Dairy replacement heifer numbers up; an upcoming labor conference
Washington Ag Today February 2, 2010 Despite the terrible financial situation dairy producers faced this past year the number of heifers being held for milk cow replacement in the U.S. as of January 1st was up two percent from the previous year. In Washington the dairy replacement heifer inventory was up more like 12 percent. USDA livestock analyst Shayle Shagum provides this explanation as to why dairy producers are holding so many replacement heifers. Shagum: “We have seen prices begin to move up again so there have been a number of signals from the return side. We have also had recent declines in feed prices. Hopefully with good weather we will have a good alfalfa crop. Again, so from the return sides look better returns look better moving into this year than they did last year, which might be an incentive for some producers who might have been thinking of liquidating animals, not to pull back.” Shagum also says producers might be looking for ways to repay debts from this past year. The Washington Farm Bureau’s Labor Conference is coming up February 25th at the Wenatchee Convention Center. The event, which runs from 9 a.m. to five p.m. will feature top nationwide experts on such topics as immigration and healthcare. There will also be discussion of a ballot initiative to be filed this year that would allow the purchase of private worker’s compensation insurance. You can register for the conference at the Farm Bureau’s website wsfb.com I’m Bob Hoff and that’s Washington Ag Today on the Northwest Ag Information Network.
