Tom Wedegaertner [ 3:50 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

CARY, N.C. (November 1, 2010) – A free truckload of whole cottonseed is just one of the prizes dairy producers will have a chance to win by participating in Cotton Incorporated’s new video contest, dubbed “Innovative on-farm storage solutions for cottonseed.” Launching November 1, the contest invites dairy producers to grab their cameras and show off their cottonseed storage savvy.

While fun at heart, the video contest was created with purpose: to educate fellow dairy producers about innovative and cost-effective storage solutions for the feedstuff, supplies for which are forecast to double in 2010-11. The contest will live on Cotton Incorporated’s recently launched website, www.wholecottonseed.com. The new website and contest coexist to engage progressive dairy producers with whole fuzzy cottonseed in a new and interactive way.

“With supply of whole cottonseed back on the rise, and more dairy producers and nutritionists reintroducing the feedstuff into the ration, we felt it was essential to develop an online resource to provide current and practical information on working with the fuzzy feed, which can be tricky,” says Tom Wedegaertner, Director, Cottonseed Research & Marketing, Cotton Incorporated. “Expanded features, like video tips and access to current cottonseed pricing will further establish this site as a portal for making informed business decisions about cottonseed.”

The video contest entry requires dairy producers to demonstrate in three minutes or less an innovative storage solution for cottonseed. Entries must be submitted at www.wholecottonseed.com/contest by December 10, 2010. Cotton Incorporated will select the top five videos, based on the following criteria weighed at 25 percent each: originality, maintenance of seed quality, economic feasibility and presentation (clarity of message, creative, professional delivery). The five finalists will receive a $500 Visa® gift card and a Kodak® flip camera and digital picture frame. The public will subsequently have the opportunity to vote and elect the winning video. The recipient of the grand prize shall receive a free truckload of cottonseed worth approximately $5,000.

For more information on cottonseed and details about the “Innovative on-farm storage solutions for cottonseed” video contest, including the official rules (http://www.wholecottonseed.com/contest/official-contest-rules), visit www.wholecottonseed.com. Cotton Incorporated, funded by U.S. growers of upland cotton and importers of cotton and cotton textile products, is the research and marketing company representing upland cotton.

Jim Docheff is a Longmont, Colorado dairy producer who believes in the beef checkoff. He said so in Wednesday’s DairyLine, saying it’s “dollars well spent and something every dairy producer needs to pay into and be happy to do it.”  

Interview with Jim Docheff [ 0:01 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

“Ultimately, all these milk cows become beef and enter the food chain,” he reasoned, and while he admits that beef sales on a dairy farm are a small part of its income, in financial times like now, “we looking for every dollar out there and if we can raise the price of those beef cows, $10-$15 a head for that dollar we’re paying, I think that’s a pretty good return for our money.”  

He pointed out that a lot of culled dairy cattle go to ground beef and he suggests a partnership with the dairy check off to promote cheeseburgers, especially with summer grilling upon us, he believes we could increase beef and cheese sales at the same time. He has suggested this to the Beef Board to not just promote beef, but include dairy and this would be “good for everybody involved.”  

He admits the calf issue is a tough one. They do have a value, he said, we just need to determine what that value is. It’s a sore subject for dairy farmers, he concluded, “I can’t say that we’ve seen a real bang for our buck on those but we need to get some brains together on that, sit down and see what we can come up with because there has to be something we can do with those dairy calves.”

DairyLine listeners are introduced to various products and services in our daily broadcasts and Wednesday, we talked with a dairy farmer who uses one of those products, a relatively new calf starter technology from Land O Lakes, Purina Feed, called Ampli-Calf.

Steve Vander Haak dairies near Lynden, Washington, (also the home of DairyLine). He milks about 475 cows and raises about 30-40 calves. He used Land O Lakes Cows Match milk replacer but now uses Ampli-Calf.

It started as a trial about a year ago, he said, putting half of his calves on Ampli-Calf. Weights and other data was recorded and the calves being fed Ampli-Calf appeared to be bigger, taller, longer, seemed to grow better, and were healthier.

Calves get off to a better start and that growth continues throughout the rest of their life, according to Vander Haak, who admitted that they seriously considered dropping the program due to the poor economic situation dairy is under these days. But, he quickly added, We don’t want to cut things that will hurt us in the future and this is one of the things that, at this point, we’ve been able to keep in and, hopefully will pay off in the future. He said he does recommend Ampli-Calf to others, as he has been very happy with it. It would take a lot to get me to change, he concluded.