> From Canadian Animal Net
>
>Dairy farmers to slaughter more cows
>December 11, 2004
>Associated Press
>WASHINGTON -- The U.S. National Milk Producers Federation will,
>according to this story, pay farmers to send nearly 52,000 cows to
>slaughter over the next few months, removing 931 million pounds of
>milk, or 0.55 percent, from the nation's supply, in an effort to keep
>milk prices up.
>
>Vaughan Jones
>Hamilton
>New Zealand
And this is being done because:
>From Jan. thru Sept. 2004, the in-quota imports of butter into the US
reached 5,758 metric tons (that's tariff - free) compared to 4,802 metric
tons for the first three-quarters in 2003. The over-quota butter imports
zoomed from 86 metric tons in 2003 to 8,130 metric tons in 2004.
Hmmmm, 86 metric tons vs. 8,130 metric tons......I just repeat that so the
huge increase in tons is duly noted.
Cheddar cheese imports in the in-quota (tarrif - free) category increased
by 4% to 11,965 metric tons. The over-quota cheddar imports increased from
222 to 564 metric tons.
Among the commodities for which THERE ARE NO QUOTAS, imports of butter
substitutes with less than 45% butter fat ballooned by 56% to a total of
13,633 metric tons. There was a slight increase of casein imports to
77,567 metric tons while chocolate block imports rose by 7% to 77,284
metric tons.
All of the above facts and figures represent activity during 3/4 of the year.
Dave Gneiser
former dairyman, now beef grazer
WisCOWsin.
