CWT Accepts Herd Retirement Bids

This latest round of CWT’s milk reduction program should help strengthen farm-level prices for milk at a time when dairy producers are suffering from rising feed and fuel costs, according to CWT officials.

Starting next week, CWT field auditors will begin visiting the 209 farms whose bids were accepted, checking their milk production records, inspecting their herds, and tagging each cow for processing. All farmers will be notified no later than August 12th as to whether their bid was among those accepted in this fifth herd retirement round.

Farmers in 41 states submitted a total of 609 herd retirement bids last month to CWT, reflecting “the continued financial stress that farmers in all parts of the country are facing as the cost of production has soared during the past two years,” said Jerry Kozak, President and CEO of NMPF, which administers CWT. Kozak noted that the cost of dairy feed has risen 37% between the spring of 2006 and the spring of 2008, while the cost of diesel fuel has risen 61% during the same timeframe.

“In this retirement round, as in the previous ones, we’ve been careful to expend CWT funds on bids that were commensurate with current overall market prices for cows,” he said. Kozak also noted that CWT has accepted bids for 358 bred heifers, which is a new option for its herd retirement program this year. Kozak said that CWT will retain adequate funds in its budget to conduct future herd retirements, and its export assistance program, as conditions warrant.

Once CWT field auditors inspect and accept the herds offered as part of the bidding process, farmers have 15 days in which to send their animals to a processing plant. CWT is also providing each farmer the new NMPF animal handling guidelines for the culling and transporting of dairy cattle, Kozak said.

TheCattleSite News Desk

Sign up for our
regular news updates

Latest Dairy Industry News

•   BLUETONGUE: England to become Protection Zone
•   Northern Co-ops Must Pay Up to Secure Supplies
•   Cargill Reports Fourth-quarter Earnings
•   Animal Landscape Set for a Change
•   NBAF Would Protect Kansas Livestock
•   Don't Delay - Book Older Cattle Today
•   US Beef Industry to Tackle E.coli Bug
•   SKorea Parliament Ends US Beef Deadlock
•   Weekly Roberts Report
•   TB Marketing Costs Tool Developed in the US
•   Dairy Industry Honors Hutjens
•   Poultry Products Poison Cattle
•   Ethanol Concerns Livestock and Poultry Producers
•   Dairy Prepares to Take on Might of the Retailers
•   Weekly Outlook: Mixed Signals on Corn and Soybean