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DAIRY ST R
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Volume 18, No. 17
“All dairy, all the time”™
October 22, 2016
What’s next for dairy? Basse dissects the 2017 market outlook By Jennifer Coyne jenn@dairystar.com
With the end of 2016 in sight, many in the dairy industry are watchful for what the new year will bring – Will prices stabilize? Will production continue to rise? Will world trade improve? On Oct. 12, Dan Basse, president of AgResource Company in Chicago, Ill., addressed those concerns with “Global Markets: The Impact,” a webinar hosted by Professional Dairy Producers of Wisconsin. The latest reports by the USDA World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) indicates projectDan Basse ed Class III milk AgResource prices at $15.80 Company to $15.90 per hundredweight (cwt.) for the remainder of 2016 and $15.55 to $16.45 per cwt. for 2017. Unless dairy policies change, the U.S. dollar further strengthens or cow numbers continue to grow, Basse is hopeful the industry could see a ceiling of $17.50 per cwt. for the upcoming year. “We wouldn’t make much, but it would be enough to stay in business,” Basse said. “We have to talk about reliable measures to make it to the ag prot cycle, which is still two or three years away.” Basse discussed three elements of the industry that will impact the plausibility of reaching the forecasted milk prices – the slumping U.S. beef industry, world trade opportunities and current structure of the U.S. dairy industry. Beef industry falls to largest yearover-year market decline From 2013 to 2015, the beef industry boomed with calf market prices reaching upwards of $500 per head; however, 2017 predictions indicate a drop to merely $100 per head. Yet packers have the largest margins on record, Basse said. “The margins are exploding and they’re not willing to pass along savings to the consumer,” Basse said. “Generally speaking, the price of a tenderloin is not much different today that it was a year ago.” Turn to MARKETS | Page 5
A Cinderella story
Sheeknoll Farms wins reserve supreme champion at WDE By Missy Mussman missy@dairystar.com
ROCHESTER, Minn. – It was a fairytale ending to a perfect show season for Sheeknoll Farm’s 6-year-old cow, Sheeknoll Durham Arrow, also known as Thomas. “After my grandpa, Vernon Hupf, passed away this summer, Thomas won grand champion at the Minnesota State Holstein Show and the Midwest Fall National Show at the Minnesota State Fair,” said Andy Sheehan. “She never lost. There was some divine intervention happening.” Grandpa Hupf must have helped Thomas nish her show
season in the same fashion, earning champion bred and owned, senior champion, grand champion and best udder of the International Holstein Show, and reserve supreme champion on Oct. 8 on the colored shavings at World Dairy Expo in Madison, Wis. Andy, his wife, Juliana, and his parents, Robert and Jeannette, along with other Sheehan family members are part of Sheeknoll Farms where they milk 300 cows on two farmsites near Rochester, Minn. “I said a little prayer before I went in the showring,” Jeannette said. “I said, ‘Dad, get on my back, and lets have Turn to SHEEKNOLL | Page 6
A solid difference
Bowe switches from sand bedding to recycled manure By Cassie Olson
cassie.o@dairystar.com
CHIPPEWA FALLS, Wis. – Soon after expanding his herd from 40 cows to 200 in 2009, Tony Bowe knew it was only a matter of time before he made changes to his manure handling. Seven years and another expansion later, Bowe is now bedding his 375 cows on recycled solids through the use of a solid separator he installed in June 2015 on his dairy near Chippewa Falls, Wis. Although Bowe said he is more than satised with the solid separator, he acknowledges that bedding on sand was equally benecial in regards to cow comfort. Turn to BOWE | Page 10
CASSIE OLSON/DAIRY STAR
Tony Bowe milks 375 cows in a partnership with his brothers, Tom and Ted (not pictured), in Chippewa Falls, Wis. In June 2015, he installed a solid separator to benet his farm’s manure handling.