UDA Magazine Spring 2024

UDA MAGAZINE

Celebrating Years of UDA

Board of Directors

Executive Committee

Craig Caballero, President

Jim Boyle, Vice President

Robert Van Hofwegen, Secretary/Treasurer

David Feenstra, Member at Large

Dan Boschma, Member at Large

Robert Chesler, Asst. Secretary/Treasurer

Directors

Ian Accomazzo, Buckeye

Arie de Jong, Maricopa

Ben Dickman, Coolidge

Tom Dugan, Stanfield

Dan Gladden, Palo Verde

Gary Fehr, Willcox

Jen Millican, Buckeye

Justin Stewart, Gila Bend

Paul Rovey, Buckeye

Nick Vanderwey, Buckeye

UNITED

and

Table of Contents

Onward Together at UDA’s 64th Annual Meeting

E. Coli Singing in the Rain

Anna Nguyen, Arizona DHIA Microbiologist

What 2024 Has in Store for the Ag Industry

Be DairyKind

Michelle Schack, DVM, DairyKind

Smart Hiring Practices

Trending Now: Cottage Cheese

Feed Management Helps Fa

Fulfill Their Environmental

Stewardship Goals

Paul Bleiberg, EVP of Government Relations, NMPF

Growing your future.

With over a century financing agriculture, we know firsthand the challenges and rewards you face every day Let’s work together to help you build your best future.

Onward Together at UDA’s 64th Annual Meeting

In January UDA hosted the 64th Annual Meeting with a visionary theme of Onward Together. Each year the meeting serves as a chance for members, valued partners, and industry professionals to unite in sharing knowledge, drive innovation and brainstorm solutions to overcome challenges the industry faces

For the second year in a row the two-day event was held at Tempe Mission Palms and included the annual business meeting, breakout sessions, awards dinner and general session With more than 200 people in attendance, UDA leadership shared valuable information during the annual business meeting and general session and lead breakout sessions covering topics such as the global market outlook, OneDairy business overview and the co-op equation

Aside from the business side of things, of course, UDA mixed in some fun! From the cocktail reception where members were able to connect to sponsor booths that provided great opportunities to network, not to mention an awesome raffle contest, it was a productive yet enjoyable meeting with this group as always.

Thank you to everyone who attended this year’s meeting! We appreciate your participation and look forward to seeing everyone again at this signature meeting in 2025.

Awards Dinner

UDA celebrated employee and stakeholder accomplishments during the awards dinner.

Employee service awards were celebrate for 15, 20, 25, and 40 years of service Additionally, five producer awards were given out to celebrate more achievements in dairy farming.

Service Awards

Stakeholder Awards

Highest Protein Sunrise Dairy

Highest Overall Quality Stotz Dairy on Yuma

Highest Butterfat Rovey Dairy

DairyKind Award Stotz Dairy

Lowest Somatic Cell Creamline Dairy

PLATINUM

GOLD SILVER

SNACKSHACK WIFI

BRONZE

Herbein

StoneX Financial Inc.

Nelson-Jameson, Inc

Davis Wright Tremaine

COPPER

SoyPLUS/SoyChlor

Saltworks

Phibro Animal Health

Patriot Boiler

MWI/Micro Technologies

TrackOn

Heartland Financial

AgWest Farm Credit

Diamond V

CIH Hedging

LANYARD

Western Milling

Zoetis

DMT Logistics

Tremcar

FOSS North America

Tri State Livestock

Credit

Emerson

FSNS, A Certified Group

Veridus Heat Inverse

Casa Grande Commoditities

BevCap Management

Hoogwegt US, Inc

Squire Patton Boggs

Boumatic

101

Fennemore

E. Coli Singing in the Rain

Anna Nguyen, Arizona DHIA Microbiologist

E. coli inhabits the colons of warm-blooded mammals and is spread easily through the dairy environment with wet weather Producers often see somatic cells counts rise during rainy months due to environmental transmission of mastitis pathogens.

A client recently asked, “how does an E. coli mastitis infection affect somatic cell counts?”

The answer to this question relies on the immune system. Somatic cells are inflammatory markers made up of immune cells called monocytes and granulocytes. These cells fight infection with antibodies found in the udder.

E. Coli Singing in the Rain

Once an E. coli cell is destroyed or dies, the outer cell layer is released into the cow’s system. This stimulates an immune response. Two main cells are responsible for first line defense. A white blood cell known as macrophage is responsible for swallowing and digesting E. coli cells. Macrophages release cytokines, or chemical messengers, which communicate and alert other immune cells and the liver of the pathogen’s presence. Among these cells are neutrophils, which are a type of granulocyte. Neutrophils fulfill the role of trapping E. coli cells in a sticky, bactericidal net and keeping it local until macrophages and other immune cells arrive at the site to neutralize and clean up bacterial debris. Increased white blood cell production eliminates the E. coli infection but increases producer’s somatic cell counts.

Prompt isolation and testing of the udder’s health is imperative to prevent transmission and retain quality bonuses. With rain comes muddy corrals carrying E. coli, this leads to increased incidence of mastitis within the herd. Frequent cow culturing and somatic cell count monitoring assure milk quality and bonus retention

What 2024 Has in Store for the Ag Industry

2024 is well underway and as we move into the spring it’s the perfect time for an ag industry checkup. Below are the predictions Forbes Magazine made for this year’s agriculture highlights.

The key to carbon management. It’s in the farmland. According to the USDA Economic Research Service, U.S. agricultural operations are responsible for 10.6% of the nation’s overall greenhouse gas emissions. Not necessarily new news, the shift in focus is realizing farmland is the best place to store CO2. Consumers will start to see more communication on programs and collaborations across industries and sectors to foster regenerative practices at the production level.

Counting carbon. Not only is it trending to identify the key to managing carbon but also now becoming a requirement to disclose your carbon footprint. Food companies are being tasked to measure, report and reduce their carbon emissions. This switch will put pressure on producers as food companies off-load the burden of carbon reduction on them, which could result in a renewed emphasis on cutting methane emissions from livestock through innovative feeds, improving soil and carbon-capture techniques.

Technology continues to play a part. Technology will continue to improve and change the ag industry this coming year. An example of this is specialty crop operations moving to automation as the industry continues to experience labor shortages. The food prep industry is also evolving into offering food-and-medicine focused meals that are tailored to individual health needs.

Capital investment in ag will be more disciplined. The ag tech sector is continuing to weed out venture capital investors. As the market stabilizes and valuations return to more realistic levels, quality companies that are scaling, have good economic fundamentals and are growing consumer demand will still be able to find capital in 2024.

Are you transporting newborn calves?

Michelle Schack, DVM

In recent years, more and more dairy producers are raising calves off-site. Whether you sell your calves, have them raised at a calf ranch, or raise them at a separate location, calves are the future of your dairy and transport during this vulnerable time of their lives requires high level of care.

While the FARM program requires fitness for transport training for adult cattle, newborn calf training is not required. But overall calf care is! And if your calf caretakers are loading and unloading transport vehicles, this critical part of their job should not go without training.

Not only is training on this topic essential for ensuring the well-being of the calves, it helps ensure efficiency and safety, and it is the right thing to do! Calves need to be moved gently, and they do not have a flight zone like adult cattle do Newborn calves especially are often unsteady and don’t always act how we expect them to! They require a lot of patience. Training in this area reviews health and safety of calves, the importance of a proper transport vehicle, and proper handling and loading of the animals.

Be

The DairyKind Calf Transport module takes about 13 minutes to complete, and consists of 4 sections. It discusses the importance of minimizing stress, preventing injuries, and promoting animal well-being. It also has quizzes that confirm understanding by the learner. This is an investment in the future genetics of your dairy! Always work with your veterinarian for follow-up training on your farm.

Cattle should be handled gently and with patience. There is no excuse for mistreating any animal on the dairy. All animals should have their physical and mental needs met, and be treated with respect throughout their lives. Being DairyKind is ensuring animal well-being in every aspect of the dairy

Smart Hiring Practices

Animal rights activists might make up a small percentage of our population, but they often loud and aggressive, and because of that can mislead consumers about the animal agriculture community’s commitment to animal welfare, sustainability and other key topics.

One of the most common ways farms are targeted by animal rights groups is through hiring and employment opportunities. Several animal rights groups hire “investigators” who then try to gain access to farms by securing undercover employment To avoid accidentally hiring and welcoming an animal activist onto your staff, ensure the following practices are on your hiring checklist this year.

Implement a formal application process. It’s important to have a written application that requires an employee to sign off on claims that were made on the application and to verify their identity. Ask employees to consent to background checks.

The written application should include a section asking for consent to a background check and be signed by the individual applying.

Ask the right questions during the interview. Utilize face-to-face interview opportunities by asking well thought out questions. Examples include: “Why do you want this job?”, “What do you do for fun?” and “What experience do you have in agriculture?”

Have legal experts readily available. Work with legal counsel as needed to ensure your hiring process follows all state and local employment laws.

Store employee training information in DairyKind. Keep all your employees up to date on trainings and documents in the DairyKind platform to ensure everything is stored in one easy to access program.

The hiring process is the gateway into the farm and by implementing the above practices you can feel confident about hiring employees who want to contribute to the well-being and care for your cows.

Trending Now: Cottage Cheese

Each year TikTok releases what has been trending on the social media platform by compiling and analyzing internal research and data. According to Statista, more than 14 million users in the United States are active on TikTok, and what did they see trending?

None other than cottage cheese!

In the 1990s, cottage cheese was only known as a high-protein, diet-friendly ingredient but has now begun trending thanks to food influencers. Touting its versatility, influencers and users alike tried to find new ways to use cottage cheese throughout 2023 In a story titled “People are doing really weird stuff with cottage cheese right now”, an Eater.com writer discovered creations such as cottage cheese mixed with mustard as a dip for crudites, a pizza cottage cheese bowl and chocolate chip cookies spiked with cottage cheese and protein powder.

Ready to try this cottage cheese trend? Check out this Easy Cottage Cheese Pizza Bowl recipe from Lowcalicious.

What you’ll need:

Low-fat cottage cheese

Marinara sauce

Dried Italian Seasoning

Crushed red pepper flakes (optional)

Part-skim Mozzarella cheese

Turkey Pepperoni slices

Fresh basil (optional)

Grab a spoon and eat this crustless pizza bowl as is or if you prefer to serve as a cottage cheese pizza dip serve it with some crackers or sliced bell peppers.

Directions:

Add the cottage cheese to a microwave safe bowl. Top with the marinara sauce, Italian seasoning, crushed red pepper and mozzarella cheese.

Microwave for 30 seconds. Then stir the cottage cheese mixture and mix in the turkey pepperoni.

Microwave for an additional 30 seconds (or more) until hot and the cheese melts.

Garnish with fresh basil and serve with mini bell pepper halves or crostini.

Feed Management Helps Farmers

Fulfill Their Environmental Stewardship Goals

Paul Bleiberg Executive Vice President of Government Relations

The 2024 presidential election is already greatly affecting this year’s political landscape. Any major legislation will be viewed partly through the lens of electoral politics, but that will not stop dairy from making progress wherever possible.

One such area relates to feed management. The National Milk Producers Federation continues to pursue solutions that will position dairy farmers to fulfill their goal of becoming greenhouse gas neutral or better by 2050. Sustainable feed management to reduce enteric methane emissions, which can comprise as much as one-third of a dairy farm’s greenhouse gas footprint, is essential to dairy fulfilling this goal.

To do this, NMPF is working to modernize how the Food and Drug Administration approves enteric-reducing animal feed additives. Dairy’s efforts are embodied in the bipartisan Innovative FEED Act, which would direct FDA to review animal feed ingredients safely but quickly, helping U.S. dairy farmers compete with their global counterparts who can already access these products. This important bill passed the Senate HELP Committee last summer on a 19-2 vote and has gathered more than 25 bipartisan cosponsors in the House. NMPF is working to enact this bill early this year.

The work doesn’t stop there. United States Department of Agriculture voluntary conservation programs will be vital to getting these proven products into enterprising producers’ hands. Last fall, USDA awarded nearly $90 million in Regional Conservation Partnership Program funds to support dairy producers eager to begin early uptake of new feed additives once approved. This year’s farm bill also offers a chance to fine-tune conservation programs to support innovative feed management.

Dairy farmers have a proven record of being in the forefront of new environmental stewardship practices and technologies. NMPF’s collaborative, bipartisan work on feed management looks to be a bright spot in a year dominated by campaigning and controversy, and will help dairy farmers continue to be proactive, front-end innovators.

Complete

Holstein Herd Dispersal —

1200 Head

Friday, March 22nd @11AM MST

Preview: March 18-22

Auctioneer Note:

Cattle will be sorted by lactation, dim, preg-status, and quality. This is a nice, well maintained, clean herd.

Owners are retiring

Herd Info:

Milking 3x

Staph & Myco Negative

Parallel Milk Barn

DHI—Plus Records

45% 1st & 2nd Lac

Production Info:

ECM- 86#

BF- 4 7%

Protein - 3.45%

SNF- 9

SCC- 280

Breeding Info:

Everything bred back to ABS Infocus Bulls

Angus Bulls: 829xB726, 829xB721, 829xB727