CWT Auditors Begin Auditing Nearly 300 Farms in Latest Herd Retirement

Published on Tue, 08/18/2009 - 9:58am

Here at the American Dairymen we like to keep are readers up to date on the Dairy Herd retirement.
Details Released On Latest Cow Removal ARLINGTON, VA – CWT’s field auditors are now in the process of visiting the first of the 294 farms that have been tentatively accepted in the program’s eighth herd retirement. When the auditors complete their task – likely by the end of September – 87,000 cows that produced 1.8 billion pounds of milk will have been removed from the nation’s milking herd.
 

CWT officials released more detailed information today about the size and scope of the selfhelp
program’s second‐largest herd retirement. 73 percent of the farms selected are located
east of the Mississippi River, while 70 percent of the 87,000 cows to be retired come from the
Western and Southwest regions of the U.S. 72 percent of the milk removed will come from
those two regions [see chart on p. 2].
“The increase in the percentage of farms selected east of the Mississippi in this herd retirement
compared to the one just completed is an indication that the financial distress farmers are
feeling is not unique to one or two regions of the country, but being felt nationwide,” said Jim
Tillison, Chief Operating Officer of CWT.
Both the average herd size (296 cows) and the average production per cow (20,884 pounds) are
the highest of any of the eight herd retirements CWT has carried out, indicating that “these are
not just small farms with low‐end cows that would have soon been gone anyway. These are, in
many cases, larger herds with significant potential future milk production that CWT is removing
in order to help bring supply back into line with demand,” Tillison said.
CWT is also removing approximately 3,200 bred heifers, nearly three times the next highest
number since the option was added to the herd retirement program a year ago. All farmers
bidding in this round will be notified no later than August 31, 2009, as to whether their bid was
among those accepted.
CWT staff will continue to monitor key economic indicators in order to determine if and when
to implement another herd retirement.
‐ MORE ‐
News Release
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