http://www.cwt.coop/sites/default/files/pdf/past-herd-retirements-060210.pdfwww.cwt.coop
CWT ACCEPTS 194 BIDS REPRESENTING 34,000 COWS, 654 MILLION POUNDS OF MILK IN TENTH HERD RETIREMENT
(July 7, 2010) Cooperatives Working Together announced today that it has tentatively accepted 194 bids its latest herd retirement, representing 34,442 cows and 653,893,409 pounds of milk. Farmers had submitted a total of 209 herd retirement bids to CWT.
CWT’s three herd retirements last year were the primary reason why U.S. cow numbers dropped steeply in 2009, “but cow numbers have leveled off since the end of the year,” said Jerry Kozak, President and CEO of NMPF, which administers CWT. “This latest herd retirement will push cow numbers lower still, which is what our industry needs to better align supply and demand.”
Starting next week, CWT farm auditors will begin visiting the farms whose bids were accepted, checking their milk production records, counting cows, and then tagging each cow for processing. All farmers will be notified no later than July 30th as to whether their bid was among those accepted in this herd retirement round, the tenth that CWT has conducted since 2003.
Once CWT auditors approve the herds accepted during the bid process, farmers have 15 days in which to send their animals to a processing plant. CWT will again provide each farmer the NMPF animal handling guidelines for the proper culling and transporting of dairy cattle, Kozak said.
Producers whose bids are accepted in this herd retirement will be paid in two installments: 90% of the amount bid times the producer’s 12 months of milk production when it is verified that that all cows have gone to slaughter, and the remaining 10% plus interest at the end of 12 months following the farm audit, if both the producer and his dairy facility – whether owned or leased – do not become involved in the commercial production and marketing of milk during that period.
In CWT’s three herd retirements conducted in 2009, the program removed a total of 200,000 cows and four billion pounds of milk. Details of past herd retirements can be found here: . For more on CWT’s activities, visit .
COOPERATIVES WORKING TOGETHER CONTRIBUTES $100,000 ON BEHALF OF U.S. DAIRY FARMERS TO HELP VICTIMS OF HAITIAN EARTHQUAKE
ARLINGTON, VIRGINIA – Cooperatives Working Together is implementing its third herd retirement in 2009, effective October 1, 2009. All bids submitted must be postmarked no later than October 15, 2009. This is the fourth herd retirement that CWT has conducted in the past 12 months.
“The herd retirement of late 2008, plus the two herd retirements so far in 2009, have removed226,000 cows from the nation’s dairy herds,” said Jerry Kozak, President and CEO of the National Milk Producers Federation, which manages Cooperatives Working Together. “Those efforts have helped adjust the supply of milk more in line with demand. This third herd retirement of 2009, along with a stabilizing global economy, should further accelerate therecovery in dairy farmers’ prices.”
As with past herd retirements, producers wishing to submit bids into the program must have been members of CWT, either through their membership in a CWT member cooperative or as an individual, effective January 2009. Producers whose bids were selected in previous herd retirements will not be eligible to bid again. This round will once again include a bred heifer option.
The maximum bid CWT will consider is $5.25 per hundredweight of milk, which was the same bid ceiling as the previous round. CWT will select bids beginning with the lowest bid with consistent milk production. However, given budgetary considerations, there is no guarantee that every producer submitting a bid up to the maximum $5.25 bid level will be accepted, cautions Jim Tillison, CWT’s Chief Operating Officer.
As with the two previous herd retirements of 2009, producers whose bids are accepted in this herd retirement will be paid in two installments: 90% of the amount bid times the producer’s 12 months of milk production (from September 1, 2008, through August 31, 2009) when it is verified that all cows have gone to processing plants. The remaining 10% plus interest will be paid at the end of 12 months if neither the producer nor the dairy facility – whether owned or leased – go back into in the commercial production and marketing of milk during that period.
Once the bid selection process is completed, farm audits should begin the first week of November and be completed by early December. “While NMPF continues to works on long-term solutions to make positive changes in the economic structure of the dairy industry, this latest in the series of herd retirements that CWT has implemented will, along with the other actions NMPF has taken, help provide needed relief to dairy farmers need now,” said Kozak.
Bid forms for both the herd retirement and the bred heifer option, a bid calculator, as well as the answers to frequently asked questions, are available on the CWT website,
