The Senate Agriculture Committee may begin work on the new farm bill the week of April 16 and there’s a lot at stake for dairy farmers, according to National Milk’s Chris Galen in Thursday’s DairyLine. He called on dairy farmers to contact their senators to voice support for the Dairy Security Act, championed the last three years by NMPF that would “dramatically revamp dairy policy.”

Galen said their proposal would provide a better safety net for farmer’s equity, but admitted it’s going to be an uphill battle to accomplish that in 2012. The process begins in the Senate, he said, and then the House. To facilitate farmer communication with lawmakers, log on to www.nmpf.org Galen concluded, and click on the icon called “NMPF Dairy Great.”

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration last week issued guidelines designed to limit the use of some antimicrobial medicines in animal agriculture, while increasing veterinarian oversight requirements for their use. DPW Editor Dave Natzke talked about the key issues recently.

Natzke stated that, in some cases, antimicrobial drugs have been administered or mixed in feeds or water to ward off infections and diseases in meat- and milk-producing animals, protecting the safety of the nation’s food supply, while enhancing livestock growth and feed efficiency. But, under this new FDA policy, Natzke said that all antimicrobial medicines approved for use in animal agriculture will be used only for therapeutic purposes, such as disease treatment, control and prevention, and only under the supervision of a licensed veterinarian.

While the policy has been in the works for years, Natzke said it comes on the heels of a March 22 federal court ruling in which a judge ordered FDA to start proceedings to withdraw approval of some antibiotics used in food animal production.

The FDA published three documents in the Federal Register this week. The first provides guidance giving veterinarians more oversight in the therapeutic uses of drugs to treat livestock, while recommending phasing out use of medically important drugs in production agriculture. 

The second provides guides for drug companies to voluntarily remove production uses of antibiotics from their FDA-approved product labels; changing those labels to emphasize disease prevention, control and treatment uses, with increased veterinary oversight. The third document outlines ways that veterinarians can authorize the use of certain animal drugs in feed.

“FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg said the new strategy will ensure farmers and veterinarians have access to medicines necessary to care for sick livestock,” Natzke concluded, “While at the same time protecting human health by reducing the chances of antimicrobial resistance development.”

One final item; Southeast U.S. dairy farmers have until May 1 to complete claim forms to be eligible to receive portions of the financial settlement agreement with Dean Foods and Southern Marketing Agency (SMA) in the “Southeast Milk” lawsuit. Claim procedures are posted on a court-approved website, www.southeastdairyclass.com

The $145 million settlement will be proportionately distributed to farmer plaintiffs, less the attorney fees and legal costs, to eligible producers who produced and sold Grade A milk within federal milk marketing orders No. 5 (Appalachian) and No. 7 (Southeast) since Jan. 1, 2001.

The USDA raised its 2012 milk production forecast for the third time due to increased cow numbers and gains in milk per cow. Details are in this month’s World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimate report. The skim solids import forecast was also raised, the fat-basis export forecast was reduced on lower butter exports, but skim solids exports were forecast higher on stronger nonfat dry milk (NDM) sales. Ending stock forecasts were raised on both a fat and skim-solids basis. 

Look for U.S. dairy cows to produce 201.1 billion pounds in 2012. According to USDA, bean counters, up a whopping 1.4 billion pounds from last month’s estimate and compares to 196.2 billion in 2011. That follows predicted increases of 700 million pounds in March and 500 million in February and, with the higher forecasts and weaker than expected product demand, price forecasts for cheese, butter, NDM, and whey were lowered, resulting in lower Class III and Class IV milk price forecasts.

The Class III is now projected to average $16.10-$16.60 per cwt., down from the $16.35-$16.95 projected a month ago, and compares to $18.37 in 2010, $14.41 in 2010, and $11.36 in 2009.

The Class IV is expected to averaged $15.35-$15.95, down from $15.85-$16.55 forecast last month, and compares to $19.04 in 2011, $15.09 in 2010, and $10.89 in 2009.

Looking “back to the futures” after factoring in the announced Class III milk prices and futures settlements, the average Class III milk price for the first six months of 2012 stood at $15.65 per cwt. on March 2 and $15.83 on April 6. The last half of 2012 was averaging $16.20 on March 2, $16.52 on April 5, and was trading around $16.32 late morning April 13.

The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of Farm World.