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DAIRY ST R “All dairy, all the time”™
Volume 20, No. 12
Retaliatory tariffs cause tension in dairy market Government aid may offer temporary relief By Jennifer Coyne jenn@dairystar.com
International trade is an essential part of the U.S. dairy market with the equivalent of one day’s worth of milk production each week sold as exported products. So when retaliatory tariffs from Mexico and China went into effect throughout the months of June and July, the markets quickly responded. Last month, Class III milk price dropped more than $1 per hundredweight (cwt.) from $15.57 per cwt. May 31 to $14.20 July 6, after Mexico implemented the most recent bout of tariffs against U.S. products, including dairy.
Turn to TARIFFS | Page 5
August 11, 2018
A do-it-themselves attitude
Family labor, management strategies help Kaspers progress By Krista Kuzma
krista.k@dairystar.com
MEDFORD, Minn. – The Kasper family has focused on doing the work themselves and coming up with creative management solutions to help their farm progress and stay protable. The Kaspers showed these strategies and this progression during a University of Minnesota Extension Successful Dairy Systems Field Day on Aug. 1 at their 235-cow dairy, Kashome Holsteins, near Medford, Minn. The farm includes three generations: Darwin and Barb are the patriarch and matriarch of the family. Their son and daughter-in-law, Scott and Turn to KASPERS | Page 6
KRISTA KUZMA/DAIRY STAR
Sco� Kasper talks with par�cipants of the University of Minnesota Extension Successful Dairy Systems Field Day Aug. 1 about the ra�on on his 235-cow dairy near Medford, Minn.
Midwest leads in MPP payments Minnesota, Wisconsin issued $50 million as of July By Jennifer Coyne jenn@dairystar.com
MARK KLAPHAKE/DAIRY STAR
Adam Fellbaum combines oats for his family’s dairy farm Aug. 7 near Swanville, Minn. Fellbaum’s dad, Steve, and brothers, Luke and Kennard, milk 86 cows.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Dairy farmers who elected for $8 coverage in the government-funded Margin Protection Program for Dairy recently received their June payments for the 2018 year, marking the halfway point for the revised program. Of the total $155,264,926 indemnity payments processed, Minnesota and Wisconsin dairy farmers claimed $51,879,429, according to the United States Department of Agriculture’s most recent report published July 11. Wisconsin received the largest amount of payments across all states with $36,794,124; Minnesota was third with $15,085,305. Iowa and South Dakota also received payments in the amount of $6,961,101 and $1,104,395, respectively.
Turn to MPP | Page 6