Iowa State University Extension and Outreach Palo Alto County and Iowa Lakes Community College have teamed up to host Boots in the Barn, a program for women beef and dairy producers.

Boots in the Barn is a three-part series for women involved in a dairy or beef operation and/or industry and will be held at the Iowa Lakes Community College Farm in Emmetsburg. The sessions will be held Feb. 10, Feb. 24 and March 10 from 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m.

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The new “Comprehensive Review of Iowa’s Dairy Industry” defines how important the Iowa dairy industry continues to be and just how strong and economic driver it is in Iowa and the Midwest. The projected national trends for dairy products show increases in profitability and forecasters expect that dairy revenue will continue to rise at 1.15% to $39.9 billion during 2019-24 (IBIS World Dairy Production 2019).

Iowa continues to be a significant contributor to dairy production based upon several factors that include necessary infrastructure, natural resources, inputs and experience. The state has a unique competitive advantage in these categories and continues to expand on these assets for identified growth opportunities.

The economic impact realized by the state from the dairy industry projects the following:  Key metrics include total economic impact of Iowa’s dairy industry is $5.6 billion, supplying 15,587 jobs with a labor income of $891 million. Annual economic impact of a single dairy cow is $25,495 per cow.

The complete can be found here.

The Tri-state and Siouxland Ag Lenders Seminars were combined into a virtual seminar in early November due to health concerns from the Coronavirus pandemic. 158 lenders, consultants and academics from five upper mid-west states heard four presenters, including: Mike North, President of EVER.Ag; Dr. Wendong Zhang, Assistant Professor, Iowa State University; Dr. Mark Stephenson, Director of Dairy Policy Analysis, University of Wisconsin, Madison; and Dr. Chad Hart, Professor of Economics, Crop Market Specialist and Extension Economist, Iowa State University.

Participants represented over 50 lending institutions, 15 consultants from other ag businesses and eight academics and researchers from Universities and Extension specialists. An on-line retrospective program evaluation was used to collect insights from those attending. From the data it was estimated that their clients represented 7,033 ag producers; those producers cropped over 4.8 million acres and milked over 381,767 dairy cows.

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The average price received by farmers for corn during October in Iowa was $3.61 per bushel according to the latest USDA, National Agricultural Statistics Service – Agricultural Prices report. This was up 22 cents from the September price, but 18 cents below October 2019.

The October average price was $22.50 per cwt for milk, up $4.20 from the September price and $1.10 above one year ago.

All hay prices in Iowa averaged $111.00 per ton in October. This was down $6.00 from the September price and $19.00 below the October 2019 price. The October 2020 alfalfa hay price averaged $123.00, down $6.00 from the previous month and $20.00 below October 2019. The average price received for other hay during October was $94.00 per ton. This was up $13.00 from the September price, but $8.00 below the October 2019 price.

The monthly Iowa State University Dairy Team webinar scheduled for Wednesday, November 18 has been re-scheduled due to a death in the presenter’s family. Dr. Koltes’ presentation “What is new in the December Sire Summaries” has been rescheduled for 1 pm on Tuesday, December 8.

The presentation will be part of the virtual Dairy Directions program. The free program link is:

https://iastate.zoom.us/j/92375973003

The virtual program will feature updates to the December Genetic Evaluation. Dr. Koltes will focus on the development of the “feed saved” genetic evaluation and the “heifer livability proof, and how these will be incorporated into the SNM index in April. Plus, he will review the calving ease changes from the August proofs. In addition, Fred Hall will present a short milk market review.

For questions or more information contact Fred Hall at 712.737.4230 or fredhall@iastate.edu.

Milk production in Iowa during September 2020 totaled 439 million pounds, up 3% from the previous September according to the latest USDA, National Agricultural Statistics Service – Milk Production report. The average number of milk cows during September, at 219,000 head, was 1,000 more than last month and 2,000 more than last year. Monthly production per cow averaged 2,005 pounds, up 35 pounds from last September.

Continue reading “Iowa Milk Production Up 3 Percent OverSeptember 2019” →