[skiwi]

News about New Zealand's largest exporter Fonterra (milk solids,cheese)

Fonterra does not expect global milk powder and cheese prices at highs never seen before to fall any time soon.
The "extraordinarily" high prices helped New Zealand's biggest exporter report operating revenue yesterday of $5.7 billion in the six months to November 30, up 2 per cent from last year, even though the high New Zealand dollar cut income and rain cut production....

Record highs

[BabyPeanut]

How much of these cost increases are due to transportation fuel cost increases?

http://www.thecouriermail.news.com.au/c ... 53,00.html
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', ' ')Fruit and petrol prices fuel leap in living costs
Fleur Anderson
26jan05

EXPENSIVE bananas and soaring petrol prices drove a surprise jump in Australians' cost of living over the last three months of 2004, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

[ernest]

Dairy Products are inextricably linked to oil prices. The cost of fertilizer and pesticides, both oil based, determine the cost of the grain fed to cattle.

[skiwi]

Energy fears force dairy giant Fonterra to rethink

Energy fears are forcing dairy giant Fonterra to look at new ways of securing electricity for its plants and factories. And with some of its dairy factories sited in windy areas, the prospect of using wind turbines is looking increasingly likely.

Fonterra operations director Max Parkin told a forum in Auckland yesterday that the company - the country's second biggest energy user after aluminium-maker Comalco - was being threatened by uncertainty over its power supplies.

Energy prices had risen dramatically in the past four years and there was not enough competition in gas, coal or power transmission. This included a 23 per cent rise in the price of coal, a 35 per cent lift in the cost of electricity and a 97 per cent jump in the cost of natural gas...

[savethehumans]

Gee, what a surprise. . . NOT!

[JR]

There is a huge dairy by me who is complete self-sufficient for the elecricity. They use all the cow poo!





JR

[Ludi]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('skiwi', 'T')his included a 23 per cent rise in the price of coal, a 35 per cent lift in the cost of electricity and a 97 per cent jump in the cost of natural gas...

[pea-jay]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('JR', 'T')here is a huge dairy by me who is complete self-sufficient for the elecricity. They use all the cow poo!
JR

[Doly]

I wonder if anybody has tested the concept of low-energy agriculture. High tech is allowed as long as it needs little energy. And I wonder what are the yields.

[Ebyss]

Doly, Masanobu Fukuoka does "low energy" farming, in that he uses no fertilisers or pesticides or tractors at all. His yields are as high as, if not higher than, the best farms in his country. He wrote a book called "One Straw Revolution" which I highly recommend. The yields of organic, permaculture and biodynamic farming can be as high as normal crops, but they won't work in a monoculture framework. Hence it just wouldn't be possible to have 100's of acres of corn grown organically/permaculturally. These methods depend upon a variety of plants and animals together, the more the better (ok, oversimplified).

That's why you'll see a lot of us on the planning forum advocating a return to locally produced products. They can be grown organically with little or no energy (from fossil fuels) needed, but they cant provide massive amounts of one crop. Your local farm shops should be able to supply a smaller number of people with a larger number of products (this is one way of doing it). Obviously some will specialise, but nowhere near the scale of agriculture today.

[qwanta]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Doly', 'I') wonder if anybody has tested the concept of low-energy agriculture. High tech is allowed as long as it needs little energy. And I wonder what are the yields.

[Ludi]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('qwanta', ' ')I think a lot of the "breadbasket" land in places like Iowa and Nebraska, has been drained of much of its nutrients and topsoil.

[tokyo_to_motueka]

Gloom, boom in Fonterra’s world outlook

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'T')he background to this gloomy view of this country’s future supply potential is the picture of New Zealand’s productive capacity being submerged under urban sprawl and lifestyle blocks, while water restrictions, energy costs and resource consents for every aspect of dairying will make it uneconomic for all but the largest farmers. The alternative picture is to commit to a strategy and an action plan to counter the doomsday scenario.

At the same time, European and British dairy farmers are facing dwindling subsidies and falling milk prices which are forcing many to give up dairy farming altogether.

So the next big question is: "Who is going to pick up the supply shortfall and become the world’s milk producers?"

Fonterra has clearly identified South America as a source of supply and has already invested in dairy companies in that part of the world.

[pea-jay]

This industry is indeed screwed. Animal confinement operations that yield a consumeable product on a large production scale are totally dependent on cheap energy. It takes cheap energy to raise the grains for feed (including all of the attendant losses in efficiency), power the dairy equipment and chill, process and distribute the milk/dairy products. On a caloric basis, significantly more energy went into the production of that dairy product you are consuming than the product yields in calories.

Dairying is huge in my county. It is far and away the largest single product we produce and thanks to the 450K cows here accounts for 26% of California's milk production. It's also a dirty industry in both air and water pollution terms. Our landscapes in some areas are pock-marked with cess pits (known as lagoons) full of cow effluent.

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'S')o the next big question is: "Who is going to pick up the supply shortfall and become the world’s milk producers?"

[tokyo_to_motueka]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('pea-jay', 'I')n the long term we're screwed. More accuruately--theyre screwed. Where in the world do they think the feed will come from or their milk go to once the energy subsidy runs out?

[Ebyss]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 't')he trouble is, even fifty years ago this industry relied on large amounts of synthetic fertilizers, mainly superphosphate made from guano mined on Nauru. Nauru is now stripped, so they have moved on to other sources of fertilizers

[pip]

I itemized my grocery bill last month and found out I'm spending about $60 a month on dairy products. I my continual pursuit of thriftiness, a milk cow stands to be a nice investment with my costs to maintain a beef cow at just under $100. I run a herd of 15 beef cows right now so I’ve got experience there but need some direction in the milking department. If anyone’s got any experience with this I’d like to hear about it.

How do you manage the milking, what do you do with all the excess milk (a low performing cow produces 4 gallons a day?), what do you do when you’re out of town for a few days, etc. Is there a good website for info? Also, how do you convince your wife this is something she wants to do?

[killJOY]

This is one area I have just entered. In fact, our cow JUST had its first calf yesterday morning. It will nurse for 4 days, and then we will commence with our first venture in milking.

As you have ample experience with cows, you probably know more than I do. Luckily, we have friends that have milked before, so we'll have plenty of help.

Our cow is a registered Devon, so milk production is expected to be low, about a gallon a day, give or take, perfect for a small farm.

We have an old cream separator that we plan to refurbish and use for processing.

Extra milk will go to soft cheese making and to friends who have expressed and interest in buying it.

Milk is also good to feed to pigs. We just took two pigs to slaughter, so we will be getting new ones. They love milk.

This is an ongoing learning experience. As we embark on our dairy career, I'll try to remember to post what it's like.

Good luck with your cow. I was skeptical at first about keeping a dairy cow, but now I love the gal. I've been rubbing her teats daily to keep her docile and accustomed to my presence. She's very good natured and I expect to start getting milk next week.

[EddieB]

Going away for a few days is a no-no w/milkers when their milk is in. Unless you have good friends or hired help. I'd recommend a book like "the Family Cow". Easy to read, not a professional journal, but enough authorial experience to be worth reading.

[RonMN]

out of town??? NO! if your cow is milked 1 hour later than it should be, it's going to suffer...an so is the milk.

Other than that i know nothing about milking cows...but i know it's a serious busness where you'll be fired if you show up an hour late!