the fourth consecutive
session of loss.
Only one product offered
saw a gain and that was Ched-
dar cheese, up 9.1 percent,
which followed a 2.7 percent
jump last time.
Leading the declines was
buttermilk powder, down 14
percent, which was up 2.1 per-
cent in the last event. Rennet
casein was next, down 11.0
percent, following a 0.6 percent
slip last time, then skim milk
powder, down 7.5 percent, fol-
lowing a 7.8 percent drop last
time. Anhydrous milkfat was
down 6.3 percent, following
a 2.3 percent gain last time.
Next was whole milk powder,
down 1.8 percent, following a
4.3 percent loss last time, and
butter rounded up the losses,
down 0.8 percent, following a
6.6 percent drop last time.
FC Stone reports the aver-
age GDT butter price equated
to about $1.36 per pound U.S.,
down from $1.3727 in the April
15 event. Contrast that to CME
butter, which closed Tuesday
at $1.84. The GDT Cheddar
cheese average was $1.37 per
pound U.S., up from $1.3099.
The U.S. block Cheddar CME
price closed Tuesday at $1.61.
GDT skim milk powder, at 93
cents per pound U.S., is down
from $1.02, and the whole
milk powder average at $1.08
per pound U.S., is down from
$1.1093 in the last event. The
CME Grade A nonfat dry milk
price closed Tuesday at 94
3/4-cents per pound.
April FO Class III
milk up 25 cents
The Agriculture Department
announced the April Federal
order Class III benchmark milk
price at $15.81 per hundred-
weight, up 25 cents from March,
$8.50 below April 2014, but
$1.59 above California’s compa-
rable 4b milk price, and equates
to about $1.36 per gallon, up
from $1.34 last month and com-
pares to $2.09 a year ago.
Idaho Dairy Council
dietitian awarded
national title in field
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Capital Press
The Academy of Nutrition
and Dietetics has recognized
Jaclyn St. John, a registered
dietitian with the Idaho Dairy
Council, as Idaho’s Young Di-
etitian of the Year.
In her duties as Ida-
ho Dairy Council’s dieti-
tian, St. John oversees the
curriculum and materials
provided to all health and
school professionals in the
state of Idaho. As health
and wellness manager, she
also coordinates health
fairs, workshops and Fuel
Up to Play 60 events at Ida-
ho schools.
Launched by the Nation-
al Dairy Council, the Idaho
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the national program is de-
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youth devel-
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healthy eat-
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Jaclyn St.
“We are
John
very proud
of Jaclyn and
the work she does on behalf
of Idaho’s dairy farm fami-
lies to promote nutrition and
healthy activities through-
out the state,” Crystal Wil-
son, IDC’s senior director of
health and wellness, said in a
press release.
“Not only is Jaclyn de-
serving of this recognition,
she is a role model for other
young dietitians in her pas-
sion and enthusiasm for her
role in the industry,” Wil-
son said.