DairyBusiness

California dairy science team places second

MONTREAL – A team of California Polytechnic State Univeresity Dairy Science students placed second in the American Dairy Science Association’s Student Activity Division Quiz Bowl at the organization’s joint meeting with the American Society of Animal Science and Canadian Animal Science, held in Montreal.

The team from Cal Poly – including members Travis Kamper, Annie Azivedo, David Jones and Kayla Machado – went through the double-elimination round without losing, including beating a team from Penn State University. However, the Cal Poly narrowly lost to the Penn State team in the final round.

Dairy Science professors Ed Jaster and Leanne Berning coached the team.

CMAB awards two summer internships

MODESTO, Calif. – Lauren Reid of Fresno and Kate Rector of Hilmar, were selected for the six-week Career Internship Program sponsored by the California Milk Advisory Board (CMAB).

Reid, 21, is a junior at California State University, Fresno and will graduate in May 2010 with a B.S. in Dairy Science. Reid has been an active member of the CSU Fresno Dairy Club and the National Dairy Challenge Team, where she received a Gold Award at the regional level. In addition, she serves as a College of Agriculture Ambassador and Associated Student Body Treasurer. Reid is a 2008 graduate of the Dairy Cattle Science Study Abroad Program in Belize. Currently, she is employed by Fred Rau Dairy, Inc. in Fresno. Her future plans include attending graduate school and managing her family’s dairy farm.

Rector, 22, is a junior at Cal Poly State University, San Luis Obispo and will graduate in June 2010 with a B.S. in Dairy Science and Agriculture Business and a minor in Agricultural Communications. Rector has been an active member of the Los Lecheros Dairy Club and Dairy Cattle Judging Team. She has also been a member of the National and California Junior Jersey Associations, where she has competed in the National Jersey Youth Achievement Contest for three years. Rector currently serves as head milker and safety coordinator for the Cal Poly Dairy and plans to pursue a career in marketing and promotions for the dairy industry following the internship program.

Dairy Shrine awards Kildee Scholarship

Receiving the Kildee Graduate Studies Scholarship is Lora Wittenberg of Fort Collins, Colo. Lora completed her degree in animal science with a minor in agricultural resource economics from Colorado State University this spring. Lora has been admitted to the CSU’s Professional Veterinary Medicine Program where she begins her studies this fall. She is one of five students this term to be accepted into the Food Animal Veterinary Incentive Program.

MSWF&T Moves office from Walnut to Brea

Moore Stephens Wurth Frazer & Torbet, LLP, has moved their accounts payable/receivable department to a new location – 135 S. State College Boulevard, Suite 300, Brea, Calif. 92821.

The CPA firm, which handles a significant number of dairy industry clients, will no longer maintain a P.O. Box for accounts payable/receivable. All accounts payable/receivable will now be sent to the new Brea office.

In addition, MSWF&T will continue to maintain its Visalia nd Orange offices.

Cal Poly Dairy Producer Symposium, Oct. 16-17

“An Industry In Transition” is the focus of the Second Annual Cal Poly Fall Dairy Producer Symposium. The event is being hosted at California Polytechnic State University and the Embassy Suites Hotel in San Luis Obispo, Calif. and is slated for the weekend of Oct. 16-17, 2009. This year’s symposium will focus on animal welfare and the political, social, and ethical issues dairy producers face.

The Symposium is geared toward dairy producers and their families, a weekend of cutting edge dairy seminars and family fun. Dairy producers or dairy industry professionals with students who are considering Cal Poly College of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Science can sign up to spend, Friday, Oct. 16 at Fall Preview. This event is hosted by the College of Agriculture, which provides guided tours of departments within the college, including the dairy science department, and helps prospective students and parents answer all of those pre-application questions.

Generous sponsors make the symposium possible. For those interested in sponsoring or attending the Second Annual Cal Poly Dairy Producer Symposium please visit www.calpoly.edu/~dsci/ or call Dr. Bruce Golden at 805-756-2560 or e-mail: bgolden@calpoly.edu.

2009 Cal Poly Symposium Program

Friday, Oct. 16 – Cal Poly CAFES Fall Preview for prospective students and their families

1-5 p.m. Dairy and Dairy Processing Plant tours

5-8 p.m. BBQ at the Cal Poly Dairy

Saturday, Oct. 17 – Symposium, San Luis Obispo Embassy Suites

Dr. Bruce L. Golden, moderator

8:30-8:35 a.m.   Welcome – Doug Maddox; President, Holstein USA

8:35-9:15 a.m.   “Finding Common Ground on Animal Welfare” – Paul Shapiro; senior director Factory Farming Campaign, Humane Society of the United States

9:15-10 a.m.       21st Century Dairy Leaders Roundtable:

“Proactive Approach to Animal Welfare”

10-10:15 a.m.     Break

10:15-11 a.m.     “Emerging Social Ethics for Animals: Animal Rights a Mainstream

Phenomenon” – Dr. Bernard Rollin; Colorado State University Professor of

Philosophy, Animal Sciences, Biomedical Sciences, and University Bioethicist

11-11:45 a.m.     “Keynote: Earning and Maintaining Your Social License to Operate”

Charlie Arnot, APR with CMA consulting

11:45-12:15 p.m.  Panel Q & A with all speakers

Noon Lunch Served – Lunch Speaker TBA; ”The Politics of Animal Welfare.”

Field practices minimize herbicide resistance

Managing herbicide resistance is becoming increasingly important, according to Russ Hahn, Cornell University weed specialist.

Concern over resistance to triazine in such weeds as lambsquarters, pigweed, ragweed and groundsel in the Northeast is being overshadowed by ALS-inhibitor resistance, Hahn said. ALS inhibition is the site of action for several common herbicides such as Beacon, Pursuit and Python. The problem is that there are many ALS inhibitor herbicides used on many different crops. Now there are nearly twice as many weeds resistant to ALS inhibitors as to triazine.

With the development of crops resistant to nonselective herbicides, particularly glyphosate (Roundup), Hahn said, more growers are tempted to use such herbicides several times during the growing season or on several crops in rotation.  So we’re likely to see increased resistance to Roundup as well. Ragweed and horseweed are two common weeds where resistance to Roundup has been discovered.

“It’s not like a forest fire, but it’s a concern when we think about preserving this technology for the long haul,” Hahn said. “We’re putting selection pressure on weeds, and more will pop up in this list. We’d hate to think in 20 years (Roundup) won’t be useful.”

The only way a grower can help control herbicide resistance is through cultural practices. You promote resistance by growing a continuous crop, or failing to cultivate weeds that escape herbicide applications. Using a single herbicide or herbicides with the same site of action repeatedly also contributes to resistance.

Hahn’s recommendations include:

• Rotate crops

• Cultivate to control weeds that escape herbicides

• Use herbicides with short residuals

• Use herbicides with different modes of action, especially if you grow a crop continuously, such as corn. The Weed Science Society of America has approved a system that gives a group number to herbicides with the same site of action. Find these numbers on some herbicide labels or in the Cornell Guide for Integrated Field Crop Management.

• Use tank mixtures of different herbicides.

CA dairy replacement prices lowest since 1987

U.S. average replacement cow prices continue to feel pressure from low milk prices and high production costs, sinking to the lowest quarterly average since January 1999. The news is worse in the West, where California replacement cow prices are at levels last seen more than two decades ago.

Based on USDA’s July Ag Prices report, U.S. average prices declined $110/head from April 2009, to $1,280/head. The July 2009 average is $710/head lower than July 2008.

Historically a U.S. leader for replacement cow prices, California’s July 2009 average was the lowest in the nation, at $1,100/head, down $200/head from April 2009, and $700/head less than July 2008.

Based on USDA National Ag Statistics Service annual price summaries reviewed by DairyBusiness Communications, the last time cow prices were this low in California was in 1987, when they averaged $1,100/head, up from $1,000/head in 1986.

Cal Poly professor heads ADSA as president

Phillip Tong, dairy science professor, has been named the 93rd president of the American Dairy Science Association (ADSA).

Tong was installed as the leader of the 103-year-old group at the organization’s joint meeting with the American Society of Animal Science and Canadian Animal Science, held the week of July 13 in Montreal.

Also, Cal Poly Dairy Science professor Rafael Jimenez-Flores won the International Dairy Foods Association Research Award in Dairy Foods Processing. The award recognizes individuals whose research allows for the development of new products and improvement in the quality, safety or processing efficiency of dairy foods. The award, given by the ADSA, includes a $1,500 honorarium.