July 22, 2016
CapitalPress.com
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9
Dairy/Livestock
U.S. dairymen fare better than global counterparts
By CAROL RYAN DUMAS
Capital Press
TWIN FALLS, Idaho —
Burdensome product invento-
ries and weakened demand are
weighing down global markets,
delivering dismal milk prices to
farmers around the world.
But there is a bright light
at the end of the tunnel. It will
just take some time to get there,
Rabobank dairy analyst Tom
Bailey told dairymen at an in-
formation update dinner on
July 13.
Markets are dealing with 6.4
million tons of extra product
inventory (liquid milk equiv-
alent) compared to normal
stocks. That represents about
one month of global trade and
is higher than Idaho’s 6.3 mil-
Carol Ryan Dumas/Capital Press
Tom Bailey, right, dairy analyst for Rabobank’s Food and Agri-
culture Research and Advisory Group, talks with Brian Parks, a
Rabobank senior inancial analyst, during the bank’s information
update dinner for clients in Twin Falls on July 13.
lion tons of annual milk pro-
duction, he said.
Fortunately, U.S. producers
are in a much better position
than their counterparts around
the world, with a farm gate milk
price of about $15 per hundred-
weight — compared with $8 to
$9 in New Zealand and $11 in
Europe, he said.
That $15 is “slightly above
or below break-even, which
is fairly fortunate for us since
everyone else is below break-
even,” he said.
U.S. producers have been
pretty level-headed, growing
production a steady and modest
1 percent to 2 percent over the
last two years. Strong demand
for butter and cheese has also
helped support milk prices in
the U.S., he said.
“The U.S. remains excep-
tional despite world dynamics,”
he said.
Modest production growth,
strong demand and continued
low feed prices means U.S.
producers are going to see rea-
sonable income over feed mar-
gins over the next 12 months,
he said.
Globally, producers “are
not going to be saved anytime
soon, but things are going to get
a little better,” he said.
Global milk production
growth, which played a big
part in the current situation,
is starting to slow, and that’s
a good sign for producers, he
said.
Six of the world’s seven ma-
jor exporters have put the brakes
on and are not going to see any
milk-production growth over
the next 12 months, he said.
“That’s what we need,” he
said.
Global milk production will
contract in the second half of
the year and into 2017. Things
are mismatched today, with
too much inventory. But global
milk production is below where
it needs to be for future demand
growth, he said.
The long-term demand out-
look remains good. People are
consuming more dairy, and the
world will need more milk. By
2018, the dairy industry should
be out of this “nasty cycle” and
needing to increase milk pro-
duction, he said.
“Recovery is still a ways
out, but long-term recovery
looks great,” he said.
The U.S. and the EU are
going to be big players in sup-
plying the additional demand
ahead, he said.
For now, however, the
rough patch will continue.
The excess inventories and a
strong U.S. dollar are going
to keep a ceiling on prices, he
said.
Range rider program seeks to avert wolf-livestock conlicts
By TIM HEARDEN
Capital Press
DORRIS, Calif. — If
wolves come on or near
his property, rancher Mark
Coats wants to know about
it.
Coats has received train-
ing to be a range rider — a
person who goes out sever-
al times a week looking for
tracks, scat or other signs of
wolves or other wildlife that
could harm his cattle.
The idea is that a human
presence can keep wolves
away from cattle or move
cattle away from wolves if
possible.
“When we’re out there
tracking and looking for
scat, we’re looking for live-
stock disposition,” Coats
said. “Cattle get pretty ner-
vous when there are pred-
ators around. Cattle will
actually relay that to you in
their disposition.”
Coats is taking part in
a new range rider program
offered by the California
Wolf Center, which sees
such programs as a key tool
among nonlethal means of
preventing wolf-livestock
conflicts.
The center has two rid-
ers stationed in Siskiyou
County, where the Shasta
Pack was identified by state
officials last summer and
where a calf was suspected
of being taken by wolves
last fall.
As many as four more
riders will be working in the
area by this fall.
Courtesy of Calif. Wolf Center
Karin Vardaman, far right, of the California Wolf Center and others attend a range rider training session in Montana in May. The Wolf
Center is setting up a range rider program in which willing ranchers arrange for riders to patrol their properties looking for signs of wolves
or other predators.
Under the program, will-
ing ranchers can arrange for
a rider to patrol their prop-
erties every few days, Karin
Vardaman, the Wolf Cen-
ter’s director of California
wolf recovery, said.
Riders go through a
training session in Mon-
tana and are paid by the
Wolf Center for doing the
patrols.
“Obviously, we don’t
have a handle on where
wolves may or may not be,
but we wanted to stay ahead
of the issue,” Vardaman
said. “We’re just kind of
starting early and working
with producers who are try-
ing to get used to the pro-
gram.”
State and federal pro-
tections make it illegal to
kill or hunt wolves in Cal-
ifornia, even in the case of
livestock depredation. Wolf
advocates and state offi-
cials have been promoting
nonlethal means of warding
off wolves, including using
guard dogs, motion-sen-
sor lights, brightly colored
flags or range riders or pro-
viding supplemental feed to
livestock to keep them away
from grazing areas where
wolves are known to be
present.
The Wolf Center, which
uses grants and donations
to support its outreach
efforts, has tried to de-
velop a collaborative re-
lationship with livestock
producers.
The conservation group
sponsored a series of work-
shops in far Northern Cal-
ifornia in April to teach
ranchers how to prevent
clashes between their live-
stock and predators.
All of the center’s range
riders are from within the
livestock community, Var-
daman said.
They go out in the morn-
ing and again in the eve-
ning, and in addition to
looking for evidence of
predators, they’ll also help
ranchers spot any sick or
injured cattle or calves
within their herds that
could attract wolves, she
said.
Coats said that not all
of his neighbors have yet
bought into the program.
“You have to respect ev-
eryone’s wishes,” he said.
“It’s just like a neighbor-
hood. A lot of people believe
in Neighborhood Watch but
some people do not.”
However, Coats believes
it’s imperative that ranchers
learn how to coexist with
wolves.
“What other choice do
we have?” he said. “It’s an
endangered species pro-
tected by the Endangered
Species Act. What can we
do?”
PEACH LUGS &
1 1 ⁄ 2 QT. CORRAGATED
BERRY BASKETS
Higher temperatures push
dairy prices upward
For the Capital Press
C
ash cheese and butter
prices headed high-
er last week as traders
watched the thermometer and
heard forecasts of summer heat.
Block Cheddar closed Fri-
day at $1.66 per pound, up
3 cents on the week and 4
3/4-cents above a year ago. The
barrels inished at $1.7450, up
2 1/2-cents on the week and 15
cents above a year ago. One
car of block traded hands on
the week at the CME and 15 of
barrel.
The blocks inched up a
half-cent Monday and gained
a penny and a half Tuesday,
hitting $1.68 per pound, the
highest block price since Nov.
11, 2015. The barrels were un-
changed Monday but added
a penny on Tuesday, hitting
$1.7550, the highest barrel
price since June 11, 2015, and
an atypical 7 1/2-cents above
the blocks.
May commercial disap-
pearance was “lackluster at
best,” reports FC Stone. To-
tal cheese disappearance was
unchanged from last year but
down 4.4 percent from April.
American cheese demand
was down 1.4 percent from
a year ago and down 5.8 per-
cent from April.
“The bright spot, if there
was one for cheese,” FC Stone
says, “was that demand for
the ‘other’ cheese category in-
creased 0.9 percent from 2015
levels. But even other cheese
was 3.5 percent lower than
Dairy
Markets
503-588-8313
Lee Mielke
2561 Pringle Rd. SE
Salem, OR
month-earlier levels. As you
may have already guessed,
we’re expecting June’s usage
numbers to tell quite a different
story given the sharp price rally
in June.”
Cheese production is active
across the Central region, re-
ports Dairy Market News. But
“as warm weather prevails and
components in milk decrease,
manufacturers are making
production adjustments. Milk
output is also decreasing but
contracted milk intakes have
not decreased enough to have
a substantial impact on planned
production for many Midwest
cheese makers.
“Sales volumes remain high
and a few participants note,
speciically, that interest in
processed cheese is growing,”
DMN says. “Several contacts
say they are comfortable with
inventories now that strong
sales have alleviated some
stock pressure but internation-
al interest remains light as the
U.S. dollar gains strength.”
Western cheese output re-
mains active and strong. Plen-
ty of milk is inding its way to
the vat, even in areas where
milk output is down seasonal-
ly. Domestic demand is good
for most cheese. Retail sales
are solid and process cheese
sales are active “while the na-
tion is in the midst of grilling
season.”
Call for Pricing.
Subject to stock on hand.
Delivery Available
ROP-30-3-1/#4X
By LEE MIELKE
ROP-30-2-1/#7
30-4/#4N